29 September 2009 - Penom Penh in the rain

Apparently 75% of Cambodia's annual rain fall falls in the unimaginatively labelled "wet season" which spashes its way from May to October. So here I am in Phnom Penh, finding no difficulty at all establishing that this statistic, plucked from a dubious Wikipaedia source appears to be true.

What I seem to be experiencing at the moment are periods of oppressive heat flanked by sudden powerful downpours. The roads quickly become rivers, and sand bags appearing from nowhere form the impromtu river bank. It's a sort of developing country dweller's Venice, if you squint, but instead of godolas pushed round by men in stripey t-shirts, you get moto drivers donning the 2000 riel rain mac, and tuk tuk drivers pulling down their waterproof curtains. They then chose either to battle on or simply wait until the sun returns. Waiting is sometimes a good option.

The rain macs in question are basically an outsize plastic bag, coming in a range of colours, invariably pastel, with polka dots for those who worry about aesthetics! They can cover the moto driver and at least two Khmer size passengers. I have myself a nice pale blue number which has come in very handy. If you have picked up on the phrase "Khmer-sized" above, it is referring to the fact that Cambodians are typically tiny. I bought a pair of jeans in the Russian Market a few weeks ago and it was in fact the only pair that I could find that would fit me, and they are a wee bit snug.

The rain brings the children a new playground and ever resourceful, they can be seen at the road side enjoying guessing what novelties are floating around their ankles, live or vegetable.
The rain also brings my friends the mosquitos out in predatory fashion. Only half an hour before this particular shower, I had been lounging, under my own self-created deet cloud on a bed of cushions at the Blue Lime Hotel, dipping occasionally into a very clean pool. 30 mins later and I have changed into the aforementioned rain mac, hailed a tuk tuk and braved the somewhat murkier roads.

If anyone can come up with a deet spray that smells of Channel No 5 yet doesn't lose any of its efficacy, I woule be most grateful. Deet, can't live with it, can't live without it......particularly the 95% tropical variety.