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Post by hwinpp on Sept 28, 2009 9:03:23 GMT
The first one on the Sunday before last. We had actually planned on crossing the Vietnamese bridge then going north but somehow or other we missed the road or it isn't there or it's disappeared. So we turned around and followed the Mekong south instead, traveling down the eastern bank for about 35km then using a ferry to cross it and return to Phnom Penh via Takmao. Here are some photos from the ferry: Leaving the eastern bank Reaching the western bank
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 28, 2009 15:12:59 GMT
What a great detour!
That is a mighty river. Any idea of how wide it is there at the ferry crossing?
As far as I can tell, the poles on either side of the walkway are tall so that the walk can float up when the river rises. Is that correct?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2009 16:56:11 GMT
Do they have any safety equipment on those ferries?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2009 2:04:02 GMT
What is that floating in the water in picture #4? Great pictures.certainly very primitive looking. Was there a fee or was it free?
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Post by hwinpp on Sept 29, 2009 4:26:36 GMT
I think the river might be 3oom wide at that point. It's quite swollen though, and will shrink by a third when the rains have stopped. Yes, the poles are the fixation but they allow the actual landing to rise and fall with the water level. There's no safety equipment on the ferries. As an aside, with all the water in Cambodia you'd think a lot of people here can swim, well, they can't. Most of those kids playing around in the ponds and streams and canals can't swim. That floating stuff is just some vegetation on it's way to the South China Sea, Cas. Here's the second trip, the day before yesterday. A friend of mine invited us over for a 3 hour cruise up the Tonle Sap River (a river/channel connecting the Tonle Sap Lake to the Mekong). Lots of cheese, sausage, wine and other assorted stuff. A good time was had by all and of course, after we'd returned to PP, I jumped into the river. Our 'cruiser' The general direction, under the Japanese Bridge up the Tonle Sap The Chrouy Changvar side, mainly Vietnamese population, there used to be regular pogroms agains them but they always returned Floating houses Returning to the city Enjoying the ride, my girlfriend, my oldest friend in Cambodia and my girlfriend's friend Passing under the Japanese bridge again, the port straight ahead
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Post by lola on Sept 29, 2009 4:39:33 GMT
Very amazing, hwinpp.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2009 4:41:06 GMT
I remember very well on the boats from Siem Reap how everbody would pull out their mobile phones as soon as they spotted the Japanese bridge, because that's where coverage started back then.
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Post by hwinpp on Oct 20, 2009 10:29:00 GMT
The title of the thread is 'Two short Trips...'. But since I go out more often I'll continue posting pics here. On Sunday afternoon we decided on short notice to go out to Oudong, 35km north of Phnom Penh, a bit of a sacred site and also the location of the Khmer empire's capital towards its decline and fall. This is what is left, a hill with some temples on top. Ticket booth for another ferry Warning sign about how not to fish A familiar sight The crossing
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Post by imec on Oct 20, 2009 12:27:53 GMT
Great HW! I love the second picture - the trees that look like lollipops.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 20, 2009 14:19:19 GMT
Oooooooo ~~ all the misty dampness and greenery!
It's amazing to see those delicate spires sticking up out of the tree canopy, so fragile looking and beautiful.
The picture just below it is wonderful, with the human habitations barely keeping the vegetation at bay. Were you on the temple hill when you took that picture?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2009 17:08:47 GMT
I am always fascinated by how much 'green stuff' goes floating down the rivers of Southeast Asia at all times. That's one of the things that struck me the most the first time I saw Bangkok.
I do know that it can be a nightmare for propellers, even in the Thai longboats which are more or less designed to avoid that stuff.
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Post by hwinpp on Oct 23, 2009 3:35:56 GMT
Those are the sugar palms from which you can collect palm toddy. You slice of one of the bud stands, hang a bucket below and collect the juice. It's wonderfully refreshing but you have to finish it before noon because it starts fermenting fast and is too smelly and very strong by 1 or 2pm. It's so smelly in fact, that people add raw onions to it to mask the toddy smell Yes, we drove up on the other side. When I came back from Chau Doc and the delta we had to change boats because the green stuff killed the propeller...
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2009 4:38:20 GMT
Beautiful pictures hw. You really do capture the essence. I LOVE the sugar palms. I want one or two for my jungle! Just gorgeous. The mist reminds me of the bayous here. Thanks hw.
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Post by hwinpp on Oct 26, 2009 5:15:07 GMT
I was actually thinking about our Mont St. Michel thread on the board when I took the picture of the temples on the hill, Cas.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 26, 2009 10:33:37 GMT
Had another deserved look hw. I see it.
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