As my parting shot for this post, a very common toilet. It is a squatter. Rarely is it supplied with toilet paper so you need to be prepared for any circumstance. The bucket in the corner contains water and a pot to bail water to the toilet for flushing. You need to perch yourself on the ribbed portions to do you business. There are three types of toilets this one, one you can sit on but still have o bail water into to flush and also the western style with a tank. Most of the guest houses don't have squatters, but some have western bailers. You just never know, it's all part of the adventure.

I spent a lot of time here. I was consumed by the size of the trees and amazed that these centuries old structures could bear the weight and show such truly minor signs of that weight.

The jungle wat was probably my favorite. The trees were left as they were found. The jungle really does try to reclaim its territory. This tree is very common here and is about 75 feet tall with, as you can see a massive root system.

I don't remember the name of this wat, but I do know it was the only one made of a pink sandstone and was one of the ones built in the 16th century. The wats were both Hindu and Buddhist depending on the religion of the reigning king. The entrances were also different for each, Buddhist wats were entered on the east and Hindu on the west.

Most of the actual structure, which is a very hard red stone, was covered with sandstone, I would imagine, to make the carving easier. I am still amazed that the carvings are so well preserved in such a soft stone as sandstone.

The carvings are amazing, the detail even after so many centuries is incredible. There is bearly a surface that doesn't have some sort of carving on it. It was all done by artists with hammer and chisel no power tools like angle grinders and drills.

Angkor Wat, words can't compare to the awe I felt when I saw this. I can't share all the pics but some of what I will share are great. Angkor Wat and many of the other 37 temples here were built in the 8th to 16th centuries. A great deal of reconstruction of them has been done and is ongoing. The last to be discovered was as late as 1915.

Here again life is on the lake. Recreations in the form of a floating basketball court, snooker and pool tables are part of daily life. They also had a pig farm, duck farm and vegetable gardens.

As I said everything is done on and in the river, which is actually a tributary off the lake and not really a river. The people move their homes out on the lake when the water gets too low and back again when the rainy season starts. The rainy season has started but the water is still fairly low, It will rise about ten more feet by August.

The children do get on shore to ride bikes and play volleyball but most of the time they are in their floating houses. That is a car battery the baby is leaning on. I have never seen so many naked children. Even in the cities they don't where clothes. I guess it cuts down on the use of diapers.

The long structure is a fish farm, which I was told could hold as many as 20,000 fish. Next to that are houses. The peolple that live here are very short but still have to stoop to get around the house. Most of their waking hours are spent outside or sitting down.

At lake Tongle Sap, Cambodia there is a floating village of people from Cambodia and Viet Nam. They exist entirely on the river, schools, houses, farming, fish farming and most of their recreation is done on the river.

That is a real cobra in the bottle of snake wine. There wre also geckos and scorpions. I didn't sample the wine, I wasn't sure how to swallow the snake and chewing was out of the question.

Sihanookville is apparently a very liberal beach community. The aroma was always in the air. I don't know if this is legal everywhere in Cambodia but it apparnetly is here.

A lobster snack on the beach in Sihanookville, Cambodia. These lobsters were only about 8" long but were very tasty.

Most of the work preparing rice paddies for planting is done by hand, as is the harvesting. This worker is forming a dam to retain water. Watering is done in sections by flooding the areas one at atime until the water supply is depleted. Water is not in short supply here in Thailand during the rainy season. The northern part of Thailand is mountainous and it seems to be raining in the mountains all the time. The clouds roll in and out all day and dump rain at a fairly heavy rate.

Longneck is a bit of a misnomer. Their necks are not longer at all. The brass rings are very heavy and they start wearing them at about 8 or 10. Theweight of the rings pushes down on the collar bone and ribs and deforms them giving the appearance of a long neck. They also where a piece of clothe under the rings to prvent their skin from being discolored by the brass rings. The "rings" are open in the back and drawn together with heavy string to make them into rings.

Here in Mae Hong Son, close to the Myanmar border, is a Karan Village. The Karan are refugees from Burma. They make there living from weaving some fabulous, colorful scarves and clothing and also charging Farangs 250 baht to visit the village, Thais get in for free. I gave the boy 20 baht, which he promptly gave to his mom, to take their picture. When I was leaving they were at a shop near the entrance to the village spending the 20 baht on soda and candy.

I stayed in these bamboo bungalows with Teak leaf roofs, while I was in Pai. Pai was a very layed back small town with more Farang (Thai for westerner) than anywhere else I've been. It rained for almost three straight days and the river rose dramatically. The bridge is made of bamboo and had a bit of a sway when you walked across. The river is only about two feet deep but has a very strong current and the dirty water makes it appear more dangerous than it was.

This was a food induced hug, I have bananas behind my back. She hardly touch me. She did grab my hand after the bananas were gone and tried to get me to give her the sugar cane, to the left on the ground, that was out of her reach. I was amazed at the strength in the tip of her trunk. She held my hand and turned toward the sugar cane, I had no choice but to obediently follow.

As I said all of the tricks have to do with getting you in the water. Her trunk is out of the water but she isn't just breathing, she is about to spray water in my face. All a lot of fun, the mahout had the best time laughing at me as I continued going under water. Since he was the one telling the elephant what to do, I was completely unaware and unprepared each time she performed her tricks and consequently went under water nearly every time.

The mahout told me, in his very best English, to hold on to the elephants ears, he neglected to tellme he was going to have her throw me off her back. I landed in the water, which wasn't deep but the river was moving swiftly and took me down river quite a way before I could get a foothold and get to shore. They do five tricks with you all of which have to do with dumping you in the water.

My first elephant ride. It has cured me of the idea of taking a 10 day elephant trip into the jungle in Viet Nam. I was saddle sore for two days after only two hours. It was fun but also quite a bit of work. You tend to over compensate for the elephants swaying gate and wear yourself out. This elephant is a female and is 47 years old, very gentle and playful. She kept lifting her trunk to smell me and touch my leg.