Sunday is the only day of no school, and therefore the only day I have partially off, and always a swim day if the weather permits.
The Girls Beat Me To It 🏞️
Just because I don't have to do the grueling commute and 4 hours working in the mobile Piaggio Ape Hive office doesn't mean it's not a work day, so while I was catching up on curation work, the girls went to the river without me. This inspired me to work a little faster, and once I had done my blockchain chores, I put on my swimming trunks and headed for the river.
The way down to the river is more precarious now since the epic flooding. What was once a shallow-ish river at low water levels now has a lot of deep holes and natural pools. Wading across the river means holding the phone in the air and hoping not to get knocked off your feet, but I'm a known risktaker.
It's Raining Grass 🌿
As I made my way down to water level, I passed under my wife cutting grass at the top of the cliff. It rained down on me, definitely the first time I've seen grass fall from the sky.
Hey Hydro Homies 👋
Mey-Yii has been a fixture in our house for the past 4 days, and even though her Grandma was home today, she didn't seem to be in a rush to spend much time at home. She is sleeping at home tonight, so I guess that means her Grandma's gambling bender is over, and I hope we were a pleasant distraction from life's issues.
When I see the kids smiling and having fun, it brings me great joy, and I know these are lifelong childhood memories being formed.
Crossing Over 🤿
The girls were almost done swimming when I arrived, so I decided to wade across the river and enter one of the creeks with clearer water. One spot was nearly up to my neck with water, and it had me wondering if bringing my phone to document the experience was a good idea or not.
On the other side of the river things calm down and the forest provides a nice mix of shade and sun. The water is always clear and cold here, and it's just as much fun to swim as it is to watch the fish and listen to the sounds of the forest.
I think I've taken this exact shot so many times that I can't remember, but the floods are always changing the boulder and log locations, so I am always curious if a new swimming hole might be available.
Back To Work 🏊♀️
With my nature batteries fully charged, I decided to wade/swim back across the river. While midway across I spotted a curious sight in the river, do you see it too?
I didn't drop my phone on the way back nor see a king cobra, so that's a successful hydrotherapy day for me. The best part is that I can monetize this fun by sharing it here on Hive with you all.
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sometimes the little time we can give to children will make him very happy, this is a process towards adulthood which is good enough for them, I think they will remember it,
the river in my area used to be like that too, but now the water has started to shrink during the dry season and floods during the rainy season, this is due to massive deforestation carried out by the evil hands of greedy humans,
I am sad to see many rare animals that are almost extinct, do not know where to take shelter, many Sumatran elephants are being hunted to be killed, because they use their crops and agricultural gardens,
it's all our fault for not being able to take care of the environment and not being able to adapt to all other living things, what we know is that our interests are fulfilled and ignore other living things,
let's take care of the environment and protect endemic Indonesian animals and rare animals that are almost extinct in any part of the world for the sake of our children and grandchildren.
one thing i want to say to you @justinparke, you are an amazing father in the middle of your busy life, you still take a little time to accompany your children this is amazing for someone as busy as you,
thank you, good night
I hope for a brighter future little Mey-Yii, she deserves it.
The river here is slowly getting stronger and the flash foods faster because of deforestation. If nothing is changed, it could only be 10 years more that all the nearby forest is gone and the erosion becomes a dangerous problem.
There are still some wild elephants left in Cambodia, but not many. I have met people who have heard elephants in the distance here, but nobody that has every seen one. There once was even rhinoceros in the forests of Cambodia, but they are now extinct, and there are now only a few left in Vietnam.
Thank you for stopping by with some thoughtful comments.
Those are always going to be the precious moments that they will remember as they grow up.
That was a really fun read, too bad when I was growing up we were not exposed to such things but the moment that I will cherish as a kid is going to the beach.
Glad that you were able to recharge your nature battery, and those are really nice photos, I'm not even sure if I would risk bringing my phone to the water. And while browsing through your photos, it's making me miss greenery. All see here is sand hahahaha.
