Bikes, Dust, Chickens, Trains and more CrIckets

Today we were on the bus at 7:30 am. After a quick stop to pick up tools and much needed WD-40 we drove to a Red Cross facility in very rural Cambodia (Koas Krala). No distribution today but we had 300 bikes to deal with. 200 needed to be assembled for distribution on Wednesday at the Red Cross. The other 100 were prepared for shipment by tractor taxi to remote Takor primary school. For lunch today we went to a village compound. In preparation for our arrival they had watered the road so there would be no dust while we ate. We sat under thatched roofs with chickens,dogs and cats at our feet. We were served rice, (road) dried salted fish, beef sausage balls, pork and my favorite-stir fried veggies with liver and kidney and what looked like a small eyeball. after lunch we went back to the Red Cross to finish the bikes then off to the bamboo train. (search "bamboo train" on YouTube). This was fun. The train is just a motor car wit bamboo slats and a small motor. We had to stop to untie cows that were tangled up on the tracks. Then we stopped for drinks at a very poor area. Sancheat (our interpreter) bought a bag of crickets for a snack. There were trays of raw meat lying in the open and covered in flies. Meanwhile the bamboo train was lifted off the tracks and turned around for our ride back. Tomorrow we will go back to the Red Cross compound and distribute the 200 assembled bikes. Then after the same delightful lunch stop we will hop on a tractor taxi to go to Takor School to put together (we are hoping the students will have most of the work done) the bikes. The tractor taxi ride will be 1 hour on a rough track where the bus can't go. We have each bought pillows for the hard wooden seats