Amit says again...

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Amit's got more to say:

I.III: Fishing boat family
We decided to catch the sunrise on the banks of the Mekong River since jetlag had woken us early anyway. Driving down the riveriside boulevard we saw a lot of sleek little fishing boats on the river running on lawnmower like motors. I spied one down the embankment and thought we could get a great photo op of the city from out in the middle of the Mekong. As we clambered down the embankment between plastic bottles, plastic bags, and other litter we approached the dilapidated little boat with a corrugated tin sheet in the shape of an upside down U creating a little shelter in its middle. A woman looking about 50 or older was at the front fiddling with some nets; she smiled a leathery smile revealing the absence of all maxillary teeth between the incisors. Then her little boy came out of the shelter, he looked about 3 and was wearing a dirty pink pair of pajama pants, smiling gleefully and waving. They spoke no English and we no Khmer, in the universal language of money, we pointed our indexes to the river and she pointed hers up saying "one dollar" and it was a done deal. As we got towards the boat, she scrambled to hide away the nets and began splashing brown Mekong water all about the boat in an earnest attempt to scrub the aging wooden slats. After precariously tiptoeing aboard, a fishy smell enveloped us despite her best efforts and there was a shallow straw basket full of 3 inch long fish gills still heaving. Most were a silver bellied type but I spied the odd little whiskered cat fish and an attractive lime bodied, orange finned one. Looking into the corrugated tin awning spying the spoons, tooth brushes and (yes, I kid you not) Louis vutton knockoff purse it dawned on me that this boat was not only the livelihood, but the home of this family of 3. Behind the awning manning the motor was the husband and father, a stunted man holding a cigarrette between two crooked fingers of one hand and the steering oar in the other. He matched his wife's leathery complexion, which stretched over his protruberent forehead capped by a large tuberous bump on the right side. As we got out into the water, the little boy scampered around and produced a fluroescent green stuffed dolphin on a string that looked like it had been part of a mobile. It was an odd little scene, him dangling the dolphin above the agonally breathing basket of fish. The ride into the middle of the river and back was uneventful. When we motioned gap toothed mother and child to sit together for a picture, she endearingly gave us an "I'm not ready look" and snatched the rag of a kerchief off her head patting down her matted locks before putting on a big, gummy smile. As we got back to shore, there was an at least half naked man waist deep in the muddy Mekong earnestly scrubbing himself as plastic bottles, bags and other refuse floated by. We thought it was hilarious.

II.I: Bicycles and monkeys
The first day on our excursion to the temples of Ankgor, I convinced Shugi that we should rent bicycles for 2 dollars a day rather than hire a driver. Shugi was a little hesitant due to his "vestiblular issues" and warned me that he would be riding "slow." As we started out on our thin wheeled, one speed bikes the type that are ubiquitous in the third world, shugi rode ahead wobbling back an forth, but fast! I definately had to get my heart rate up to keep up with him. On our way back after about a 30km ride and having explored 5 ruined temples we stopped by the side of the road to check out some monkeys which I think were macaques. The had grey-brown fur that came to a point on their heads like a bedhead mohawk. While shugi was trying to get a picture of a tiny monkey, a young male approached and brazenly started rifling through shugi's back pack. We were both paralyzed in amazement as he proceeded to pull out a bottle of water, snap the top off with his teeth and try to drink from it holding it like a baby would hold a milk bottle with both hands. The monkey
couldn't figure out how to angle the end of the bottle above the mouth so the water would pour out. Satisfied that we were superior apes, I tipped up the end of the bottle in his hands and he started guzzling. A large, red-faced alpha female with a baby clutching her underside came rushing over and the male ran away. She too despite her advanced size and social position was unable to fathom the secret of the bottle so this time Shugi tried to help by tipping up the bottle end. But this mother was not about to be patronized and snarled, smacking shugi on the knee reproachingling before walking away thirsty but dignity intact.

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