Cambodian countryside

Cambodia is a profoundly agricultural country. I heard today that about 80% of households do not have access to the electrical grid. The average person makes about two dollars a day.

The first photo shows the countryside at its best. Since this is the dry season, lush fields were not common sights.

The second photo was taken out the window of a van. It shows about two-thirds of a typical country house. Note that all the living space is high off of the ground to compensate for the annual flooding.

Some historians suggest that the rural areas around this part of Cambodia supported a much larger population and had more sophisticated irrigation systems 900 years ago than today.