Back again...

A real quick post to say it's been crazy here in Kampot. Now the cool, windy season is upon us. What a joy!! The sky, everyday is a glorious blue. Makes me think of Fall weather back in New England. This won't last, sad to say.
We had a typhoon pass through here. It seems we've been hit by the weather as of late. We only got the tail end of that though in comparison to VietNam.
I'll be posting more photos. When I take pictures I take tons, then I won't pick up my camera for what seems forever. I really do enjoy taking photos, especially of kids. I just start shooting and see what happens. This last bunch was my own kids.
It seems Kampot is better known with the travelers and backpackers. We have seen a steady stream of travelers of all ages. Which is a real welcome site. There are the backpackers hoping to find a good place at a decent price, which I am happy to say Kampot abounds with quite a few good places at The "Tout Barang"price $ 2.50. Tout is cheap and Barang is us Fur-Nurs :-). Then you can even find a really decent room, for up to the $35 range here in Kampot. At Kep it can go up to $60 and over. We've been seeing couples, older and our age and even families. So Kampot is now on the map :-)
Back in 1996-1997 and even 1998 that wasn't the case. Kampot was still the scary place to go. We would get comments like, You live in Kampot??? If you're in Thailand you still get comments, "You live in Cambodia, don't you find it scary?" That mind you is from the Thai nationals. The feelings between the two countries isn't all that friendly, sad to say.
Well I'll be posting a few pictures and hope to be on more.

Another Silly Photo

I just kept shooting and have some really silly faces here. The Khmer boys, Tee-ah and Long got a kick out of seeing themselves on the computer a few minutes after :-) 

Kids

Kids , I love taking pictures of them and today the Khmer boy on the left promted me out of my book to grab my camera and start shooting. He has such an infectious giggle that makes everyone laugh.
I love taking pictures of kids cause they are such maturals. I just put these ones on a tire and told them to have fun so I have quite a series of giggles and silly faces. The four lighter ones are mine enjoying a day of no school. Whether out in the countryside or in town, kids I don't know or my own they all love having their pictures taken. 

Kampot Elephant

I have enjoyed seeing this big guy over the years. The first time was sometime in 1996 and the kids in the neighborhood screamed "Elephant!". This was a treat since the only way I had ever seen one was in a zoo, behind cement and bars... I got a close up, like less then a foot look at the elephant. I had brought my daughter MaryKate who was 3 at the time and at first she was fine then she realized this animal was a lot bigger then a dog and she started screaming. You can imagine the thoughts running through my head. "Nuts, there is NOTHING seperating us, NOTHING and if this elephant takes it into his head that he wants to chrage there's nothing that's going to stop him!" With my daughter screaming andI'm in hyperventalating mode I wasn't happy...
Since then I've come across my old friend a lot. In 1998 after the coupe of 1997, we rented him for the day and he would let me climb up his trunk and I rode him for 1 1/2 hours. When we we lived out in the countryside for 3 years he would stop at our house and the kids would cut banana trees to feed him. Each time I would go up and touch him and talk to him softly. He always reaches out with his trunk though I know from experience having a youthful 4 year old elephant pull my arm in Kampot and almost loosing it that you still have to be very careful. This time after feeding him he followed me without the handlers. I think he is so COOL!!!

Kampot Elephant

I'm back on line after over a month with no internet. Most of Kampot doesn't have or has a very bad connection
I took this shot 2 weeks ago at a Cham Muslim village going toKep.
He and his handlers go from Village to village looking for food and donations.
When Tim told me he had seen him I jumped at the chance to go see him. He was movig at a fast clip and by afternoon was in Kampt at the riverside. 

Rice, the almost finished product

this is a small batch drying in the sun before milling. There are a few names at least for rice from the time it goes into the ground to the product you get at the table. We go through 100lbs. every 21-23 days, like you would buy potatoes in the states, we buy rice.
We had a moto -dop driver ( they are moto taxi's drivers who take people or anything else for a very small price, about 1500 riel(real) which is 37 cents, or there abouts with exchange) come with a bag this morning, said our cook ordered it. We all looked at each other. It was highly unlikely cause we buy from a Chinese family and only purchase a certain organic rice, one of the family members delivers it also. So we took it but we knew he'd be back. Sure enough he came back and said he was so sorry, he had the wrong house... Well we all knew that. I purposly didn't open and have put in our big bin because I knew he would return. Our cook will get a kick out of that. 

Rice

See the perfect rows of rice. This has already been uprooted once to help it to grow then replanted. Better yield that way. If you stand long enough and watch the water in the rice paddy you will see small fish, sometimes Thai fighting fish with their beautiful tails. Also land crabs are found in the rice fields or paddys. 

A sea of rice

in the foreground you will see Rice as far as the eye can see. Rice will harvest between next month and November in places. Bokor Mountain is in the distance and in places you could see more of the Elephant Mountain range which we have the tail end. It goes right down into the sea.
We could go up Bokor by dirtbike but after the flood it's become almost impossible. Great wash outs in places. My son-in-law's best friend who is an English student of Tim's is a ranger up there and he says they need to do a lot of work before the high tourist season comes starting in December. 

Sun set on Bokor Mountain

Isn't this so beautiful? I never get tired of the colors I get to see when I'm at the riverside and it's very therapeutic to say the least. Something I need after a day of all the kids and relatives in the house, especially after a rainy day and then all of a sudden the clouds break and you get this treat. not something I like to turn my back on. 

Sunset boat ride

We had watched the fishing fleet come in then this one boat came out of the Cham village from across the river. They were yelling Hello to us though almost completely across the river. The river was so peacful and the breeze was wonderful. sunset that night was so beautiful. A real treat after all the rain we've had. 

Double Boat with Vietnamese

This was suppose to go on yesterday's post but never made it...