Very Cool Boat Ride

Our first week of "work" here in Cambodia turned out to finish with a three-day national holiday. Our offices were closed so Tami and I took the opportunity to return to the ruins of Angkor in the northwest of the country. We repeated the route we took back in January taking a bus from Phnom Penh to Battambang. From there, we took a boat down a river that feeds into the Tonle Sap, Southeast Asia's largest lake. The ride takes anywhere from six to over ten hours but we were excited to do it again. I think we both consider it one of the high points of our entire time on the road.

Over the course of the ride you see people living next to and on the water in ways that seem straight out of some whimsical fiction. The children along the way (and there are hundreds) scream "hello" and wave like parade queens and marshalls. I think the boat passing is the high point of any day. On our first trip we saw floating pig pens tethered behind floating houses; huge, hand-built bamboo fishing contraptions that raised and lowered a net suspended from a long boom; floating stores/barbers/other businesses; trees hacked to just above the water line for firewood for cooking....it was surreal. We left Battambang just after dawn. The Khmers (Cambodians- almost all of whom use the boat as transport between watery villages) ride down below in the seated area. The tourists all ride up on top to enjoy the view.

About an hour and a half into the trip, this guy came through to check our tickets. So, what would he have done if we didn't have one? LOL

Often, the captain threaded a path through flooded scrub growth. We saw lots of channels and how he knew which to take was a mystery. At one point, we had to share the lane with this boat of Muslims. Apparently there are many living and fishing in the area. They were all smiles.
Sometimes we had to duck the overhanging branches. My shoes almost got swept overboard.
We realized after the first good strafing that the branches were home to innumerable red ants. For a long time everyone alternated between ducking branches, sweeping ants off the deck and brushing frantically at their clothes. No more relaxing sunbathing. It was hilarious.
We were happy we survived that part.
At villages where a passenger was getting off or on, a canoe would row out to meet our boat. It was like an aqua version of a Greyhound bus coming to a small town. Family members and friends seemed really happy to see one another.
If you worked as hard as this dude all your life, you might look this tough.
Life on the water seemed to be just as beneficial to some of the ladies. Is that a mermaid tail she's sitting on?
Even out here TV has its irresistible appeal. What the heck they can receive, though, I have no idea. It's REMOTE.
Everyone has a boat. All the boats have batteries. As a matter of fact, batteries are what power those TV's or any electric lights. A common business seems to be a battery recharging station. Got generator?

A little off the top?
This is a super-sweet ride. If you're ever in the area, check it out. Here are more photos from both our trips: http://destinationasia.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album33

Stasis

Checking in from Cambodia where the rainy season is beginning and the temps have finally fallen into the sub-molten range. It's been almost ten months since Tami and I first came to this region. Southeast Asia has been fun and interesting. We've spent time in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and China (even made it over the border into pre-uprising Burma for one day).

Two days ago, we crossed back into Cambodia. This time, we're going to stay put for awhile. A couple of months back we started searching for volunteer positions and we've just been placed in Phnom Penh. We're excited because we really enjoyed Cambodia our first trip through back in January. The Khmer people are super-friendly and charming, especially the kids.


The country's just civilized enough that you can be comfortable, but twisted enough that you can dip into plenty of experiences that you'll remember for a long time. (See the delicious fried crickets and tarantulas below.)


It's got nice coast and beaches.

It's got ancient ruins that are simply superlative. I've never seen any more inspiring on this planet.




If all goes as planned, we'll be in Phnom Penh for the next three months. We're excited. We'll be volunteering/working for an organization (Kiva) that makes micro-loans to very small business people. I have a feeling we're going to learn a lot.

Something about this particular stop feels different - like we've reached the farthest extreme of our orbit. As with all other good things, our time on the road feels like it might be coming to an end. Plans can always change but, after Phnom Penh, we expect to turn our sites slowly toward home. From Cambodia we plan to go back to India for a few months and, barring any irresistible temptations . . . . we should be back in the States by early summer.