Just sharing another picture of rural Cambodia. I took this during one of our previous road trips last month.

apad 107 the old man and his cow

On the way to Phnom Oudong (background), an old man and his cow.

Turning into this dusty road on the way to Phnom Oudong, we drove slowly following this old man, walking barefeet. My husband was driving slowly, carefully, so as not to stir the red, sticky dust and envelope the old man it. With the stifling heat at that time, I was amazed at how he went about his chore. When we passed him by, I rolled the window down and politely said, “chum riep soo, lok ta.” Hello, grandpa. My husband chimed in, in perfect timing.

 Lok ta turned his head to us and smiled,  broadly revealing a toothless mouth.  From what I saw, lok ta looked  genuinely surprised and pleased at a barang‘s (foreigner’s) greeting in his own language. “Baa, okun”. Thank you, he replied. I asked him where he was going. He’s taking his wayward cow back to the herd a hundred metres away. And he went on his merry way.

I know this is just a random encounter but I wonder what was he thinking afterwards. Would he remember the day these two foreigners (us) stopped by and talked to him? What did he think about us? For sure, I’ll remember him and his toothless grin. I pray that he be healthy to be able to do his chores and that he be safe in doing so.


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6 Comments

  1. The red of the soil is amazing, you don’t ever see earth that colour here

    Mollyxxx

  2. Beautiful!!!

  3. It looks so peaceful. Wonderful story!

  4. I’m sure he was so pleased! I’m so glad to find your blog. I’ve only visited Cambodia for a few hours on a visa run from Thailand. It was quite a day. I love reading expat blogs.

  5. To exchange a few kind words with someone costs us nothing but could mean the world to someone else. A lovely story.

  6. Very interesting place and image.

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