Hope that you'll have a great week ahead!
!PIZZA
Haha, same as you, I didn't grow up with clean mountain rivers, instead it was agricultural area with no forests and cornfields as far as the eye can see, just like ricefields in Asia, except much more chemicals. I swam in lakes and ponds as a kid, but they were always dirty and full of poisonous snakes, not possible to relax and swim at the same time 🤣.
I do remember the first time we drove to Kentucky as a kid, and this was the first time I small mountains and clear streams. From that day I always wanted to live away from farms and in more natural areas. How are the beaches there? From what I've seen there is hardly any shade like in SE Asia, where we often have palms and coconut trees. It doesn't seem the beach life is a part of the culture either like it is in the Philippines.
Oh that's cool, but that just sad to hear about all those chemicals. That's really tough of you to swim there, as soon as we would see snakes with my family we would run hahahaha
That's really nice, I hope that you are enjoying the place where you are living right now. There are barely any trees here on the beach, the shade that we get is primarily man-made haha. However, there are a lot of people who also go to the beach here. But some people also refrain from going here during summer because the water is too hot to swim in and the sun will burn you to crisp
That picture is very typical of what I've seen from that part of the world. With so much wealth you think they'd put some major landscaping efforts in. The beaches in the USA are mostly very similar, all trees and palms cut down to make easier access I guess. I can feel the heat when I look at that picture.
I think the other beaches have better landscaping. I haven't explored as much though because we work 6 times a week and I get off at around 7:30 pm haha.
It's still hot now but a bit cooler than the past month. I really miss the rain though.
!PIZZA
Amazing time to be with your family. I always love to discover this kind of creek, your kids love the fun as I see it from their faces... Do enjoy your new found happiness, gather such fond memories to enjoy later when the kids have grown and make their own life..that would be another chapter of your life and Pov's.
It's not quite Austria/Switzerland, but this area reminds me a lot of the Appalachian mountains in the USA. The water is very chilly here, it takes your breath away on most days, a very surprising feeling in such a hot climate. Thank you for the kind words, we are definitely making up for lost time in Suriname.
I don't swim, but I do make sure bring along the damn phone into the pool for 3 reasons, document the some bikinis, document the scene for hive content, and document how I break the diving record in case I choose to float 3 days later
https://www.amazon.com/waterproof-phone-case/s?k=waterproof+phone+case
Nothing is deeper than your nipples here, so you can always pretend swim with one leg on the bottom like my wife does 😉. Your comment reminds me of the Swiftwater Rescue Technician course I took in Colorado many years ago during my wilderness guiding days. While prepping for the course, the instructors made us view a photobook of rescues they've done, mostly dead body recovery. My whitewater kayaking days ended after that course because I realized how dangerous the sport truly is.
I accidentally dropped my phone in a meter of water last weekend while jumping from rock to rock, and to my surprised it survived, but my Otterbox case is not waterproof anymore after 5 years of wear and tear.
Man, ohh man.
This post makes me miss the river.
It's been a long long time since I swam on one.
You have a great environment where you live.
Are you referring to the stone that looks like a nose? 😁
!1UP
Haha, now I'm looking for the nose rock. My wife is one of the pics, I saw her washing in the river as I crossed upstream, but she was barely visible because I was so far away.
This area reminds me a lot of Tennessee in the United States, and we are so high up that the weather isn't very hot at all, unlike most of Cambodia's sun-scorched ricefields that are dry and dusty most of the year.
I can't see/recognize her in the photo, but the stone looks really like a nose. LOL.
Btw, how's your internet connection up there? Places like that here in the Philippines usually don't have a decent internet connection unless it is close to a city.
The Philippines has some pretty bad access to the internet from what I've heard, I guess because of the geography with so many small islands. I guess it really depends on your location there. Most of Cambodia is flat barren rice fields, so a cell phone tower has very long reach, and there are no islands to worry about providing service to here.
