Rubber and the Road

Copyright Tan and Trev 2005

Along long bumpy roads we travel deeper into Cambodia’s agricultural belt. Rural life here is mainly subsistence farming, with the exception of rubber plantations that serves as one of the country’s rare examples of export products.

As one wry saying goes: "In Cambodia, we export tree trunks and import toothpicks."

Rubber plantations are a reminder of French colonial times when Cambodia was one of the region's great rubber producers.

The next stop in our journey is to see how latex is tapped from the regimental lines of rubber tress. The dust churned up by lorries and buses has turned the foliage of the forest on either side of the track brick-red. This is ideal soil for rubber trees.

We watch as our guide demonstrates how grooves carved into the trees' bark allow the white sap to run into waiting pots, where it is collected and processed.


Copyright Tan and Trev 2005

Copyright Tan and Trev 2005