Cambodia – Kep
Where the heck is Kep? Well - we're going to skip on Phnom Penh for now, and do that entry last. But - this was our sweet Tuk Tuk transport from the Phnom Penh airport to our guesthouse (in the pouring rain).
We did make it to the Killing Fields at Choeung Ek before heading to Kep - but I'll cover that later. On Tuesday Carly and I met up with a bunch of teachers from CIS that were heading to a small village (if you could call it that) near Kep (which is in the far south of Cambodia, on the South China Sea, only a few kilometers from the Vietnamese border). We took these shots along the way at one of our 'pee breaks'.
For the record, it is not uncommon to see the standard scooter or motorcycle acting as a family sedan for FIVE! Unfortunately, this shot only has three, but nonetheless - Dad holds onto the baby or youngest in front as he drives. Behind him are the next two oldest, and Mom takes up the rear holding on for dear life.
We were off to build 10 houses in 2 days for families that had previously lived in tiny little thatch huts that provided almost no protection from the rain. Based on my poor estimating skills, these thatch huts were about 4-5 feet in height at most, and offered about 20 square feet of living space, sometimes for a family of 8. We teamed up with Tabitha to do the house building. These families are responsible for saving US$30 towards the house, and the team chips in the rest. Total cost is about US$800 per house. It has taken these families two YEARS to save US$30. There is no electricity or running water (or clean water for that matter) to be found anywhere near the place where we were building, and the roads to get out to this area of town must be experienced to be believed. Rarely paved, and often full of huge potholes, it was a bumpy ride to say the least.
If I recall correctly, it is approximately 120 kilometers from Phnom Penh to Kep, which took us about 3 hours of driving time due to road conditions. We stayed at a guest house there called N4, which is just off the South China Sea. Here are a few shots of the guest house area.
Each day for the two days we were there, we drove approximately 40 minutes from our guest house to the "village" where we were erecting the houses. This picture does a pretty good job at showing the thatch huts that these families have been living in - alongside the houses we were building.
I'm sure that you, as well as I - can't imagine a family of 8 living in the "big" house, let alone the thatch huts to the right in the background.
Here are a bunch of other shots we took, including some great ones of the families and kids, and some not so great ones of us doing work.
We broke off into groups of 6 or 7 - this was the first house our group finished.
I'm certain that this man was still in utter disbelief at his new home - he cried - it was gut wrenching to watch.
Contrary to popular belief amongst my friends - I do know how to use a hammer:
This was a group shot we took after the last of the houses was finished.
