Whether it be spitting cobras or landmines, there are plenty of dangers here in Steung Kach, but that's no reason to not go on adventures.
Whitewater Baths 🧼
Having a whitewater river as your backyard is beneficial for many reasons. It's not only a place for recreation and fun, but we also often take our baths in it. The water we pump to our tank comes from the same place, so it's ultimately the same water. If you look carefully at Monkey-B's expression, she wasn't very amused with Srey-Yuu yesterday evening while 
HALO Trust 🚙
Not far from the public school the 
They have some really cool cars, lots of Land Rover Defenders, Unimogs, and Kamaz trucks. These kind of vehicles are not very efficient and I'm sure maintaining them is very expensive because these aren't commonly sold in Cambodia, but they are sure interesting to look at.
The Khmer Rouge fought very hard to keep these areas under their control until well into the 1990s, and landmines were a huge factor in preventing the Vietnamese troops and new Cambodian government from capturing territories around us. Well, nobody wants to admit to being Khmer Rouge, so nobody is revealing where the mines were placed, and therefore it becomes the responsibility of forces outside the country to fix this problem so many years later.
Construction Supply Run 🧰
After my wife and I passed the HALO Trust, we arrived at school, picked up the girls, then headed to the construction supply store to get some sandpaper and nails. While waiting for the staff to weigh the nails, I snapped a photo of the girls waiting in the tuk-tuk.
The shop isn't large, but it has the basic supplies to keep a construction crew going. Usually $10 of supplies is enough to keep the crew going for a couple more days, but this crypto crash has us wondering if we'll be able to finish this project soon. Funds are very tight, and it's such a terrible time to withdraw anything that's not a stablecoin.
Cambodian Cacao? 🍫
Every time I stop by this small shop, I notice the sign for a Cambodia cacao business. I am not sure whether the cacao fruits are grown locally or not, but when I need some cocoa/cacao powder, I'm definitely going to call one of the phone numbers to see what products they have.
More Shopping 🌶️
Thmor Da town is on the Thai border, and even though the land border is still technically closed, a few Thai products seem to trickle through regardless, and they are usually things you don't see anywhere else in Cambodia. I thought this was a bag of instant coffee packets, but it was actually packets of salt and crushed dried chilies. SE Asians love their chili, salt, and fruit so much that Thailand actually sells these as partner packets.
Vroom Vroom 🏍️
While waiting for the wife to return to the tuk-tuk, I thought I'd take a picture of the durian stand across the street, but instead I got this perfect shot of a local teen speeding by on his moto. This was a happy accident, and my boring durian stand pic turned into an action shot.
Roadside Dangers ☠️
On the way back to our house, there is a hillclimb alongside the road where landmines may or may not lurk at the road's edge. The trail into the forest combined with the sign makes for a pretty haunting image. It is actually safe-ish to enter trails like this, the sign only means HALO Trust has been here and found at least one mine. These signs remain until the whole land plot has been cleared, a sort of liability management for the NGO because they are partially responsible for the safety of the land until it's cleared.
I've always wanted to do some cheeky selfies here, and on this day only the wife took me up on the offer. Don't worry, we didn't explore the trail or anything stupid like, just some photos to share with you all and show how real this landmine danger is.
🙏 GIVE THANKS 🙏 |
|---|