An Educational Day

It is said that Cambodians will eat almost anything! Here is a boy selling snails. It's only 25 cents for a small bag of these delectable treats. We've also seen people catching frogs for food as well, and seen crocodile burgers and steaks advertised at a local restaurant. We've not been brave enough to try any of this yet, but maybe we'll surprise ourselves yet.


We had a great day today, probably one of my favourite from this trip! I'm in love with Cambodia already!

Siem Reap is a cool little town. In many ways it's a big tourist town with many modern conveniences, western food, and local handicrafts to buy. However, if you travel to the outskirts of town you are immediately into the country side and the way most Cambodians live.

I thought this was great! We aren't exactly sure what this jug on the motor bike was for (Brian thinks it's to allow water to drip on the engine to cool it, or to put gas into the carborator to help start the bike)....but the best part was that he used IV tubing to transfer the liquid. He was adjusting the roller clamp to allow more or less fluid to pass onto the motor.

After a great breakfast of croissants and fresh bread at a local bakery, we haggled a ride with one of the local tuk-tuk drivers in the town, to take us out of the city to the Landmine Museum. The ride there was great. We went past many local houses, rice fields with grazing waterbuffalo, and even caught glimpses of some of the ruins along the way.

A glimpse into the rural community.

The landmine museum proved to be a very informative and saddening destination. We were surprised and pleased to find out that Canada had a part in helping form this organization. The museum was built as a way of educating foreigners and "the new generation of Cambodians", as well as providing a way of funding the relief projects they run for those who have been injured by the mines. The money raised through the museum, as well as other donations received are used to educate children who have been victims of the mines, as well as to provide them with prosthesis and artificial limbs, as many of them are missing arms, legs or hands as a result of being injured by a mine.

Pictures of the landmines were hard to get as they were all behind glass and there was a bad glare, but these mines were filled with ballbearings. When they are detonated they can harm or kill up to 20 people. The guy who runs the museum has dedicated his life to removing mines from the jungle and has cleared over 50 000 mines. Sometimes he can do over 300 in a day. He doesn't use any safety equipment and usually only uses his hands to disarm them.

Cambodia is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. The country has gone through many difficult time periods (we'll try to give you a little bit of background at some point, although we're still learning of this ourselves). The country has been plunged into civil war many times, and most often it's been the innocent citizens of Cambodia that have suffered the most. During these conflict filled times, much of the countryside in Cambodia was filled with landmines. Clearing efforts have been initiated to help rid the land of all these mines, however, progress is slow. It takes only $1-3 US to make a mine, but can take up to $1000 US to get rid of one mine, and it is dangerous business! Many of the mines in the country-side are linked to trip wires. Many of them cause serious injury while others result in death. Some can even completely destroy vehicles. They are almost impossible to see even when you know where they are.

A ban on landmines was signed at "The Ottawa Convention" in 1998. About 155 countries signed the treaty to abolish the use of antipersonal landmines. Here is a list of countries that didn't sign the treaty and continue to produce landmines.

A picture at the museum showing the horror and brutality of the mines.

Between 15 000-20 000 people are injured or killed every year in Cambodia, and that averages out to a little over 40 people per day. In the city here there are many children and adults that are missing limbs. Many of them are trying to sell books or handicrafts in order to make a living. Life is hard for people here! An example of what a mine might look like in the jungle.

My heart is moved for the people of Cambodia. They are sincerely friendly and many of them have very hard lives. Although some of the children can get quite annoying while trying to sell you their books, you realize that it is out of necessity that they are so persistant. We are doing our best to support local people with our purchases here by buying our food from different vendors, although I wish we could do more.

Tomorrow we plan to start the Angkor Exploration. We're really looking forward to it! We hope to get into the country a bit more and hopefully we'll be able to take some more pictures so you can have a better idea of what life here looks like.