the Mekong in Kampot as it makes it''s way to Vietnam

A month in Cambodia. We''ve seen a lot and learned even more. Many things come to mind when we try to think of the best way to sum up this country.

Rice: It would be impossible to come to Cambodia and not notice the rice. They grow it everywhere. It the staple of the diet here...it makes up more than 75% of a rural Khmer diet. The ground is very flat and water is plentiful...that''s all you need for rice production. Well that, and labourers. There is no shortage of people to work here. Everyone works in the rice paddies'; although the back breaking jobs of planting and weeding typically fall to the women and children. The men mostly do the harvesting, or some just stand by. The wage for working in the fields is not very high. Sometimes people work their own fields for subsistant farming, or larger farms would have employees. The wage is under $1/day for unskilled labour in Cambodia. ( For reference, a teacher earns around $40/month)

typical rice paddy. This one is post-harvest.

Garbage: also hard to overlook. People seem to not notice that garbage in every waterway is not good for the environment. To make things worse everything in this coutry come in a plastic bag. If you buy a pop the give you the can in a plastic bag, a takeaway coffee goes in a plastic bag, and you can even buy a drink on the street that goes directly into a bag and you drink right out of it. There''s no garbage collection, so all garbage is either burnt, dumped in the ditches, or just left to blow in the wind.

the only example of recycling we could find. That's gas. You can find these roadside stands everywhere.

Children: kids are kids no matter where you go in the world. They love to play, and can make a toy out of anything. The love to get dirty, and just run around wothout a care in the world. That's certainly been the case in Cambodia as well, although we've seem plenty of kids that are having their childhood robbed from them by work. Kids can be found working all over. We're not too sure of the circumstances for each situation. Kids are selling goods on the streets, helping carry ice or other things delivered to households, or working in the fields. There's no question that some children are forced to work to provide for a family that can't support themselves, but sometimes children are forced to work to pay a family debt, or sometimes children are literally sold to men that run a large farm or fishing operation.

Poverty: It''s everywhere. It''s in the city. It's in the country. It''s sad. It seems hopelesss.

It seems as though I''m painting a pretty dark picture. Cambodia''s history is pretty dark, and it wasn''t that long ago. Remarkably the country is now living at peace...which puts it miles ahead of many other nations. However, so many other roadblocks are stopping Cambodia from emerging into a modern country, and sadly it seems as though it''s going to take more than a gereration to solve the problem. The government as you may have guessed is very good at lining their pockets and looking after the interests of the wealthy. There are few programs available for the poor, disabled, or working class. Healthcare, and education are not free, and therefore not available to a vast majority of the population. Cambodia could easily be an exporter of produce and rice to neighbours that have massive populations such as China and Bangledash, Korea, and Japan all their doorstep. People have told us that the goverment has been very lazy about opening doors with these countries and have let potential deals go sour due to over taxing and unfair prices. Instead Cambodia imports most fruits from China and Thailand and lets them reap the rewards. Cambodia''s farming conditions are said to be even better than that of Thailand.

Motorbikes....from what we've heard, Cambodia has nothing on Vietnam when it comes to motorbikes. I guess we'll find out. None the less, we've been amazed at what travels on motorbikes in this country. Our record to date was seeing 6 people packed onto the same motorbike....and that was without babies. We're looking to see if this record can be broken. Motorbikes serve as taxis...for as little as one person, or as many as 10, (being pulled in a wagon by a motorbike, along with big bags of rice, firewood, and groceries.) It's a great way to get around, but it makes for frightful traffic!

Having only spent one month here, naturally I''m no expert on any of these topics. It does however seem like there are really long way to go for Cambodia to really emerge in the way that it has potential to.

Today we visited a pepper farm. The stuff you shake...not the vegatable. This was very interesting since we has no clue where it came from before today. It grows on tall bushes, turns black and then they pick it. We bought some to take home.

Erin wanted to eat some before it was ripe!

Tomorrow we leave the democratic countries of Thailand and Cambodia behind, and head towards are final two....the socialist Rebublics of Vietnam and Laos... Vietnam being first. IT will be very interest to see the differences in these neighbouring communist countries.