Traditional Khmer homes

The house I currently live in is a more modern style than most of the homes I pass on the road. Traditional homes here are usually on stilts and made of wood. They are cooler than more modern cement homes and more family-centered. By "family centered" I mean that there is one great room that everyone usually sleeps in together and a couple of small rooms for guests or teens that want their space.





Some of the traditional homes don't have a front door (or they are usually shut only at night). When I pass on the road children and family members are usually hanging out in this area. Homes here are often placed in clusters and neighbors have strong bonds (sometimes they are extended family). There is the occasional rude neighbor that does not hang out with other homes or makes a crazy amount of noise. As you can imagine, wooden homes are not very sound proof.

Some people in the countryside are located right next to their farms and the entire family works to keep the household running. In this picture the family makes bricks and lays them in the sun to later sell.

Something I have seen more recently is a combination of wooden stilt bottom and cement top. This is costly and usually done as a home improvement later.

The framework for a wooden stilt house. They are usually built fairly quickly, (depending on the motivation of the crew).

You are probably wondering what people do with their trash. Usually it is placed in a pile near the house and burned almost daily. The clouds of trash smoke are often a joke among volunteers because of the copious amounts of plastic and other things burned. In a house like the one above, the trash is probably placed in the ditch next to the house. I have only seen trash pick-up in provincial towns and the capital. My town has some kind of pick up. People come around with a wheelbarrow and collect cans and bottles for money as well. Trash is not private here, my family and neighbors go through mine before it finally reaches the hands of the collector or compost pile. I often see a pill bottle or Pringles can being used for other things around the house.

This is the view of my road from the ferry. As you can see, my road is not a very typical looking Khmer neighborhood.

My house is directly straight up from where the people are walking and has a red banner at the bottom.