The City vs. The Villages

Everyday traffic in Phnom Penh.

The city of Phnom Penh is very representative of life in an urban center of a developing country. Roads are paved, but potholes are plenty. Trash of all kinds is left by the roadside for the weekly pick up--or for the monsoon rains, whichever comes first. The air is filled with exhaust fumes stifled by the suffocating mid-day heat leaving one with a slight cough. The children, although adorable, relieve themselves wherever they please--this includes marketplaces where people buy their food. Motodups, tuk tuks, and cars with blasé drivers and passengers create their own road rules as they drive. And, the water ways are highly polluted making drinking water scarce.

My neighbor's home and yard.

Living in this capital city full time is opening my eyes to real Cambodian culture for people who have the means to reside or work (or both) in Phnom Penh. However, I find it important to not spend all of my time in the big cities when I visit a country because there is still always a larger population living in the outskirts and beyond. In order to fully understand a populace, it is crucial to see and experience how everyone lives. I received many opportunities to see urban and rural settings while I was on a Dialogue of Civilizations Program through Mainland China last summer because my Professor was very adamant about us understanding the contrast between urban and rural livelihoods in China. I am similarly trying to recreate that well-rounded exposure to Cambodian society while on coop here. This is why when I received the opportunity to visit a village 50 K outside of the city with a woman who works for the Harpswell Foundation this past weekend, I took it!

The children running away from the "Tickle Monster" (aka Me)!

The name of the village is Tramung Chrum and it is located in the province of Kampong Chnang. The people and culture of Tramung Chrum are unique in that they are Muslims in a predominately Buddhist country. Yet despite their religious practices, their lifestyle is very similar to those of other villages throughout the Cambodian countryside.

With no running water or electricity and strictly dirt roads, the villagers wake up with the roosters and cows as the sun rises and proceed to work all day long in the rice paddy fields, preparing the meals in the homes, cleaning the family's clothes by the wells and allowing the children to frolic in nature. The simplicity of this seemingly peaceful lifestyle is temporarily alluring to a stressed-out foreigner or over stimulated city dweller, until one realizes that the simplicity is accompanied by a lack of food variety and ready supply of water, a lack of education and health care, and most importantly a lack of means to earn a significant living for the family. During my stay here this past weekend, I frequently imagined some of the Harpswell girls--who now live in the dormitories in Phnom Penh--coming from rural villages and provinces such as Tramung Chrum. I cannot even begin to fathom the culture shock that they are experiencing on a daily basis as they try to get comfortable with the big city living.

Women and children from the village of Tramung Chrum
visiting with us and watching us prepare our dinner.

Despite their remoteness from society at large, in true Khmer fashion, the villagers were overly hospitable and eager to meet my friends and I. During the past month, in both Phnom Penh, Kep (an area of the country by the sea), and Tramung Chrum, the Cambodian people have been nothing but kind and welcoming towards me. Smiles never seem to depart from their faces and their eyes are filled with a curiosity to learn and observe everything and anything (even if it's a lackluster viewing of a few barangs--Khmer word for the French, or any White person--eating dinner). I look forward to more adventures within and outside of Phnom Penh. It will be nearly impossible to see and do it all while I am here in Cambodia, but I hope to leave in December with a balanced understanding of the country and its people.