Even when all of your belonging fit into one large blue backpack and a camera bag it is still possible to discover long forgotten possessions. Several dozen Italian train tickets for example. How these lurked around for so long escapes me, but they did provide a really fun mental journey back across Italy.
Early mornings, sunsets, and moonlit nights are fabulous here in Phnom Penh. The temperature becomes more bearable, a breeze comes in off the river, and the general mayhem of this rapidly growing city settles down.
Speaking of mayhem it was two weeks ago that I spent 18 hours trapped in a hot bus trying to get back into Dhaka for a few days of quick goodbyes, roof tops, and a two AM flight here.
Which brings me back to Italy. Late night drivers are not always the most honest in Dhaka and when I realized that mine had decided to use my desire to catch my flight as a perfect cover for extortion I began verbalizing only in Italian. No matter how many times he asked for his big tip (baksheesh or bribe) I feigned ignorance. Out of confused frustration he delivered me to the airport.
Enjoy spring rivers!
Brett
Explorations in River Deltas and Coastal Wetlands.
About Me
For the next twelve months I will be traveling to river deltas around the world as a Thomas J. Watson Fellow. I am a human ecologist who has worked with plants, law makers, loggers, stone flies, and rivers in Coastal Maine; children, salt marshes, fishermen, land trusts, and Quakers in Southern New Jersey; and tortoises in the Mojave desert. During my year abroad I will be combining these interests and experiences by living in and meeting researchers, managers, and community members in the Venetian lagoon, Mackenzie, Ganges/Brahmaputra, Mekong, and Colorado river deltas.
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