Today was spent exploring the local area with guide Teah (pronounced Tee-ah but not sure how to spell it). He took me to the Bau Sraa waterfalls and the sea of forest, famed for their beauty across the land and then on to a coffee plantation to sample home grown wares. As you may know coffee has a tendency to make me loose but no mishaps today, hurrah for me.
However the most fascinating part of the day was talking to Teah about his hopes and dreams, I will come to that at the end of bloggingtons so bear with...
Bau Sraa Falls
This sign made me smile...
The sea of forest is a vantage point from where the forest stretches out as far as the eye can see. I believe they have just discovered some new species of bird which can only be found in this area of Cambodia.
Then on to the plantation, a diarrhoea free zone, thank the lord. By the way, can anybody seriously spell that without looking it up (and don't say t-h-a-t). As well as coffee, pepper, rubber and fruits are grown.
Adi lady with coffee plant...
Adi lady with pepper tree...they take 20 years to grow a viable crop
Rubber trees...
Weird looking local fruit...
Over lunch Teah and I chatted about Cambodian politics and his secret dream.
Teah is a teacher at a High School 20 km from the town. He has worked there for 5 years, his starting salary was 40 dollars per month! Not enough to live on so he often went hungry and slept in the classroom. He now earns treble and subsidises his income working for the local tour guide.
He is very keen to raise awareness regarding the political situation in Cambodia. The CCP have been in power for 30 years and although elections are held every 5 years, 28th July 2013 will be the first time there is any opposition, how does that work? Apparently it is common knowledge that threats to power are killed or expelled and the Prime Minister held a senior position in the Khmer Rouge. The government are leasing land to China and Vietnam for vast sums without considering the land rights of the local people, China and Vietnam are destroying forests and making the most of cheap Cambodian labour...
Teah's secret dream is to own his own farm, he has already bought 2 hectares of land from a Bunong tribe. He intends to grow fruit, keep buffalo and build traditional Bunong housing. His plan is to allow travellers to stay there free of charge. This will bring money to the local area because they will need transport to the nearby town and will pay the tribe next door to visit their way of life. He is not interested in making any money for himself as his teacher's wages are now enough, he is all about the community, how cool is that! He took me to see his land and to meet the tribe, here are the pics...
This will be the view from Teah's house, he will also run eco friendly tours into the jungle...
Pictures of the Bunong people below...
Teah reckons his secret dream should come to fruition in 5 years time, I have promised to come back and take his photograph again from that exact same spot, hopefully then I won't be travelling alone...
Off on two day trek tomorrow and nothing more to report. Love you all, Adi lady over and out xxx
The weird looking local fruit is called a durian. They are known as 'stinky fruit' because they smell vile. But they taste surprisingly good. I used to eat them in Hong Kong with cheese.
ReplyDeleteMay give one a go then, not too keen on the stinky side of things xx
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