APAD 146: Rainy season

Folks, the rainy season has officially started.

The roads in most rural areas in Cambodia are now, more or less, like this:

This photo was taken years ago when I was on a fieldwork in Kamchai Mear district in Prey Veng. The soil has turned into a red, sticky, slippery matter that was ankle-high. In some areas, there were lots of potholes filled with water. When this dried up, they were as hard as cement. I kid you not. I can show you my shoes, if you insist, lol.

I pity the guy as he maneuvered his moto through this sticky mess. A little further down the road, it was even worse that our 4WD got stuck for an hour. It took about a dozen village folks to extricate our vehicle from the mud. Imagine the schoolchildren who walks to school everyday. The villagers we interviewed wished for better road conditions.

Several years after that fieldtrip, this wish was somehow granted. A former colleague told me that almost all of the roads to Kamchai Mear are now better, wider and cemented. Thanks to international funding, life is now easier in this rural area. Good news indeed.