DAY 12 of SDARL CLASS X LEADERSHIP TRIP to VIETNAM and CAMBODIA

Day 12 was a bus tour from Siem Reap to our final destination of Phnom Penn before departing tomorrow. This trip is 350 kilometers (roughly the same distance as it is from Sisseton to Elk Point) and without any stops is over a 5 hour bus trip. The maximum speed limit is 90 km/hr (60 mph).  the. Highway was a wide two lane with wide shoulders and would accommodate a faster speed. If all things were equal, but they are not.  Heavy bike, scooter and farm equipment traffic, a high accident rate and the fact that drivers treat it like a three lane road and often just go to the empty spot.  It has taken some getting used to.  Another reason for 90 km/hr is that the minimum age for driving I8, but no official driving school is required and many children still drive below that age.

Sharing the road with others

We visited a Kubota dealership.  The dealership is owned by a woman who also owns another store in Siem Reap.  She told us that the equipment is imported from Thailand and includes tractors, combines, and backhoes. The group enjoyed seeing the equipment as the dealership mirrored a US facility with the exception of the equipment being much smaller. We were surprised to hear that a rice combine like the one we saw and reported in blog while in Vietnam cost $30,000.  Newer and bigger track machines with automated rice baggers run around $70,000.  Per one of the sales representatives, most of the dealer financing comes directly from Kubota.  Given that productive farm land can run up to $10,000 per acre, the price of the combine did not seem out of line.

Does Jared see himself combining rice?

Jay feels at home

In between stops our guide Sam Sam our tour guide mentioned the health care system in Cambodia is poor. Most of the time when people are seriously sick they are sent to Thailand or Vietnam. Most people will go to a private clinic when they are sick to be accepted quicker. However, a private clinic is much more expensive. The education system is free. However, many families can’t afford the school uniform and supplies. 40% of high school graduates continue their studies at a university.

School children done with morning classes

Along the way we stopped at an old ancient bridge and to use the “happy room” (an America rest stop). The bridge is over 800 years old and is completely a man made structure. We also ate lunch at a local restaurant. We ate spring rolls, stir fry, fried fish, chicken curry, and French fries.

Tom after checking out the ancient bridge for himself

We stopped at a small farm along the highway that makes pounded rice, similar to what we saw and reported on yesterday.  Today’s host ingeniously invented a way to stir the cooking rice, pound the rice and screen the fines out before it becomes a finished product.  Some might think it crude but watching and studying it in action, it was a great example of using what’s available to make what is needed.

Farmer’s wife explaining how to make the pounded rice

The machine is powered by a gas engine and belts.  Shafts and belts run to the stirring pans in the front, rice pounding hammer by the wife and a rod off of the main engine shaft shakes the rice in the green pan.

Cleaned rice screen

Lori with the rice farmers kids - the real stars of the show.

Cambodia’s main agricultural exports include rice, cashews, rubber, and black pepper. We saw many of these crops in the afternoon. The landowner we visited owns one hectare that she grows black pepper. This is harvested by hand and her family raises 4 ton of black pepper per year. 1 kilogram of black pepper brings about $6 at the market. We found it interesting that the cost of production is $3,000 per hectare. The bankers in the group enjoyed the fact that she knew her exact cost to help figure out her margins.

Today’s reporter Matt and Tom learn about pepper trees

Sam translates the cost of growing pepper from the owner and her daughter 

Drying pepper

We also saw their cashew and rubber plantation. Cashews are harvested in May and June. They are grown in volcanic soil. Some cashew plantations are up to 10 hectares in Cambodia. The trees of the rubber plantation were 12 year old. Rubber trees can produce rubber for over 20 years. A rubber factory is close by in which the rubber is sold.

Cashews grow in a larger shell that turns red

New clusters growing

Krysti samples the red cashew cluster.  It eats like an apple

Diagonal cuts in the bark of a rubber tree, drain and rubber collector (half of a coconut shell)

The owner explains rubber tree planting and harvest

Our last stop was to a local market along the highway. Numerous fruits were sold but the group was more interested in the insects, bats, and birds being sold. We all enjoy our fried food, but this selection was something different.  Jerry did share a cricket, tarantula legs and part of the body with Sam.  When in Rome...

After we arrived to Phnom Penn, we ate supper together at a local restaurant and returned to  pack our bags for the trip home.

We all had a great trip and learned an incredible amount about Vietnam and Cambodia. We are blessed to live in a great country with so many wonderful benefits. Our challenge to ourselves is how we take what we have learned, develop it for application in our lives and return home to make South Dakota a better place.  The global view and how we can best work with our world partners is vital to the legacy we will leave behind.  We are looking forward to our trip home tomorrow. We have missed American food and our day to day lives, but most importantly we have missed our families and loved ones.

