What I Saw
Cambodia is the number one consumer of rice per capita in the world. The majority of Cambodians cultivate rice. Rice paddies stretch for miles along paved and dirt roads alike. Plows remain traditional wooden and metal tools pulled by oxen. Oxen also pull wooden carts loaded with goods for the market along the highways leading into Phnom Penh, the capitol. In the villages people rise at dawn to go out into the field and can be seen returning home for lunch, muddy and darkened from the sun. Rice will be eaten at every meal and a traditional Khmer greeting is “Have you eaten rice today?”
Rural life in Cambodia is simple and distinct from urban life. Houses sit on ten-meter stilts with wooden floors, reed-woven walls and open windows. The houses sit high so the livestock can rest dry beneath it during the rainy season. However, during the day, oxen, chickens, and mangy dogs roam around the yard while the family rest in hammocks underneath and in the shade.
Traveling between the villages I would rarely, if ever, see a car. Most used bicycles and motorbikes to traverse narrow, interwoven dirt roads that run through palm trees, fishing ponds and rice paddies. Life in the province is quieter. The only loud noise heard is the chants from the nearest Buddhist temple as the monks conducted their daily recitations over loudspeakers. The loudspeaker, usually located at the temples, was also used to announce marriages, funerals, political propaganda and village meetings.
Rural life in Cambodia is simple and distinct from urban life. Houses sit on ten-meter stilts with wooden floors, reed-woven walls and open windows. The houses sit high so the livestock can rest dry beneath it during the rainy season. However, during the day, oxen, chickens, and mangy dogs roam around the yard while the family rest in hammocks underneath and in the shade.
Traveling between the villages I would rarely, if ever, see a car. Most used bicycles and motorbikes to traverse narrow, interwoven dirt roads that run through palm trees, fishing ponds and rice paddies. Life in the province is quieter. The only loud noise heard is the chants from the nearest Buddhist temple as the monks conducted their daily recitations over loudspeakers. The loudspeaker, usually located at the temples, was also used to announce marriages, funerals, political propaganda and village meetings.
I noticed the transition from rural to urban life as I took communal taxi rides back into the city several weekends. Crammed into a Toyota Camry with seven other people, we wove around scores of bus-converted carts transporting young men and women to the nearest clothing factory. We also dodged huge overloaded trucks with men sleeping on the top, uniformed children biking to school, motorbikes carrying whole families into the city, and the aforementioned oxen pulled wooden carts laden with pots, food and other goods headed to the market.
Nearing the city the street became dusty, crowded, loud and full of people. Houses and apartments lined every road and although there were sidewalks in front of buildings they were completely covered with stalls and extended storefronts, forcing pedestrians to walk in the street. Most buildings were only two or three stories, although Phnom Penh has recently built several high-rise buildings and others were in the making—steel skeletons gaping into the sky. Huge mansions with towering gates and guards would dot the city, standing apart from typical apartment or town house.
Women in the city will cover themselves head to toe, from hats to gloves and sock-sandal clad feet to keep their skin as light as possible. Women in the villages are out in the hot sun and muggy fields, and opt for comfortable brightly patterned cotton pants and shirts, allowing their skin to become darkened by the sun. Men in the city wear the same outfit, essentially, dark trousers and a light colored button down shirt. Men in the villages will often walk around with only shorts or an unbuttoned shirt.
Cambodians are a very welcoming people and always greeted me with a smile and a hello. Mothers that I interviewed would pinch my cheeks and tell me how pretty they thought I was. Cambodians my age would address me as ‘sister’. Several times the villagers I was with would invite me to have lunch with them. Cambodia fosters an atmosphere of hospitality and simplicity and these aspects of life really shaped my time there.
Nearing the city the street became dusty, crowded, loud and full of people. Houses and apartments lined every road and although there were sidewalks in front of buildings they were completely covered with stalls and extended storefronts, forcing pedestrians to walk in the street. Most buildings were only two or three stories, although Phnom Penh has recently built several high-rise buildings and others were in the making—steel skeletons gaping into the sky. Huge mansions with towering gates and guards would dot the city, standing apart from typical apartment or town house.
Women in the city will cover themselves head to toe, from hats to gloves and sock-sandal clad feet to keep their skin as light as possible. Women in the villages are out in the hot sun and muggy fields, and opt for comfortable brightly patterned cotton pants and shirts, allowing their skin to become darkened by the sun. Men in the city wear the same outfit, essentially, dark trousers and a light colored button down shirt. Men in the villages will often walk around with only shorts or an unbuttoned shirt.
Cambodians are a very welcoming people and always greeted me with a smile and a hello. Mothers that I interviewed would pinch my cheeks and tell me how pretty they thought I was. Cambodians my age would address me as ‘sister’. Several times the villagers I was with would invite me to have lunch with them. Cambodia fosters an atmosphere of hospitality and simplicity and these aspects of life really shaped my time there.