Road Trip

We are on the road again this time to Northern Cambodia. When the boat is operational, the focus of our work will be to the north of Phnom Penh on the Mekong River where there are three main towns, Kampong Cham, Kratie, and Stung Treng. Stung Treng is close to the Laos border and was the most remote and interesting to get to. The highway between Kratie and Stung Treng is far from completion. It is being built by the Chinese government. There would be about 10 miles of paved road and then back to dirt again. The greatest challenge was avoiding the cows, chickens, pigs, and water buffaloes that would be walking down the center line. One chicken was not quite fast enough and I’m sorry to say it is still where we last saw him! We passed rubber plantations and fields of a plant we could not identify. Pepper plants and banana trees were in great abundance. There were still many rice fields, but the landscape was definitely more varied than what we have seen in southern Cambodia. The purpose for the trip was to visit each provincial hospital and Public Health minister. We have met once before with the different officials, but with the delay we wanted to confirm the project was still a reality. They are still eager for our help.