An elephant sanctuary in Mondulkiri province. For a small fee, a guide will take you on a short hike to where the elephants live in their natural environment. If you are brave enough you can feed the elephants bananas and sugar cane and sometimes even help bathe the elephant in the river. These elephants have all been raised and trained as a type of farm animal, but are now living in the reserve as they would naturally.

January

On a project trip to Bantey Meanchey province; a monsoon storm rolling in.

February

Busra waterfall in Mondulkiri province.

March

This small tractor is a common implement used throughout the country. A small engine sits above the primary wheels, various farming implements can be attached behind. On this day it was being used to haul a team of intrepid Petram staff out to a construction site that would have been hard to reach by car through the mud.

April

Lotus flowers in a pond. The lotus is a very useful and common plant in Asia. It provides nutrition in bodies of water that are also used to raise fish, shrimp, or crab. The seeds can be eaten as a type of vegetable. The flowers are often used as perfume, decoration, or as gifts.

May

A small ferry and fishing boats near Sdam’s family home in Kampong Cham province. The ferry carries cars and people across the Mekong river.

June

The house in the middle on the bottom is Sdam’s family’s house in the province. Nobody lives there at this time, but the family uses it as a kind of vacation home where we all gather and stay during holidays. Several “aunties” live in the house directly across the street; they watch over the family house in the off seasons.

July

A beach in Sihanukville. I visited this stretch of beach 5 years ago and it looked very different. At that time, from the road to the water was full of tiny, rather run-down guest houses. Since then those have been cleared away, a nice path and landscaping has been put in, and bigger hotels are being built opposite the road.

August

A forest road in hilly Mondulkiri province where the dirt is a distinctive red color.

September

These fields will soon be planted with rice.

October

This is a typical meal being prepared in the “kitchen” of the family house in the province. Today we are having papaya beef soup.

November

This shows the smaller waterway behind Sdam’s family home with the much larger Mekong winding away in the upper right.

December

A cow standing in the front yard of a neighbor’s house in Sdam’s province.