It has been holiday time for the past few weeks here. Even though the Pchum Ban Festival only officially lasts for 5 days, holiday mode seems to stretch on for a good number of days longer afterwards, not to mention several weeks beforehand. So Phnom Penh has been a good deal less hectic than normal, as most of the population has been off in the provinces.
 |
| Oudong Mountain Puddlescape (not normally lake here, btw, and yes, those are treetops sticking out of the water) |
In the matter of comings and goings: Steve Armes left on the 20th of September and Sarah, James and Jared left on the 24th. A big thank to you all for all the work that you've done.
A few days later, Dan Maluga and Gaye nearly-Maluga visited briefly, en route from Thailand to Australia, for their wedding (coming up this weekend).
A few days later, Dan Maluga and Gaye nearly-Maluga visited briefly, en route from Thailand to Australia, for their wedding (coming up this weekend).
 | ||
| Wat, complete with numerous what-nots |
While Dan & Gaye were in town, those of us left behind in Phnom Penh made a pilgrimage to Oudong Mountain (which, incidentally, was the site of the popping of a certain question about a year ago). This involves a rather long slow ride in a tuk tuk. We arrived at the mountain, (along with everyone else, it seemed) and walked up to the top, where, guess what... there's a Wat. In the few places where a hill does poke its nose up out of the floodplains of Cambodia, it invariably has the indignity of being crowned with a Wat. However, the day was lovely, and the view from the top was awesome, if a little hazy. About 2/3rds of the view was no longer landscape, but puddle-scape!
We enjoyed the time up there very much and had lunch up there too. On the way back down we saw a monkey sitting on the side of the path. It only took one rattle of the bag of bananas that Loy was holding to arouse his attention, so she quickly got one out and threw it to him. He sat there and peeled the banana and commenced eating it. David knelt down for a closer look, a move interpreted by Mr. Monkey as a threat to the security of his banana, as he lunged at David with teeth bared and then ran off into the trees with what remained of his highly-prized banana.
 |
| Water, water, everywhere, but not a drop that I'd drink |
On our way back to Phnom Penh we noticed that the water had risen in the few hours since we had been through, in one place having crept further over onto the road. There was SO MUCH water everywhere; so much so that now the Tonle Sap is not flowing, neither backwards nor forwards, but simply spilling outwards, as it is just so full. The consequence of this is that many of the houses on the banks of the river have floodwater lapping at their gate, at the doorstep, at the window sills, or even at the eaves.
 |
| Water creeping it way across the road, which is itself built up above the surrounding countryside |
This has been the wettest wet season that they've had in a long while. Now in places along the riverbank in Phnom Penh the water, normally many metres below the city, is only 10 to 20cm from coming over the banks! There is just such a collosal amont of water here, and we're told there's another typhoon still on its way. We are not yet at the end of the wet season so watch this space. Sadly, over 150 people have died already in Cambodia from the recent flooding, more than half of them children. About 330,000 hectares of rice paddy have been inundated, which is likely to mean high prices for rice here in the coming year, and ongoing hardship for the poorest here. The impact in Thailand has been even greater (see here for more info).
Comments