Cambodia Off The Beaten Path Tips by bkoon Top 5 Page for this destination

Training the Kids

The kids in school were trained in various areas from the gardening experience. The teacher efectively distributed jobs to the kids and each kid had their role to perform. Like for this kid in the picture, he was tasked, together with 3 other peers, to obtain water from the smll pond just outside the school. They fetched water in their sprinkers to water the plants they planted.

The Teacher

This picture is a close-up of the gardening group. The teacher was teaching the students how to identify and pull out the weeds.

Gardening

At the side of the school compound, there was a huge plot of land where a group of students and a teacher were working on. They were performing some gardening tasks. Apparently, the teacher was teaching the kids how to do gardening, planting, etc.

As we approached the group of students, the rest of the students rushed out of their classrooms and all gathered there. The kids were just so cute and they really the most wonderful brings on earth. Always so curious.

School Classroom

When we entered the classrooms, the kids were so shy. All of them rushed back to their seats and when we wanted to take pictures, all tend to shun away.

Typically, a classroom can accommodate some 40 students.

School tuckshop?

Just at the side of the school building, there was a big canvas and under it was a few tables with a lady selling food. It was the school "tuckshop" for kids to buy food during break times.

School Girls

When we entered the school, our intention was not to disrupt any classes or whatsoever. However, when we entered, the entire school "stopped functioning". All the school children rushed out from their classrooms. The teachers were not in the classrooms then. I guessed it was break time when we arrived. The village kids were very curious and of course camera-shy.

Village School at Battambang

I had indicated that visting a village school is one of the activities which you must not miss if you are visiting Cambodia.

The school was build on a plot of empty land right smack in the middle of a village. It has a big compund and it is brand new. When I went, the official school term had not started and kids were already going to school every day.

Village kid

Sok Thy's youngest son. He was only 2 years old. This kid, like many others, loved to eat sweets. He barely talked. According to Sok Thy, due to work commitments (he needed to drive from as early as 4am in the morning to 10pm in the night), he seldom sees his kids. Hence, the day when we visited was one of the rare days when his kids saw him in the day.

OBSERVATIONS
Very young children and toddlers do not have the luxury to wear new clothes in Cambodia. They generally do not wear anything on the "lower part of their bodies". That is, they do not wear panties when wearing a kid's dress for girls and no pants for the boys. Strangely enough, I noticed that kids' dresses were worn by boys too.

APPEAL
Hence, my appeal to you is that, should you have old clothing, please do not hesitate to send them to the unfortunate ones in Cambodia. (Or any other 3rd World country for that matter.)

NOTE : They were so poor that even a normal bottled drinking water (not minieral water) was a luxurious item for them. I noticed that when Sok Thy's kids were snatching the bottled drinking water when offered to one of his boys. They drank the water as if it was something special.

Pig Rearing

Families in the village usually save up to buy piglets. At Sok Thy's village, one of his relatives reared a piglet and when it become a pig, it would be sold away for a good price.

Home-made Sugar Palm

Home-made sugar palm was common in Cambodia. Needless to say, at Sok Thy's village, slmost every family owned palm trees.

Making of Sugar Palm
- Palm juice was obtained from the flowers of palm trees.
- 1 flower can provide the juice for up to 3 months.
- The juice retrieved from the flowers of 3 - 5 palm tress was added to 20 litres of water into a big boiling pot.
- After 5 - 6 hours of boiling, 3kg of sugar palm was produced and packed for sale.