The Daily Catch

(The Tonle Sap River is incredible dirty with loads of floating trash and sewer deposits marking the banks, but you still see people swimming, bathing, and fishing in the water....which always concerns me when I am eating at a restaurant that is advertising Today's Daily Catch Special)

Today I sat on the riverbanks of the Tonle Sap River and was surprised because I realized that the water was running a different direction than when I first arrived here. I thought I might be losing it, but then after some research I discovered that during the raining season (which just started) the Mekong River's (which meets the Tonle Sap River at Phnom Penh) channels are insufficient to accommodate the amount of water being added and so the Tonle Sap River reverses its course.....how unbelievable is that!

(Kick-Boxing )

This evening I was able to attend a traditional Cambodian activity..... Kickboxing .... a huge sport here. The actual events are held every Saturday at one of the T.V. stations. I went with three other girls and a tuk-tuk driver that spoke perfect english, which was great because he told us a lot about the sport. One of my favorite things about watching was the live music that is played by a three man band. The music helps to set that rythem of the fight....it also provokes an interesting dance between the boxers that begins with a dramatic tapping of their foot to the beat of the music. I was told that each fighter receives $25 dollars per fight and then the winner will receive a bit more. As you can tell from the above photos the fighters are pretty young. The average age is between 18-21 and the average weight is 50 kg or 110 pounds....so it feels a bit like watching a high school wrestling match, but with betting and more blood.