When my dad came to visit Phnom Penh, he was fine with the heat, but bugs didn't bother him, I don't think he noticed the dirt, but he really didn't like the noise. Life here is a lot noisier than anywhere we've every lived. Fortunately, none of us seem to be very noise sensitive because there is noise all the time. Our road was one of the first roads in our section to be paved a few years ago. It runs parallel to a big, busy road and runs right into a large temple, so there is constant traffic noise right outside our door. We live in a row house so we can hear the noises of the five houses around us and someone is always doing something. They start cooking early in the morning and so there are pots and pans banging, people talking, laughing, crying, stereos, TVs, people honking to be let into their houses, random banging and all the rest of the noises of life. Every couple of days our neighbor pounds on the adjoining wall to our bedroom at 6:00 am with a hammer (I assume his mosquito net has fallen down
). In addition, vendors are continually passing our door. Some of them shout, some of them have bought bullhorns with a recording device so they don't have to shout themselves. The ice cream truck plays the same tune in a 15 second loop and he starts coming around at 8:00 am. They are building a new house a few houses down so there is constant sound of hammers and saws. Dogs and rats get into frequent noisy fights. The noise is such that we cannot hear each other if we are more than 10 feet apart. Watching TV is pretty futile without subtitles because the accoustics in our room make the louder volume difficult to understand and at a lower volume you are sure to miss something every few seconds as a motorbike goes by, a dog barks, someone yells or a vendor goes by. However, the loudest sound of all is the rain. We have tin roof, all of our neighbors have tin roofs and when it rains, it is almost impossible to hear someone speaking in a very loud voice right across the table from you. This all sounds terrible, but I love the sound of the rain on a tin roof. During one rain storm I went up the roof. Most houses here have a roof that you can use as a
living space and an open tin roof above it. You can see our space in the pictures I have posted. It's a nice space as it catches all the breezes. Our neighbors usually sleep in our roof space (as you can see by the bed).
Anyway, I was up on the roof and watching this incredible rain storm sweep across the city. The rain was almost horizontal and the noise was incredible is it beat on the our roof and the roofs of houses all around. To me, it's a beautiful thing and fresh air it brings just adds to the pleasure of watching a storm. I took these pictures, but it in no way captured the overpowering nature of the storm. Of course, it's a little sobering to realized that these storms come from the same systems that have been devastating the Philippines, but it's still awe-inspiring. I wish I could better capture it.
First the cheers: My first fill-up of the motorbike was $1.50 and I don't really need to fill the moto more than once a month because it uses so little gas. Also, my first motorbike repair for leaking oil, a broken fuel guage and a broken mirror cost $6. Hooray!
