Evening Groove

Get your hands in the air like you just don't care.  Aerobics on the promenade.  OK, their hands are down right now, but you get the idea.

Tukalok!!!!  The best thing you can put in a glass!!  Its even got some Durian fruit in it!!

After a hard day of jungle temples, I take a page from the Cambodian playbook and kick back. There is the second shower, to wash away the dust and grit that is always a result of any Tuk-tuk sojourn. Then its time to select a good cigar and wander through the market and down to the Bat Tree. This time I am determined to wait the flying fur-balls out.

As the dusk settles over the riverfront promenade, the bats begin to get restless and the Cambodians start their evening excercises. Walkers, a rarity in Cambodia, start the moderately brisk parade up and back. Groups of hacky-sackers form up in different spots. The Cambodians don't use a regular bean-bag hacky-sack. Its sort of an elongated badminton birdie, but the method of play is exactly the same. It is played virtually everywhere.

The public-use exercise stations are in full swing now that it is cooling down, and with the cooler evening comes the aerobics groups. I'm talking "put your hands in the air like you just don't care." In Phenom Penh there are some huge groups that meet on the waterfront and at the olympic stadium. Here in my small town, the turnout is somewhat less.

Finally, the bats do indeed pour forth from the trees. They are big suckers, some having a wing span of almost one meter. They squeak and screech as they wheel about the trees, then peel off into the night in search of tasty fruit treats for dinner.

Speaking of dinner, it is time to hit the street stalls for a meal. After perusing tonight's offerings, I settle on a peanut curry vegetable and meat dish over rice with a side of salted fish. After salty fish treats, one does feel like a nice dessert drink, so I wander a few stalls over for that yummiest of treats, a Tukalok. Seventy-five cents buys me a mixture of who knows what tropical fruits mixed with a dash of ice and a dollop of sweetened, condensed milk. It is a tasty beverage (Sorry Jules).

While I was nursing my Tukalok and reading my Cambodian history, I learned a few small things about the rules of the road. Headlights on scooters are rarely used. They don't use anymore fuel either way, but it seems that lights are purely optional, with most folks choosing dark. If one is piloting a cargo Remork, the long, narrow truck trailers towed about by a tractor engine, a headlamp on the driver's forehead seems to be a completely legitimate lighting system.

All of this reinforces one of the cardinal rules of Third World travel: When the Sun Has Gone Down, Leave the Road to the Locals.

Ciao for now!