Thank you for taking the time to read the blog. We hope you enjoyed our pictures and stories. A special thanks to Jerry Cope for putting all of this together each day.

Matt Lindgren, reporter; Sam Olson and Ellie Haerter, photographers

DAY 11 of SDARL CLASS X LEADERSHIP TRIP to VIENAM. And CAMBODIA

SDARL Class X toured the famous Ankgor archeological sites today. Steeped in history more than a thousand years old, these UNESCO world heritage sites located just north of Siem Reap, Cambodia, did not disappoint.

Lead by our local guides Sam and Van, what we visited are marked by stars on the map - Angkor Thom and the Bayon Temple, Prasat Ta Prohm and Angie Wat.  

Visiting these sites first-hand to see the history and culture of this region inspires us to want to know more.  By viewing their past it helps as we consider the impacts it makes in today's economy and politics.  For example, one temple was built to show that Hindu and Buddhist faiths could be recognized in the same structure.  Unfortunately for King Jayavarman VII, the next king did not have the same beliefs and the symbols of Buddhism were destroyed so that Hinduism was more prominent. 

 Bayon Temple was once the largest city on earth at 750,000 people.

The class at Bayon Temple 

The recognition of wars fought between the Khmer empire and the Cham (located in what is now central Vietnam) are eternally etched in the stone at Angkor Wat. So too are the stories of everyday life for a citizen of this ancient city, including their view of heaven and hell.  One of the walls depicted the eternal battle between good and evil.  It did this based on the calendar using one character for each day, starting with the evil then switching back and forth between good and evil at the equinoxes, when daylight is equal to darkness, and at the solstices when days start getting shorter or longer.  During the year this was was constructed, there were two more days to the equinoxes when evil characters were used resulting in two more characters than good.  Other note worthy takeaways include things like when one side of a temple was built, they built the other side identical and that all areas where water was used had a water drain running true north.  This attention to detail make these sites much more than old ruins.      

 Angkor Wat was built in 37 years

Many of the steps had very narrow ledges and were very steep.  It was a deterrent to attack and some required crawling while climbing in a way that resembled bowing to the gods.

To read more about these sites, we recommend the United Nations website: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/668

A specific part of our tour today included a stop at the local tree farm which grows several varieties of hardwoods including mahogany to be replaced inside the Angkor National Park. There's a specific authority assigned to undertake this important work called APSARA National Authority (Authority for the protection of the site and the management of the Angkor Region) which specifically created the tree farms nearly ten years ago. The trees need replenished as a viable Ag resource for Cambodia.  The stands have been severely depleted by unsustainable logging.  We viewed trees at various growth stages. At twelve months, the trees are transplanted to their new permanent location. This farm is one of four to service the park and it produces 40,000 trees annually. 

 Mahogany seedlings

 Sam interprets from the tree nursery manager

Tree seeds in the pod

Workers prepare seeds for planting

Learning about the softwoods and hardwoods came in handy when we visited Ta Prohm as the growth of the trees has a significant effect on the structure of the temple.  The trees grew into the temple because it was abandoned for many years.

 This temple was also site of filming Tomb Raiders of the Lost Ark

A collection of water, seeds and time allowed these trees to take hold

No trip to Angkor Wat is complete without some monkeying around. These wildlife didn't seem interrupted by our laughing at them! When we arrived the motor bike had 6 monkeys crawling on it and the Monkeys had found the souvenir

Our final stop today was the Artisans of Angkor training program. Young people between the ages of 18-25 are selected from a wide area to learn trades taught in this school. The 48 training workshops offered included skills such as woodcarving, sandstone carving, lacquer painting and ceramics. 

Tomorrow we make the trip by bus to Phnom Penh, our final city on this incredible international seminar.  As the Class X International tour winds down we realize that opportunities such as these help mold thoughts and shape our view of how we fit in the the world.  Leadership comes from all levels.  It is learning a thought process of not what to think, but how to think.  Understanding helps us recognize that we have seen, experienced and learned much that can help us be better leaders for ourselves; our families; our communities; our state and beyond.

Reporter: Elli Haerter, Sam Olson, Matt Lundgren, Chris Kassube

Day 10 of SDARL CLASS X LEADERSHIP TRIP to VIETNAM and CAMBODIA

SDARL class X arrived in Cambodia this morning.  We met our tour guide Sam who will be showing us around for the next three days.

