Can the bullock cart at least survive as a symbol of our once thriving and highly evolved civilisation or must we dismiss it as a relic of the past to re-determine our place in a globalised world?

Some 800 years ago, when the Kingdom of the Khmers was at the height of its glory, it was the bullock cart that served its expansion and regional supremacy as a modern means of transportation. Immortalised on the famed bas-reliefs of the temples of Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom. The bullock cart was testimony to a once flourishing and highly advanced civilisation. Today, Cambodia is among the poorest countries, not merely in the region of Southeast Asia, but in the entire world. The overwhelming majority of the country’s population continues to live in its villages, eking out a living as small farmers. Despite the spread of modern means of transportation and the increasing motorisation of Cambodian society, the bullock cart still remains an indispensable mode of transportation in many parts of rural Cambodia, particularly in the rainy season. Large parts of the country still remain without electricity; roads and trails are bad. Have time and progress bypassed the rural Cambodians, leaving them out in the cold? Will only the rich and the urban stand to benefit from the innovations of the modern age? What implications will Cambodia’s integration into the world market and its accession to the WTO have for the majority of its people? Can there be a future that combines the fruits of the modern age with prosperity to benefit all? Can the bullock cart at least survive as a symbol of our once thriving and highly evolved civilisation or must we dismiss it as a relic of the past to re-determine our place in a globalised world?