Cambodia in October: Flood 2011

Flying away from the Bangkok's biggest flood in 50 years, I still meet the water in Cambodia.  The unusual heavy rains in monsoon season this year causes major floods almost everywhere in Southeast Asia.  I took these photos when the plane was about to land at Phnom Penh Airport.

The enormous amounts of water covered the land endlessly.  Not sure if the it was inundated or overflowed from the river.

The city of Phnom Pehn was still totally dry.  They can manage the irrigation very well or maybe the water didn't reach the city yet.  I really like the terracotta color of the roofs in this city.  You can see the empty land on the left side of picture.  It used to be a lake called "Boeung Kak", Phnom Penh's backpacker's area.  Unfortunately, the government started filling the lake in past August for foreign real estate developments.

Korat, A Merit Trip

I had a chance to travel with my friend's mother.  She used to work in Nakhon Ratchasima Province (Korat) and has faith to Luang Por Koon, a well-known monk in Thailand.  We did a one day trip to visit Wat Baan Rai where the abbot lives.  The community around temple is quite well-being because of the tourists and the donation from people who trust.

During the day time, the temple is crowded of people visiting Luang Por Koon but since we arrived late in the afternoon, we luckily be the last group to visit him.  In the cloister people are not allowed to take photo with him because he was sick at that moment.  But luckily (again), my friend's mother is a Chinese and doesn't read Thai, so she didn't notice many "DO NOT labels" and asked the abbot to take photo with.  Everybody around was surprised. I believe not so many people have a chance like this.



On the way back, we went sightseeing in Korat city.  This is a monument of Thao Suranari, the leader who saved the city by harrasing the invading force from Viantiane in 1826. Thai people also call Ya Mo as an alternative short name.



An Austrian apple a day

This is my first time flying short flight inside Europe.  I flew from Vienna to Berlin which took about one hour.  Instead of serving sandwich or pastry, Austrian Airlines choose the finest apples for in-flight snacks.