to Kampong Cham

Monday 11 November - The sun rises at around 0600, so we're now getting up half-an-hour earlier, having breakfast at 0530, and on the road around 0600. It's misty and very humid at that time in the morning. The sky was clear until about 0800 when some clouds appeared, so the early morning light was great for photos as we were mainly on small roads.

It's not just us who get up early - it's amazing how much is happening between 0600 and 0800...

The Mekong River...

0615 - rising sun reflecting on fishing nets on one of the
rivers flowing into the Mekong...



...while on the other side of the bridge, boats are already out.

 Views from other bridges closer to 0800...

  

Meantime in the fields, these are all taken before 0700...  



 

...and kids are in school before 0700...

...transportation is on the move...


there is always room for one more... we've seen people
riding like this on busses too.



Today's ride took us past many Buddhist temples... this one was hosting the local fair complete with ferris wheel...

...and kids, always ready to ham it up for the camera...

After lunch was the ferry ride to the west side of the Mekong...

...where we were on small roads down to Kampong Cham. There were electrical wires along most if not all of the route today, but many houses don't appear to be hooked up, relying on their own generators or batteries. Again we passed several battery-charging operations, all relying on a stationery engine to drive the generator rather than use power from the grid.

Kampong Cham is seat of the provincial government, the chambers being in the orange-tiled building in the centre of the photos. The flags line the riverfront - attractive to look at, but the walkway is still under construction.

You can see the dark clouds of a thunderstorm in the background of the photo which was taken a couple of hours after we got in... it was certainly raining back from where we had come, but the shower passed to the north with only a few raindrops getting on us.

For those of you wondering if typhoon Haiyana (that hit the Philippines) was affecting us, it is not. It made landfall near the Vietnam-China border and is heading north, much weaker than when it hit the Philippines. That said, earlier typhoons and heavy rains in Cambodia have washed out roads in many places, including some of our intended route tomorrow to Phnom Penh, resulting in some modifications to the plan... that means we have to ride a bit further than initially planned.

November 11 is not yet over... let us not forget the sacrifices of sailors, soldiers and airmen who answered their country's call.