 |  |  | |   | |  | | The Samaki Market is the central point of Pailin. Most of the goods available in the market are imported from neighbouring Thailand. | | | | | | |  | | The sign outside the Pailin Police Station asking people to hand in their weapons. Cambodia is saturated with weapons of all kinds including land mines which still and maim and kill today. It is sad but not unusual to see people with legs missing hobbling around on crutches. | | | | | | |  | | This mining operation is to the west of Pailin. There were quite a few people working on this mine. The miners here showed me small parcels of rubies. | | | | | | |  | | One rather shocking sight in Pailin is the number of mountains & hills which have been left totally bare through the logging carried out by the Khmer Rouge. I also noticed a few furniture factories in Pailin making wooden furniture so the logging continues. | | | | | | |  | | A row of gem cutters in the Samaki Market. These guys were cutting zircons & garnets. There are also a number of stone dealers in the market with a real mixture of gems, mostly low grade. Some of the stones were obviously imported from Thailand, all being offered as local material. There was also a fair amount of synthetics mixed in some of the parcels. | | | | | | |  | | A market trader with her daughter sit outside their stall of imported Thai music. Quite a few people I met could speak Thai as well as their native Khmer. Of all the languages spoken in S.E. Asia, I would have to say Khmer would have to be one of the most difficult to learn. | | | | | | |  | | A gem cutter polishing sapphires. Like most things in Pailin, the machinery used for faceting is imported form neighbouring Thailand. The quality of the cutting varied from not bad to others that looked as though they had been cut with an axe. | | | | | | |  | | Outside the Samaki Market where most of the activity seems to take place. About half the roads in the town centre are surfaced, the rest is dusty dirt road. | | | | | | |  | | Outside the Samaki Market where most of the activity seems to take place. About half the roads in the city centre are surfaced, the rest is dusty dirt road. | | | | | | |  | On the climb up to Wat Phnom Yat I cam across these two guys who were scouring the ground looking for sapphires. They told me they have found stones there in the past especially after heavy rainfall, when they are joined by sometimes hundreds of other people. | | | |  | |  | |
