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Walking Neighborhoods Again
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| After visiting the land mine museum I was passing this family, and stopped to chat. My tuk tuk driver, Bon Thong, translated a bit for me. | |
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As so often happens they became giggly when I tried to photograph them But they loved it |
Pherm Houb Learn Toach |
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In Cambodia--and, I suspect, in other SE Asian countries, people are very age conscious. One of the first questions people ask me is How old are you? When I asked Bon Thong to write their names in my notebook, they all gave their ages |
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Pherm Age 50 |
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Learn Age 15 |
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Houb Age 47
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Toach Age 19 |
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Aik Age 26 |
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Parck Age 31 |
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From Sen Monorom, in the hill country of Mondulkiri Province in Eastern Cambodia, I visited Dok Dam, a remote village of the Phnong (an indigenous hill tribe), riding on the back of Bon Ly's motobike |
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We headed farther into the hill country |
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We arrived, parked the bike |
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and began walking
It's a sleepy town |
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but friendly and open |
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I met Chunly, a weaver With BonLy interpreting, I asked Chunly if she'd had a happy life No, she said. She was too poor |
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But there was a serenity, an appealing graciousness about her
She weaves about two hours a day, produces a scarf in a week, sells it for $5 This where a 50kg/110lb bag of rice costs about $30usd |
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I met Krern, a man of about 70 or 80 (he didn't know), and asked him the same thing |
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No, he had not had a happy life
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His wife Rap echoed that
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Her grandparents had a happy life, she said, but the Khmer war took everything |
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BonLy and Rap |
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Check out the fine lines of this face |
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the inner spirit that those eyes reveal |
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The village houses are a mix of the more traditional, thatched roof |
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and the more modern, on stilts, with sawed lumber A work in progress |
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BonLy surveys a valuable pile of sawed boards, cut from nearby forests |
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Kids, as always |
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Stunningly fresh |
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and vital |
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Leaving Dok Dam, we're back on BonLy's motorbike |
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on hill-country roads, that didn't treat my pelvis well |
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The ride had a 'top of the world' feel About 10km to another village |
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We arrive in PuTang |
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A very different sort of village Much less open and friendly We didn't stay long |
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This looks like hard work |
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I lend a hand for a few buckets |
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We head back to Sen Monorom |
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