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Walking Neighborhoods Again

 

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.
 

 

 

As so often happens they became giggly when I tried to photograph them

But they loved it

Pherm           Houb         Learn        Toach

 

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

 

 

 

Pherm

Age 50

 

 

 

Learn

Age 15

 

 

 

Houb

Age 47

 

 

 

 

 

 

Toach

Age 19

 

 

 

Aik

Age 26

 

 

 

Parck

Age 31

 

 

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

 

 

We headed farther into the hill country

 

 

We arrived, parked the bike 

 

 

 

and began walking

 

It's a sleepy town

 

 

 

but friendly and open

 

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

I met Krern, a man of about 70 or 80 (he didn't know), and asked him the same thing

 

 

 

No, he had not had a happy life

 

 

 

 

His wife Rap echoed that

 

 

 

Her grandparents had a happy life, she said,

but the Khmer war took everything

 

 

BonLy and Rap

 

 

 

Check out the fine lines of this face

 

 

 

the inner spirit that those eyes reveal

 

 

The village houses are a mix of the more traditional, thatched roof

 

 

 

and the more modern, on stilts, with sawed lumber

A work in progress

 

 

BonLy surveys a valuable pile of sawed boards, cut from nearby forests

 

 

 

Kids, as always

 

 

 

Stunningly fresh

 

 

 

and vital

 

 

Leaving Dok Dam, we're back on BonLy's motorbike

 

 

on hill-country roads, that didn't treat my pelvis well

 

 

The ride had a 'top of the world' feel

About 10km to another village

 

 

 

We arrive in PuTang

 

 

 

A very different sort of village

Much less open and friendly

We didn't stay long

 

 

 

This looks like hard work

 

 

 

I lend a hand for a few buckets

 

 

 

We head back to Sen Monorom

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