Bamboo Bridge part two, Birds nest and Cambodian laundry.

Bamboo Bridge

Friday evening we went back to the Bamboo Bridge for another look and to take some pictures.

The reason why the construction works!!!

Koh Paen is a rural island in the Mekong River connected to the southern part of Kampong Chan by the bamboo bridge in the dry season, or a local ferry in the wet season. The bamboo bridge is totally built by hand each year and looks like it is made from matchsticks from some distance. There are plenty of local Wats on the island and local people make a living fishing and growing tobacco and sesame. The best way across the bridge is by bike and you have to pay $1 at the island end. This is quite nerve racking as it creaks and shakes as motorbikes pass.

Photo- large 4 by 4 enters bridge

                      Photo -Woman on motorbike approaching the car with a very wide load on her bike -problem!

 We were surprised to see a large 4x4 car drive onto the bridge which then caused chaos when the approaching motorbikes couldn’t get past, it took 5 minutes to man-handle the motorbike off the bridge side, over the water, let the car pass then lift the bike back onto the bridge.

No one gets upset or annoyed by this –they just get on with it. Anything that is going on always attracts a crowd of interested bystanders- Cambodians love to watch accidents, incidents, arguments, anyone ill etc

Bird Nest

We have a pipe in the wall of our bedroom near the ceiling. Every morning the daylight shines through to strike the far bedroom wall. Approx. 6 am a bird sits in the pipe, chirps and blocks the light into the room, i.e. you know it’s nearly time to get up!!

Today on returning from language class we found it had been busy coming through the pipe and building a nest on top of the curtain rail. Much laughter with the cleaning ladies who came into the room to laugh at the nest but also at Chris who was stood on a chair taking a picture of it.

Photo- Pipe in wall just above the curtain rail -see the foundations of the nest balanced on the curtain rail. The hole is now blocked with a tissue - no problem to a determined brooding bird! -We will probably see it again at 6am tomorrow.

Laundry – The Cambodian way

The cleaning ladies congregate next to our room as we are next door to the laundry – all the hotel laundry is done here,  mainly  by hand in an open air room –the sheets are scrubbed on the floor, they seem to have a spinner, then they are hung out to dry .

 The most amazing thing is the ironing – hot coals are put into the big iron which is exactly the same as I have seen in Victorian museums.

 See hot coals in the iron -it does seem to work very well -beautifully ironed sheets!

 Then on a large wood bench this is then used to iron every sheet pillowcase etc for the whole hotel –boy do they work hard.

The ironing bench with iron.