A memory of a recent trip to Siam Reep, Cambodia

While traveling in Cambodia a friend, Alan, and I hired a Tuk Tuk (I’ll tell you more about a tuk tuk at another time) to take us on a private tour of the countryside around Siam Reep. We went for quite a wild ride through the busy streets with hundreds of motor cycles cutting in front of us at top speed and people crossing the streets without much thought of ongoing vehicles. It was great fun for us, but a normal way of doing things in this country. We rode out into the edge of this city and found ourselves, after a long and dusty ride on a very washed out road, in the middle of a huge rice field. There was nothing but water buffalo and horses near an old barn and young rice shoots spreading out for what seemed miles. But in the middle of this field sat a Buddha in his meditative position. The sun was warm and the breeze slight and he made it all seem so comfortable and safe. From where he sat he could look out over all the rice fields and I think he must have been blessing the harvest of all the farmers.