Theme day

---

Leaving Kratie had to happen, sooner than later in this case. Off again along the river as has been the case but this time some very nice jungle style road/trail. We were treated to amazing sites along the way and it surprises us still how much the river changes from place to place...

Every day has a theme. Some times it's the heat, some times it's the dogs, almost always present but often we don't notice them, well are not feeling threatened, one always notices, not very often but it does happen. Today's theme was dirt, dirt like we've not seen before! We all know what is said about a 'picture being worth a thousand words' but these do not come close to conveying the magnitude of what we were dealt. Even the hardened Cambodian drivers were slowing to a crawl because they could not see enough to speed though the cloudy unshifting haze of dust that enveloped and erased us for a moment... It was truly amazing and caused us to consider changing our route to the main national highway in order to avoid it!

Market scenes in most of the villages are about the same. Various meats and fruits, everyday wares and such for sale. All happening around a central area, many with remnants of historical days gone by. Today though, we rambled through what must have been an amazingly beautiful French town. The architecture was like what one might stumble upon when viewing old colonial era movies. Unfortunately in this case, what the jungle and environment had destroyed or was in the process of doing so, pure neglect did the rest. We've seen poverty and neglect but not to this extent. It saddened us to the point that we walked just to take in what once was....

We had a very good day of running, so much so that at the point we were to be finished for the day, we took a break at our 'guest house' in Chhlong, and then took Mambo and Bunna up on their offer to split an additional 10km stretch to finish the day.

It was interesting to see how they reacted to what has become common place for us. Dogs barking and chasing, smiling children yelling HELLO!, at the tops of their little voices. The older ones just laughing and making comments like 'barang skoot' or crazy foreigner. It was interesting to see them start to understand what we were going through each day as the struggled to run, breath as normal as we try to and manage the ever present heat. In the end we finished the day, thanked each other and taunted them for another run on another day. Maybe, just maybe, some day they would join us or better yet, take up their own run for the people of Cambodia we have come to cherish.....We hope you had a wonderful day and thanks for coming along! No matter how rough it gets, tomorrow is always just around the corner....J/N

---