Wed, Feb 13, 2008 at 8:23 PM
i wrote this email 2 days ago, but once i finished... the internet
connection was too slow to send it. ararghgh. (and the dvd never did
get burned.)
now i'm in phnom penh. we got here yesterday mid-afternoon and janet
flew back to beijing (and work) this morning. i'm about to go take a
walk around the city. its almost 8:30 here, and the weather is lovely
this time of day. by about 1:00 or 2:00 it is insanely hot and stays
that way until 5:00 or so, when it really cools down and gets lovely
again.
phnom penh is quite a change from the palm village... lots of honking!
but i'm planning to go get a massage at a spa during the hot hours, so
that should be nice and restful...
****
i was hoping to be at the palm village swimming pool at this very
moment, but i need to empty out some memory cards and so i'm burning
dvds at the hotel computer, which is really, really slow.
so i'm writing an email while i wait. the past few days have been very
busy and intense. lots of temples, of course. but today we did
something different and took a tour to kompong khleang,a
stilt/floating village on tonle sap lake. we hired it through the 2
dragons guesthouse, run by an expat from the main line. janet and i
went by tuk-tuk with our driver/guide, mr. bunny (pronounced boo-ni).
mr. bunny was very sweet and very knowledgable about the lake and the
village, which was good. he was also a little hung-over... but it
didn't seem to cramp his style much.
it took over an hour to get to the beginnings of kompong khleang. a
chilly but interesting drive, with a stop at a local market in the
village of dom duk. when we turned off the main road just past dom
duk, things started to get even more interesting. more farmland, more
modest houses, more kids who were very excited to wave at us. you knew
you had moved into non-touristed territory when the kids say "bye bye"
instead of "hello." eventually we reached the jumping off point for
getting out of the tuk-tuk and into a boat. this was when things got
really interesting... we started down the tonle sap river and... let's
see how to describe this. the farmers/fishers in this area both plant
and fish. during the dry season (now) their houses are way up on
stilts above the river, they go out to the lake to fish, and they
plants the fields as well as growing plants in the water, which they
use to farm shrimp and they harvest and eat the floers of the plants.
once the wet season comes, the tonle sap lake is flooded by both the
monsoons and overflow from the mekong river (which actually backs up
into the lake. the lake is huge... the largest body of water in
southeast asia, i believe). the houses are now in the water, as are
the farms.
we sailed past people living their life along the river/lake... and
eventually went out into the lake, where there is a floating
village... houses out in the water, where the people use canoes to go
back and forth. little shops... tv antennas on the roofs!... fishermen
way out in the lake, just visible. very peaceful. then back towards
the main town --- kompong khleang really isn't a village, it's a town
--- where we got out of the boat and went fora walk trhough the local
temple and market. by this time it was midday and very hot, so it was
quiet. lots of people taking siestas in their hammocks... we stopped
for a cold drink at a little stall. and then back on the boat, and
then back on the tuk-tuk, and back into town.
once i get back to beijing, i'll post some photos online, because the
day was really something easier viewed than described!
okay, this dvd has STILL not finished burning... and my swimming time
is up and now i need to go and seemy final sunset at angkor. leaving
for phnom penh early tomorrow morning...
i wrote this email 2 days ago, but once i finished... the internet
connection was too slow to send it. ararghgh. (and the dvd never did
get burned.)
now i'm in phnom penh. we got here yesterday mid-afternoon and janet
flew back to beijing (and work) this morning. i'm about to go take a
walk around the city. its almost 8:30 here, and the weather is lovely
this time of day. by about 1:00 or 2:00 it is insanely hot and stays
that way until 5:00 or so, when it really cools down and gets lovely
again.
phnom penh is quite a change from the palm village... lots of honking!
but i'm planning to go get a massage at a spa during the hot hours, so
that should be nice and restful...
****
i was hoping to be at the palm village swimming pool at this very
moment, but i need to empty out some memory cards and so i'm burning
dvds at the hotel computer, which is really, really slow.
so i'm writing an email while i wait. the past few days have been very
busy and intense. lots of temples, of course. but today we did
something different and took a tour to kompong khleang,a
stilt/floating village on tonle sap lake. we hired it through the 2
dragons guesthouse, run by an expat from the main line. janet and i
went by tuk-tuk with our driver/guide, mr. bunny (pronounced boo-ni).
mr. bunny was very sweet and very knowledgable about the lake and the
village, which was good. he was also a little hung-over... but it
didn't seem to cramp his style much.
it took over an hour to get to the beginnings of kompong khleang. a
chilly but interesting drive, with a stop at a local market in the
village of dom duk. when we turned off the main road just past dom
duk, things started to get even more interesting. more farmland, more
modest houses, more kids who were very excited to wave at us. you knew
you had moved into non-touristed territory when the kids say "bye bye"
instead of "hello." eventually we reached the jumping off point for
getting out of the tuk-tuk and into a boat. this was when things got
really interesting... we started down the tonle sap river and... let's
see how to describe this. the farmers/fishers in this area both plant
and fish. during the dry season (now) their houses are way up on
stilts above the river, they go out to the lake to fish, and they
plants the fields as well as growing plants in the water, which they
use to farm shrimp and they harvest and eat the floers of the plants.
once the wet season comes, the tonle sap lake is flooded by both the
monsoons and overflow from the mekong river (which actually backs up
into the lake. the lake is huge... the largest body of water in
southeast asia, i believe). the houses are now in the water, as are
the farms.
we sailed past people living their life along the river/lake... and
eventually went out into the lake, where there is a floating
village... houses out in the water, where the people use canoes to go
back and forth. little shops... tv antennas on the roofs!... fishermen
way out in the lake, just visible. very peaceful. then back towards
the main town --- kompong khleang really isn't a village, it's a town
--- where we got out of the boat and went fora walk trhough the local
temple and market. by this time it was midday and very hot, so it was
quiet. lots of people taking siestas in their hammocks... we stopped
for a cold drink at a little stall. and then back on the boat, and
then back on the tuk-tuk, and back into town.
once i get back to beijing, i'll post some photos online, because the
day was really something easier viewed than described!
okay, this dvd has STILL not finished burning... and my swimming time
is up and now i need to go and seemy final sunset at angkor. leaving
for phnom penh early tomorrow morning...
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