Rice planter for a day - March 19, 2007

After almost two weeks in Phnom Penh, I decided to escape the noise and chaotic traffic and head to Battambang, about four hours north of the capital city. Often referred to as the "rice bowl of Cambodia," this small town is surrounded by rice fields, sugar palm trees, lotus plantations and ponds filled with hundreds of ducks (their eggs are collected daily and sold in the market). Nearby are also temples, caves and lakes, so I decided to take a tour of the countryside on the back of a moto.

What a great way to see the real Cambodia! As we bumped along narrow dirt roads through tiny villages, children would run up to wave and say hello. Herds of cattle or chickens would suddenly cross our path so the moto driver had to carefully weave through the animals. We passed through vibrantly green rice fields where workers toiled under the blazing sun. Stark reminders of the Khmer Rouge are everywhere - from the killing caves where they executed and buried thousands of victims to the temples and walls damaged by their mortar fire.

My moto driver was a great guide - he would stop along the way and point out different plants and trees to explain how they were harvested and cooked. He very kindly stopped to buy me a face mask as the roads in rural Cambodia can be quite dusty. And when he suggested that we help plant rice, I jumped at the chance to try my hand at Cambodia's most important occupation!

The workers were very sweet and laughed kindly at my poor attempts to copy their planting technique. I was about three times as slow as they were and more often than not, I had to keep going back to fix my plants as they would float apart instead of standing straight! I had a great time, but I doubt I was actually "helping" as I'm sure as soon as I left, they had to repair my damage!