The infinite rainy season

Seems like we have an infinite rainy season this year... There´s just no stop to it. By all means, it should´ve stopped nearly a month ago, but instead it´s increasing. And on top of this, the temperature has hardly dropped at all. So to summarize; instead of dry and cool as should be the case this time of year, it´s wet and hot. Can anyone explain this, please?! Louise?! Climate changes? Well, whatever the reason, the consequenses are the same; almost every evening I´m stuck at the office after working hours, waiting for the rain to stop before I can take my motorbike and drive home on the flooded streets of Phnom Penh. A very unusual November-scenario, for sure...

This wet and hot climate gives a good breeding ground for the dengue mosquitoes as well. There´s a bad outbreak of dengue fever in Ho Chi Minh City (read: Saigon) now, which is situated only approximately 300 km from here across the Vietnamese boarder. And where am I going on vacation next week? Right; to Ho Chi Minh City, of course...

Well, I guess I shouldn´t complain. Needless to say, there are of course so many people in this country who are effected a lot worse from the rain. For example in the province of Rattanakiri in northern Cambodia, where the infrastructure is very poor and roads hardly exisist at all. The rain turns the already weak road network into flooded mud basins, making any kind of transportation very difficult. Below are some photos from a fieldtrip I did to Rattanakiri last year to visit one of our partner organisations who work in that area. It turned out to be the most adventurous road trip I´ve ever done, and I learned a lot about the challenges that many Cambodian NGO:s are facing when working in remote areas during the rainy season... And I´m deeply impressed by the work they are carrying out all year around, goal-oriented and untiringly in all weathers and seasons facing very difficult conditions..;

The "road" to one of our target areas. The road is flooded like this every rainy season, and it´s not uncommon for vehicles to get stuck so bad that they never get out of there. On the side of this mud basin stood several abandoned lorries who had been stuck there since last year.

Our car is stuck....
...again and again...

But we had a very skilled driver, aged 19 who had driven on these roads for 10 (!) years already, who managed to get us out of the mud every time. (He´s kneeling beside the car on the second pic from the top)

The situation was a lot worse for these guys, who got stuck one late afternoon, had to stay overnight in the car and still hadn´t managed to get out of there when we passed again the next day... I always think about them when I see this photo and hope that they eventually got out of there somehow, without having to leave their car behind...