Under the Bridge

The heavy rains almost caused us a delay in traveling under the Monivong bridge that takes us from the Bassac River to the Mekong River. Sunday morning Rick went with the Captain to determine if the ship would go safely under the bridge and it was decided that we could make it. I drove the car and unfortunately forgot my camera. It was great watching the ship go under two bridges from overhead. They just recently completed building a second bridge for traffic flow. I drove along with Piseth while the ship moved south. We arrived an hour before the ship, but the trip was about five hours. The car had to be left about 10 miles from where we are because the pavement stopped and the dirt road was impassable. The villagers had a good time watching Piseth and I walk. When we stopped the car, we asked how far to the Sandar Pagoda. The people at the house we left the car said about 3 km. No problem, we can walk that. So we set out. About 3 km later we asked again, How far? Oh, about 2-3 km more. Ok, no problem. At this point Piseth started recognizing the village because we had been here two times before and had docked at different places. So we started walking to the river bank every so often looking for a place to dock. The river is so high that several places were flooded very close to the road and trees were under water so the ship could not stop. Now about 3 km more we finally came to the place where we had stopped the first year and waited for the ship. It was getting dark and clouds were looming in the horizon so I prayed it would not rain until we were aboard. God answered! The ship arrived and it temporarily docked for the night where Piseth and I had waited. Now this morning, the Captain found a place further south to dock and work clinic. But this time as the ship moves, I get to watch from the deck! In the picture, Piseth and Lingh are heading to where the ship will stop to help with the ropes from land. You can see alittle of how high the water is. gail