I was in Kratie province long ago, stopping there to spend the night, on my way to Laos. The bus stopped at the provincial centre, also called Kratie, and the sign below caught my attention as it stands out prominently in the town’s main street.

I learned from the bus conductor that it was put up by the local commune office in Kratie town to call the entire community’s attention and action to clean their surroundings, especially the river.

Overall, the billboard is very informative and the design looks vintage from yesteryears – like the 1950s bright colours and graphics where everyone looks spic and span. Don’t you think so? The main illustration in the signboard shows people cleaning up. On the upper right side  box, it shows a person throwing a (plastic) bagful of garbage into the river. Underneath that is another person throwing plastic from the window of a moving bus. Such is the practice here and the government, beginning at the lower level, is making efforts to curb this behaviour and practice nationwide.

Billboards like this might look old-fashioned for those who are living in the developed countries but it is a pleasant and welcome sign that begins the awareness raising and behaviour transformation process of the public in many Asian countries like Cambodia. I’m sorry about the blurry picture. On top of the sign, there is an English translation that says:

Clean environment. Good health. Family has happiness.

And at the bottom, there’s another line and it goes like this:

Together we clean our village.

Kratie town has a small, charming centre with a very pleasant riverside scenery. Most tourists, especially backpackers, arrive here after a grueling 8-9hours of bus ride, as the last leg of their Cambodia tour and see the Irrawaddy dolphins, or the Mekong River dolphins,  before crossing the border to Laos the following day.  Behind the sign is the mighty Mekong River that provides a stunning view of the sunset. No wonder this town wanted to protect its beautiful river.

This was originally posted in my photo blog, Inside Cambodia. For more Photo Hunters around the world, check out the main site by clicking the logo above.