Transplanting Rice (by Bec)

Hey all, just wanted to make a quick entry to say that this weekend, through my work, I got to experience transplanting rice. We have an office in the provinces, just over an hour out of Phnom Penh, which has several rice fields. Every year my work gives staff the opportunity to volunteer their services and help. I, of course, was keen to go along and know what it was like. And let me tell you...it is hard! The actual process is simple - as you follow the guide of a rope that has rubber bands attached to it, all evenly spaced. Where you find the rubber band is where the rice plant goes. So that part is fairly simple - what is hard, is being out in the heat, bending over constantly to plant. Being in the mud though is kind of fun, although it makes walking a little harder and very squishy. All up, I think I lasted less than an hour....so I possibly wasn't that much of a help....but it was a great experience and I'm glad I went along. I have uploaded some photos on flickr - a lot I have marked as private because they are of work colleagues and their children, so if you're not a member (or listed as a friend or family member of Ben and I) you won't get to see the whole set but I have left some of them open for public consumption. In the meantime, here are two to have a look at...

The field in which we planted...