Rice Harvest in Rural Cambodia

Here are some neat pictures of rural Cambodia I took while staying out at my brother's place in Takeo Province.  One day some girls and I went out for a bike ride into the countryside and this is what we saw...

 Mushroom farming

Joe gets to ride on the back rack. 

Rice threshing in process.  That's sugar cane growing in the background.

Pet monkey? 

Blowing the chaff away with a fan 

Bundles of cut rice stalks ready to be threshed 

The home of a relative of one of the girls

Lotus flowers in a pond 

You can eat this part of the lotus plant 

One of the girls came back with a stalk of sugar cane from a neighbor. 

You have to peel away the outside bark with your teeth.  Then you can bite off lengths of the exposed sugar cane.  It's very juicy when you chew it.  When you've sucked out all the juice you spit out the tough, fibrous part that's left.

 

(I didn't eat that whole pole of sugar can in case you're wondering, only about 3 joints) 

 Jon is breaking the cane to share

While sifting through my pictures I  noticed how many ways rice was traveling down the path; on the head, back of a little truck, bicycle, and in this picture by moto.

This fella makes babies around town for a living.  Pardon us, sir, you are blocking our path. 

Taking a rest  

 Any idea what this contraption is for?  My guess is that once the rice is cut and tied in bundles, the bundles can be laid and stacked inside the poles then pedaled down the way to be threshed.

 This granny was working out by the rice fields.  She asked if I had ever harvested rice before and I said no.  She said she can only cut about two bundles before she has to take a break.  I thought it was amazing that she was out there harvesting in the first place.

Harvesting rice by hand. 

On picks a pretty flower growing by the rice fields. 

 During the rainy season these rice fields are a stunning green color.  Now that the rains have stopped, everything is yellow.

 Rice waiting to be de-husked by machine

 

To say 'eat' in Khmer literally translates to 'eat rice'.  These little kernels are central to the Khmer diet and way of life.