Today the group was a travel day for the group from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. Although an entire day consumed by travel by bus does not immediately seem like a rich experience, there is value to simply seeing the country side go for hour after hour.
Most of the Cambodian population is centered in the middle of the country surrounding the giant lake, Tonle Sap. Phnom Penh and Siem Reap roughly sit at two end points of this lake. The road we took reminded me of how limited infrastructure is in the developing world. The country's main highway, connecting its two largest cities, is a two-lane road shared by trucks, scooters, and animal carts. Virtually the entire distance between the two cities is populated by farm houses on stilts, road-side restaurants, lush green rice paddies and palm trees, and every-so-often, a glimpse of Lake Tonle Sap.
Two observations were made:
1) Cambodia is an extremely homogenous country. While crossing a significant part of the country, especially its population center, there was very little variation from one part to the next. Homes, hammocks, farms, animals, families on scooters, all seemed to repeat over and over for six hours.
2) Despite how poor the homes and farms were, poverty in rural Cambodia did not seem as bleak as urban poverty in other parts of the world. This is not to minimize the lack of resources and services that rural Cambodians live with. I mean to only acknowledge that rural Cambodians live in beautiful country with natural abundance.
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