Sam, our Cambodian guide

Sam gave us some background on Cambodia as we hit the ground running on the first day.  Cambodia has been harshly affected by years of war.  We will see and hear more on how war has shaped both Sam and his country directly, indirectly and from within.  Direct affects came from war with the neighboring countries of Thailand and Vietnam and years of French colonization.  Indirect affects came from the US bombing of the Cambodian portion of the Ho Chi Minh Trail during the Vietnam Nam war.  The trail was a North Vietnamese supply route to move soldiers and supplies from North Vietnam, through Laos and Cambodia back into South Vietnam.  Lastly were affects from within when the Khmer Rouge regime caused the death of nearly half their population from 1975 to 1979.

The total population of Cambodia is 16 million people. Out of the 16 million people 80% of them are farmers. 

In the country side the single dwelling homes we saw yesterday had the same style.  The homes are built on stilts but most with one side built higher than the other.  Newer ones had a cement foundation on one side and the older ones were elevated about 5 or 6 feet with the other side of both styles elevated about 10 feet.  They are built this way for three reasons.  First because of the flooding. Second for shade during the hot days. Third reason is for storage. 

The average annual income outside of the city is $400 per month, in the city $1100 per month and in the floating village, similar to what we experienced on the Mekong River in Vietnam, $500 per month. Only 46% of the rural population can read and write. The children in Cambodia either go to school in the morning session or afternoon session. They do this because of shortage of teachers and classroom space. 

There are two main seasons in Cambodia. One season is dry and one season is rainy. 

The rainy season is June through October.  Flying in and touring on the bus, it is noticeably dry and brown where it isn’t irrigated.    

Our first stop was one of the four highlight temples in Cambodia, Banteay Srey Temple. This temple was constructed around the year 967.  This one and many of the other temples in Cambodia have fallen prey to weather, time, robbers and in some cases part of them are nearly buried by termite mounds.  There are more than 1000 Temples throughout the country.  Cambodia is 96% Buddhist and worship attendance varies in the faith.  There is a Buddhist feast day of celebration every 8 days and the more devout followers go to temple on those days.

 Entering the temple

 Sam explaining how the walls were constructed 

 Tom and Garrett 

 Gods of the temple

Detail of the carvings

Our next stop was an enjoyable traditional Cambodian meal at Bong Thom Forest Lodge.

Matt, Jackson and the crew

After lunch we visited the Cambodia Landmine Museum, founded as a museum and school in 1997 by Aki Ra to help kids in need.  Mr. Ra was a soldier involuntarily conscripted as a child into the army of the Khmer Rouge.  He spent most of his youth fighting and was good at using land mines.  After the war, he returned home to help his country and not hurt it anymore,  He was, and is active in finding and disarming the many tons of land mines and unexploded munitions still buried in parts of the county.  There were more than 10 million landmines buried throughout the country. Right now in Cambodia 6 million hidden mines, roughy half, still remain today.

A Palm Sugar Tree farm was our fourth stop of the day. The Palm Sugar Tree is the National tree of Cambodia. They can get 2-5 bamboo containers of sugar syrup from each tree a day. There are male and female trees, of course the female trees produce more sugar. We were able to taste test the palm sugar juice and it was delicious.

 Climbing the palm tree 

In the palm tree to harvest palm

Cooking the palm sugar

Tom ponders whether to climb and harvest 

Garrett tries the Rice noodles made from scratch & boiled for all to observe process

The farmer’s daughter

On fifth stop of the day, we enjoyed a visit to a local rice farm. Where a local farmer was plowing his field with two new young oxen. The two oxen cost $1100 each.  His wife followed behind planting the rice plant. 30% of the farmers have sold their livestock and now use a tractor.  We were greeted with music, experienced a Cambodia speaclity of rice and black beans cooked with palm sugar in the husk of sugar cane.

The oxen make the indentation with hooves to plant rice 

Grant helps plant the rice the oxen have left spaces for

Tanse decides to be manager and make sure Grant is doing it correctly

The children enjoyed being part of our tour today

Lorrin won over the children’s hearts 

 This is the sugar palm stalk they cooked the rice and beans in

Ingredients that go into the sugar palm stalks

Our last tour before checking into our hotel is a rice noodle farm. They grind the rice to make rice flour that is used to make the rice noodles. They then use a big stone to press the water out. After the press, they boil boil the powder in water. Next they pound the boiled powder and put the product into a noodle mold. The noodle drops from the mold right into the hot water to cook the noodle.  The elder woman had even been the featured chef on the front cover of the “Chef’s of Cambodia” national magazine,

At each stop, we were greeted by the families who use their agriculture enterprises to make a living in production Ag as well showcase it as a way to ad value to their work.  They had all prepared places for us to sit, mingle and experience their products interacting with the whole family.

All were treated to a nice plate served dinner and with entertainment consisting of traditional Cambodian music and dancing. 

Reporter: ReEtta Sieh, Photographers: Jackson Waage, Garrett Masat & Tyler Urban