The monsoon season is currently in full swing here, and it is not fun. AT ALL. Dark, thick clouds form quickly at any time of the day and hang above us for some time, as if to taunt us, before they burst open like a balloon overfilled with water. Thunder and lightning rainstorms soon ensue ~ a persistent one of which caused some heavy flooding in Phnom Penh over a week ago. Floods are not unheard of in this country. In fact, they are to be expected.
I can now say with confidence that I have fully lived in Phnom Penh having finally experienced a flooding in the city. The experience was both enlivening and sickening. Pelleted with heavy rain from above and soaked from the knee down while riding in the flood (another first), there was a certain energy in the atmosphere around me ~ perhaps it was a combination of being hammered by the elements and the irony of seeing some kids chortling and playing happily in the water without any care or concern; or perhaps it was the unbelievable sight of waves forming from the placid water whenever a vehicle audaciously drove through it. I felt flustered as the scenes made no sense in any ordinary way, yet they were all so real. Furthermore, my mind was perturbed by what lay beneath the water and in the water. The murky water might not be as polluted and filthy as the Ganges, but I bet it contained sufficiently high levels of fecal coliform bacteria and all kinds of filthy waste. Ugh, the thought of that still gives me the squirms.
Despite my resolve, I couldn't make it to work and had to call it in, citing force majeure. I returned to safer grounds and had to get my bicycle looked at. Turned out, my little red riding hood sucked up some trash from the cesspool water. The mechanic managed to remove some plastic strings, green vegetables, and other scraps of garbage from its chains. The poor thing also received a few nice squirts of oil, and I was set back by just US$0.50 for this job.
Overall, it was an inconvenient experience, but it served as a great reminder of how fragile and weak our humanity is against Mother Nature. It was humbling, for the only thing I could do was surrender to the situation.
Above: Taken after the rain stopped and at the point when I decided to turn back ~ I could not go any further, not in that dirty water.
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