Last February, I met a gal in Koh Kong (no, not a red-light district gal) and later learned her parents are rice farmers who resided in Takeo province. Takeo province is about 150km northeast of Sihanoukville (Kampong Som) and about 100km south of Phnom Penh. She hadn't visited her family in a while and I wanted to experience living in the country, so off we went. We took the ferry to Sihanoukville, spending a few days there, staying at my favored place, Chez Mari-Yan. Chez Mari-Yan has a nice landscaped setting and ambiance with its individual thatch-roofed bungalows with porches overlooking Victory Beach; at $10/nite it provides a bed w/ mossie net, cold shower and fan (no TV or AC..so, not for the timid).
Chinese New Year and Tet were occurring and Sihanoukville had more cars/traffic, from visitors coming to town than I'd ever seen. I wanted to rent a motorcycle, but the shops had inflated their prices due to the holiday, so we took a taxi (a car packed with 8 passengers) to Kampot (100km), where I knew I could rent a bike for less money. I was surprised and happy to find that the road to Kampot has been greatly improved since my last trip; no longer was there a large section of the road with water filled potholes, some of which exceeded 6-meters in diameter and seemed deep enough to hide a stray Toyota. Arriving in Kampot, I rented a motorcycle and we took the paved road 80km to Takeo province.
The gal's parents home is located in the middle of nowhere, about 12km outside of the town of Ang Tasaom. In order to get to their compound, we had to leave the paved road and ride over a few kilometers of the dirt berms that form the rice paddies. Not being a very skilled motorcyclist, I was glad that it was not rice growing season; the paddies were dry and I didn't have to worry about possibly crashing into a water-filled paddy. I soon learned to respect the locals who easily negotiated these berms with those narrow tire 100cc motos and bicycles.
Local Transportation: Locals use the common moto with trailer (as seen in PPenh), used like a bus for hauling people, and individually oxen and small horses with carts were used to haul goods to market. Later, on a trip far north of PPenh, I found these small horses to be very common in smaller fishing villages, where oxen were not needed to help plow rice fields. I even saw a few elephants on the road to Takeo.
Farmer's Compound: I was impressed with the size and neatness of the farmer's housing compound, which was surrounded by rice paddies. They had three structures: the one in the middle was primarily for community use (sleeping upstairs, dining and working/making rice flour), the one on the right was also for sleeping and had a room at the back which was the kitchen. The smaller structure on the left was mainly for storage ('houses2'). I found it interesting that by the time I awoke each day, the dirt area of the compound had been completely swept and was devoid of chicken and dog droppings, as well as any trace of footprints. The family owned a few bicycles, which their kids used, but had no motorized transportation.
The family: The group picture is of the family and a few neighbors. The balloons were just some of the 'entertainment' toys I brought to Cambo. The second picture is of the parents. Both of the parents were illiterate and could not read nor write Khmer. All of their kids went to the local school, but only one (the gal with the gray sweater) knew a few words in English. Like most agrarian cultures, I expect the children were used for labor during rice growing/harvest season, and school was ignored during this period. During the non-growing season, the father had another job to supplement the household income. He had one of those large (1-meter diameter) speakers and an amplifier, which he rented for use at weddings, parties and political events. The father was in his 40's and without a shirt was as muscled and cut as a bodybuilder. This was more indicative of how labor intensive rice farming must be. His wife was of similar age, but looked much older likely due to childbearing. I think they had six children, but due to language problems, never was sure of the total, as neighbors were constanly visiting with their children, in part to see the visiting barang..
In the picture of the family, you may have noticed two small dogs; they also have a few cats. Where ever I've gone throughout Cambo I've never seen the abused or diseased dogs which are comon in Thailand, . While both the Thai and Khmer are Buddhist, the Khmer seem to place more value on animals. I've never seen a Khmer kick an animal, something which is all too common in Thailand. I find the Khmer a far more gentle people than the Thai's. Yes, one will find crime in the major cities, but the same applies to Thailand.
One thing similar to dogs in Thailand, is that they will readily eat rice, veges and coconut juice/meat, but sniff long and suspiciously before eating an offering of meat.
..continued next post: Rice Farmer2
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