Cambodia

Country Roads

My goodness how time flies.  I remember how nervous I was when I cycled out of Singapore some five-and-a-half months ago.  Only 2 countries to go now.   After crossing the border from Laos into Cambodia, I cycled to Stung Treng on the worst road ever.   It was nothing but mud and potholes and it took ages to navigate my way through.  But since then, the roads have been in good condition and I’ve enjoyed the rides immensely – even when I took a wrong turn and rode 60 kms further than I had planned in the day – but that’s another story.  From Stung Treng through Siem Reap to Svay Rieng it was beautiful.  The roads were almost rural and I cycled through lovely green countryside, rice paddies and sugar cane plantations.  I was fascinated by the rice processing that was underway in all the villages.  These are my favourite cycling days.  After leaving Svay Rieng I thought I had cycled into a parallel dimension – suddenly it was built up, commercialised, industrialised and the traffic density trebled.  On days like these I just put my head down and  count the kilometres to my destination.  I was pleased when I cycled over the bridge into Phnom Penh. 

Rice Milling

The rice harvest is is full swing.  Many people buy rice by the ton and then process it themselves.  First you have to spread it out to dry, so the sides of the road are covered in mats and netting with rice drying in the sun.  No space to dry your rice?  No worries – use the shoulder of the road.  I cycled around this but judging by the tyre tracks in the rice, not every scooter driver does!

Once the rice is dry, it is milled.  The milling process removes the husk and the bran layers to produce a white rice kernel.  The rice is first “toasted”.  I am not sure if this is to ensure that it is sufficiently dry to process or if it loosens the husk.  Then it is pounded in small amounts and lastly it is winnowed.  The final product is bagged and offered for sale or used for home consumption.  The husk and bran are saved for animal fodder.  Most people have a small tractor engine to drive the “pounder” but some still do this manually.  See the process in the video below.

The main tourist attractions in Cambodia are Angkor Wat in Siem Reap and the Toul Sieng Genocide Museum and the Choeung Ek Memorial (The Killing Fields) in Phnom Penh.  The former is so inspirational and beautiful that it lifts the spirits and gives one hope for humanity.  The latter is so tragic and horrific that it makes one despair of human nature.  I’ve been to both but I am only going to share my experiences in Angkor Wat in a future post.  If you want to know more about the Genocide Museum or the Killing fields then you can ask me or, better yet, go visit them yourself.