The dry season is over. It’s early May and the rains
have arrived.
Each day lightning with thunderstorms heralds the rain and each
day the rain last longer turning the ‘saffron’ dirt roads into streams and
rivers of mud becoming treacherous to ride on …
So now I get up at 5 a.m. In the dark. In a vain attempt to
beat the rain, my VA and I rush to the villages to deliver workshops, but
invariably return home drenched and splattered with mud … I have adopted a
large bamboo stick as my travelling companion to wade through the muddy waters
when I have to dismount the motorbike while Savy pushes the motorbike up and
down the muddy hills.
With the rains, surrounding forest has come alive with lush green
foliage; together with deafening sounds of frogs, cicadas and other
unknown ‘electrical’ insects. Also, swarms of cream yellow
butterflies drift by during the day and at night we are invaded by thousands of
‘May Pleans’.
‘May Pleans’ - Rain Insects, also known as: large 4 wing-flying ants
appear at night. After a heavy rain thousands of ‘May Pleans’ dance around
night-lights shedding their wings in the course of the night littering the
grounds by morning. Fried ‘May Pleans’ are a local delicacy
which I’m told taste like bacon bits.
Of course this time of the year ‘May Pleans’ are a real feast for
geckos. Every evening, around 7, our friendly gecko positions
himself on the awning with his head stuck out ready to attack. First, he
lets flying insects swirl around him and then he devours them whole once they are close to his
bite.
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| Farewell to VSO volunteers |
Last night we had a party for my colleague whom
we met at our pre-departure training in Ottawa. While Karen and I prepared
for the party, the heavens opened, the house began to leak and Kevin began to ‘madly’
mop up the floors.
During the downpour the power went out. The pizza guy called to
say that the pizzas were ‘ready’, but not cooked due to power failure. So
for a while we sat on the verandah with romantic lit candles, wine, beer and
food until magically the power returned just as our guest arrived with the
pizzas at that! In the end, everything fell into place, despite the constant downpour that continued throughout the evening.
It’s now 2 in the afternoon. Dark clouds are rolling in quickly. Another burst of torrential rainfall is about
to start. Kevin and I are getting ready to meet the VSO gang at Café Pkhar for one last farewell ….
More later ...
Photos will be posted at a later date
Pizza delivered to your home in Cambodia- pretty cool.
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