06:00 I am up, I planned to go with Gideon into the countryside on my motor scooter. It rained last night and looked like it might rain today, so I took a raincoat along. I was ready when Gideon arrived at 08:35.
Gideon is a Cambodian tuktuk driver who operates a Cambodian taxi, by pulling a cart behind his scooter. Today I rode my scooter; Gideon took the cart off and rode his scooter.
Our goal for the day was to visit the Wooden Wat which is about 20 km down river. We crossed the river over the Mekong and took the better roads. There is a dirt road along the Mekong, I have bicycled it much of the way, it was rough when it was dry it would be very bad after a rain.
The good road didn't last very long. On the red dirt roads, there were large bright orange puddles from the rain last night.
We stopped to speak with people collecting rubber from rubber trees. The man told us that he and his whole family together earn $80 a month.
Figure 1 Rubber tree dripping latex
In the new stands of rubber trees, they have planted sesame and banana trees. I assume when the rubber trees get about six years old, the age they start tapping them, there is too much shade generated by the tree to have anything grow under them.
It took some time but we finally made it to the Wooden Wat. Gideon was my tour guide today and he told me some of the stories about the Wat.
Figure 2 Wooden Wat (temple)
The building was closed when we arrived. I took off my shoes to go in. I am not sure how long it had been closed but there was a huge amount of bird droppings on the floor. It looked like more than just one night's worth to me. Gideon said that the monks would come and pray there at 17:00 I don't know if that is every night or not.
Figure 3 Pillars in the Wat
On the way back we took a ferry to an island in the Mekong.
Figure 4 We took the one on the left
This island is connected to the mainland by a bamboo bridge.
Figure 5 The road bed
The bridge is made completely out of bamboo.
It is quite sturdy, that is a Ford Explorer driving across it.
Back in town with a very dirty motor scooter.
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