For these reasons a cell phone signal is possible almost everywhere in the country, and even here in the remote Cardamom Mountains we even have enough of a signal to run a SIM modem from home.
Urban areas have unlimited wi-fi for $12 to $35 a month, but so far no carrier in Cambodia offers an unlimited data SIM plan, and this means we pay for every MB we use. I don't watch video anymore because it's data heavy, and instead my entertainment comes from podcasts mostly. I think we spend about $20 to $25 a month on data, not too bad considering the situation and our need to Hive to earn a living.
Yeah. We have many mountains too which is a challenge for internet service providers. Cell phone signals are very weak too in this mountains and mainly concentrated on towns where there is a lot of residents.
Having that simple yet fun family time bring so much joy to every member of the family because having a quality time is a great moment to remember. Don't forget to do it with your family atleast once a week.
I agree, we do and try swim at least every Sunday, but the weather is so unpredictable and often doesn't cooperate. I would like to make some changes that allow us the chance to swim for several hours a day.
The river looks fun. I used to want to have a house near a natural water source like this. But I have a son who is autistic, these water sources are dangerous for my son.
I understand. When we first moved here, I was concerned that my daughters may not be aware of the potential dangers a whitewater river can present, so I was always nervous when they would be outside too long without supervision. Now that we've lived here for many months, I feel more comfortable and I think they have a respect of the river.
yes things like this are worth remembering.. i also had the same river experiences back when I was younger and I can no longer remember what we exactly did but I remember it was fun!
what! you just made me scared of corn fields! i have not watched that video and I dislike horror films... our corns here in the Philippines don't grow that tall... and the fields aren't that wide . I am glad we have a river near to us...
I don't like horror films either, and I think this film series scarred me for life. My older brothers and sisters would make me watch these films with them before going in the fields at night. These movies are so famous that even now if I travel around the USA and people ask me where I'm from, and I say Indiana, the first thing that people think of are "Children of the Corn" movies. My part of the country doesn't get any tourism for good reason 🤣.
oh oh that's soo bad for your country's tourism indeed...
Hope you can find some kind of waterproof solution one day soon but up till then I will keep enjoying your risky pictures. I hope to walk into that river myself, some day...
Big hug
Once upon a time I used an empty peanut butter jar. It worked well enough, but I don't think it would survive and actual dunking if I slipped and fell. It would be cool to host you some day, easy enough to post daily to cover living expenses, and plenty of opportunities for swim breaks. You might be first knappe man to enter Steung Kach waters.
woooowwww.... the river looks very natural, very nice to see the children bathing in the river.
it reminds me of my childhood.
the holiday is actually a day for them to play.
Public school here in Cambodia is 6 days a week, so that leaves Sunday as our only free day. When we lived in more urban areas in Cambodia previously, we had our girls in private schools, only $30 a month, but they study 5 days a week, and the 2-day weekend is so much better and give the kids more time to play and have fun.
Oh it turns out that the school day in your area is the same as in my area.
In a week the day of study is only six days, one haei left for the holiday.
Which is a little different, if the school in public we enter for free, but if it is a private school we have to pay, the edge is not too much to pay.
What fun. Thank you for sharing it with us as I try to imagine it in my Covid-induced fatigue brain 😆🤧
I've been meaning to catch up on your posts, I saw that. I hope you are managing well, you're young and fit. We have all been sick for three days, I couldn't take the kids to school the past two days because I haven't felt well enough, but I don't think COVID, just a flu bug.
We are recovering well but it's the daughter's turn today. I am hoping they get out of quarantine a week from now and resume their schooling from Thursday onwards. Hope everything is okay for you and your family too.
Hang in there, your fitness boxing routine is paying off. Being in good health to start is the best way to fend off COVID, so I'm sure you'll all be 100% again soon.
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