The countryside

 I just want to give you an idea of the countryside.

But first, on our way out of town, we see this security guard.  This is on one of the major street - so noisy!  He is dead to the world

 This is the picture of the front of the store that he is "guarding".  You can see him on the right side of the building.

 Also, we saw this motorcycle a bit farther down the road.  You really can't tell how funny this was.  We see lots of people on one motorcycle all the time. 

This woman in yellow is the 3rd adult on this motorcycle.  I hope you can tell that she isn't on the seat much and doesn't have any place to put her feet because the woman in front of her has the pedals.  What was funny was the woman in the middle has a jacket over her head so that she doesn't get the sun on her (common practice here), but it kept flicking back and hitting the back woman in the face.  So, she isn't hardly on the motorcycle and get hit in the face with the jacket.  On top of that, the guy driving the motorcycle isn't helpful...he keeps going in and out of the cars, speeding up and the stopping, then speeding up.  The lady on the back was just rocking back and forth with her feet sticking out, trying to stay on. 

 The family car...is a motorcycle.  I don't know how far they are going, but I imagine that her little child is probably getting awfully heavy. 

I might add, at this particular time, the heat index was around 100 F.  The hotter it gets, the more they cover up.  (You can see the girl in the sweatshirt on the motorcycle in front of them.) They feel cooler with more layers between their skin and the sun.  I would have a heat stroke!

 Truckload of workers.

 We stopped in a bakery in Gompong Chnang and I saw these bread alligators.  They are stuffed with meat.  I thought they were cute.

 This is how you get to the village without having to actually ride your motorcycle.  This is the back of a "taxi" .  They have vans that pick up people and all types of things and go back and forth between the countryside and the city.  So if you want to ride in a car, or if your motorcycle doesn't work, you just tie the motorcycle on.  We have seen them with several motorcycles tied on top of the van as well.

 Here you have a "company truck".  On the wagon is headboards for beds.  The wood that they use for these is extremely heavy. 

When people move to a new place, and have this kind of furniture, they get a truck with a crane-type lift in the back to move the furniture. 

 Just a pretty road.

 Every village area has their temple.  These are actually just the memorials that are beside the temple.  Sorry I missed the temple - Rich was driving!  Ha!

 There are all kinds of stands on the side of the road all the way down.

Fruit stand. 

 Fruit in the front.

In the background, you can see containers with red lids.  I have never stopped to see what these were.  I figured that they were fermented fruit.

I'll show you another picture of them up close and tell you more about them.

 These are truck that are selling all kinds of pottery.

There are pots to grill on, pots to put your charcoal in, pottery animals - elephants, rabbits, and some baskets as well.

 This is a chicken truck.  Usually all of these crates have chickens in them.  His were empty, so he must have been to the market already.

 I cut off the motorcycle on this load of charcoal.  This is how our charcoal comes. 

In the city, there are carts that sell this charcoal by weight.  They don't use lighter fluid to start their fires.  They use rubber.  When I was doing a cooking class with my language school teacher, she asked me if I had a broken flip flop.  Then, she cut off a sliver of rubber, lit it, and put it in the bottom of the pot and it lit the charcoal.

 Can you see the plastic pieces?  It is bug season!  They way they catch the locust, and other insects that they eat are with these.

They hang pieces of plastic.  there is another plastic piece on the ground, shaped into a trough with water in it.  At the top of the plastic is a light.

In the night, the bugs are attracted to the light, hit the plastic, slide down into the water and can't fly out.  Then they are picked up and fried. 

It is interesting to look across the countryside at night and see all these lights that are in rows.

 We are used to seeing a lot of motorcycles, but this is a group with Thai and Cambodian flags on their bikes. 

My guess is it is a joint venture and they have come from Thailand, heading into Phnom Penh.

There were probably 50-60 motorcycles with this group.

 Some houses...

 Just some kids riding their bikes down the road.  You  need to know that this is Cambodia's interstate.  But unlike the US, there are carts, bikes, walkers, chickens, lots of cows, to go along with the motorcycles, trucks, cars, and vans.

 As we are in the dry season, the countryside isn't too pretty.  We are at the start of the hot season.  We go from our coolest season (Nov-Feb) to our hottest (Mar-May).  April is the hottest month of the year. 

So the crops are all harvested and it is brown until the rainy season comes and they start planting again.

 More houses

 Another furniture hauler.  This is 2 wooden chairs that he has on the back of his cart.

More kids

 Our version of a recycle truck.

 OK.  This is the containers that were on the side of the road.  When we stopped to eat, they had these in their shop, so I read the signs on the jars.

These are different types of fish that have been "canned".  Let me tell you, they look disgusting!  That is why I didn't take a picture closer up.  The different types of fish are used for different things - some for soup, some are used for fish paste that they add to their dishes, some can be grilled or stir fried. 

 Since this picture is taken from the back, you can't really tell that this is a taxi of sorts.  It is a wagon pulled behind a motorcycle.  The wagon has 2x4s roped to the sides of the cart at intervals, which are the seats for the taxi.  There are 5-6 rows of people on this cart.

 Hay cart.

This is a sign in Battambang City that Rich noticed.  It is in front of a school.  It SHOULD say, "Don't take a RISK..."  not "don't take a rusk".  The rest of the sign says "don't pass other vehicles in dangerous situations!" 


We laugh at some of the spelling on signs, but really, when I think of how I spell things in Khmer, I am probably much worse!  I just don't make big signs.

I hope you enjoyed the picture.  Maybe it will give you a little taste of Cambodia. 

Much love,
Ronda