Kratie Province and Koh Pdao

Last night we got back from the Kratie (pronounced Krachie) province and the island of Koh Pdao. The trip started off with waking up and catching our bus at 7 am. All went well until we got about 15k outside of Kratie town. We must have hit a bump in the road too fast and a spring came loose and we pulled over to see what was wrong. We got out of the bus for the 20 or so minutes it took to work on the bus, and all around us was fields of rice in different stages of growth. Everything from a sopping wet rice paddy to full green stalks, dried rice plants that looked more like wheat, and finally rows of rice that had already been harvested for the season. After standing in the baking sun, we were told to get back on the bus and we were back on the road. Another hundred meters or so down the road we stopped and pulled over again to see what was wrong. After Erin (our volunteer coordinator) was talking with the bus driver up front, he came back and asked all the girls for any hair ties they had on them. He got four or five and went outside, the bus mechanic used them for our makeshift spring and we were on our way to the final destination of a guest house right at the foot of the Mekong River in Kratie town.

Our first day and night in Kratie was pretty mellow. We explored the town a little bit and saw where the market burnt down last year, and the new building that is going up in its place. After a rest in the guest house we went to dinner where we had the option of ordering western food. The temptation was too strong. I ended up eating pasta carbonara, and everyone else had a combination of Khmer and western food. By the standards of home it was pretty standard, but by the standards of Khmer produced food, it was incredible and exactly what I was looking for at the time. After a few drinks we called it a night because we had to get up relatively early for our boat ride to the island of Koh Pdao.

It wasn't as simple as getting up and going to riverside and catching our boat to the island. We got in the minivan that took us on the hour and a half bus ride to a small town where we would catch our bus. Before getting on the boat though, we stopped at a pagoda to look around. The pagodas are everywhere but they are just as spectacular as the one before. This one we went to is called the 100 pillar pagoda. The designs in the cement are so intricate and complex, it seems impossible that they are all identical. Then there are the paintings inside the actual temples that are all pictures depicting Buddha in different stories. They are filled with every color you could imagine, and completely undamaged by age or exposure to the elements. They somehow become perfectly preserved and unchanged in time.

After walking around the pagoda for a half an hour or so it was time to board our boat and take the hour long ride up to Koh Pdao. The 18 of us were divided among the two boats that were barely wide enough to stretch your legs out. And if you moved too suddenly you would rock the whole boat and startle everyone including the captain. The boat ride was going against the roaring current so it was a little discouraging moving so slow. One thing I couldn't stop laughing at was that it was hot enough where you would see oxen standing in the water like hippos. They would stare at us as we went by but they were too concerned with how hot they were to care how close we were to them.

We got to the river bank where we were got off and climbed up a massive staircase to a community building area. After eating lunch, we set up our home stays. Rich and I were in a house with a family who didn't speak any English. The house was very incredible. It was on stilts that were about 15 feet above ground to accommodate for the floods during the rainy season. When you got into the house, it was just a big open room with one wall that sectioned off the back left corner of the room, which I think was the parents room. Then there were walls dividing the right side of the room into three sections with curtains in front of each, which contained our beds. The beds were mattresses on the floor with mosquito nets hanging over them. And the most amazing part of the house was the floor. It was all made of bamboo, but it was spaced about a half inch apart from the piece next to it so there was airflow through the house. I actually broke two sections of the floor, but I'm not sure that anyone else noticed.

During the afternoon and into the sunset, we went for a boat cruise to watch the sunset over the Mekong. We were gone for about and hour and a half, and we stopped on tons of different river banks, as well as a small sandbar to get some pictures and watch the sunset. I really wanted to go swimming but I didn't have the right clothes with me, and the current was moving way to fast even for my comfort level. As the sun was going down we made our way back to Koh Pdao to have dinner.

That night we went back to the community center where we were given a traditional Khmer performance by some of the kids on the island. While they were doing a costume change we were asked to give a performance for them as well. The only thing that we could come up with that we all knew was the YMCA... Somehow we managed to get everyone up there and we bumbled through the whole song. After we were done, about three people clapped and everyone else stared at us in awe. The kids continued to perform, in total they did four songs and they were all great.

The next morning we got up and did a short tour of the island and we got to see all the work that we were helping contribute to. On a quick side note, the reason that we are teaching has a double effect. We teach students English at CWF (Conversations with Foreigners), which gives them a chance to enter a larger work force and a chance at better jobs. And since we volunteer and don't get paid, that cuts the operation costs of CWF and they pass on the extra money they make to CRDT (Cambodian Rural Development Team). CRDTs goal is to help rural Cambodians live sustainably and helps give them clean drinking water. On the tour of the island we first stopped at a house that uses a biodigestion system to capture methane and use it for gas to cook as well as energy for a single lamp in the house. It is essentially a septic tank underground with an open well to the tank. The owners put their "cow doo doo" in the tank and after 21 days it breaks down and releases enough methane to cook their meals for the day, and if they miss a day of filling the tank, they end up missing a day of cooking, so it is imperative to fill it every day. Another thing we saw was an above ground cistern that catches rain water for drinking, and others that were used to gather river water for cleaning and things like that. The final two ways that CRDT helps Cambodians is that they provide information on sustainable vegetable gardens and sustainable raising of farm animals. All in all, they are an incredible organization that I am very happy to support, if you want more info here is their website http://www.crdt.org.kh/

The final thing that we did on the island before heading back was working in a rice field. We helped in the harvesting stage, and our goal was to cut down the rice stalks in rows, and tying up bundles of the grass. It would later be brought to another area of the land to be separated by hand or by machine to get the rice off the plant. Then it would be dried and sent finally ready to eat. We only helped clear a very small section, but it was very difficult work. It was about 90 degrees out and there was no shade cover, we had to wear long pants and sleeves so we wouldn't get skin irritation from the tall grass. By the end, my shirt was a darker color and heavier because it was covered in sweat. The whole time I was working next to the kid that lived there (who was 22, so not really a kid) and every time I would tie a bundle of rice, he would just laugh at me and try to show me the correct way to tie it.

After biking back to the community center we waited for an hour or so to catch our boat back to Kratie. On the way back it was much faster since we were going with the current. Once we got back to the town we pretty much had another mellow night. Some of us stayed out until 10 or so to have some drinks by the river, but we eventually got kicked out because the workers wanted to go home, and we probably needed to go to bed anyway.

Our final day was very long and drawn out. The bus ride took about seven hours instead of the four it took on the way up. The bus was very hot, even with the air conditioner. And one thing about buses in Cambodia, they love to have karaoke playing on the bus (in Khmer, not English) for the WHOLE ride, and after hour five it gets to be pretty awful. After getting in a tuk tuk and heading home, our trip to Kratie ended. Now we have to sit around and do some work and make lesson plans. I'll probably find more ways to procrastinate from doing that as well.