dtuc chran (THE FLOOD)

"Dtuc Chran" literally translates to English as "Water A lot". In Khmer, there aren't as many vocabulary words to describe things. For example ice is "Dtuc Kohr" or "water hard". Dtuc Chran was the latest phrase we learned in Khmer, when we got stuck in the most hilarious, intense, world-ending rainstorm of my life.

The rain started after an incredibly muggy morning in Phnom Penh, and came constant and heavy. Val was cursing it as she bundled up in her hiking boots and rain jacket to trudge to work. I laughed a lot at the ridiculousness of her appearance, and watched as she walked down the road, holding her head down against the pounding rain. She returned less than a minute later completely drenched. She didn't make it 100 feet before a car drove by and completely soaked her from head to foot.

I was loving the rain, and so I convinced Val to play hookie, and go for a walk in the rain. It wasn't just a spring rainfall, but a powerful thunderstorm. Lightning struck nearby and made us jump. Once lightning struck so close and the thunder was so loud, that I actually screamed. The rain was coming so fast, and the streets of Phnom Penh are not very well equiped to handle it. Within minutes, the street was completely flooded. As we walked around the block, we watched the water rise steadily, overflowing over the sidewalks an into people's houses. It only rained for an hour and it was absolute mayhem. I can only imagine what it is like when it rains for 10 hours during the rainy season.

The best part was seeing how rain brings everything to a stop in Phnom Penh. Everyone was staring out from their balconies and doorways watching it, but there was no one in the streets. As Val and I tramped around in our rain jackets and hiking boots, everyone shouted to us. They all thought we were insane, and cheered loudly or laughed to see us walking along.

Very few motos, tuktuks, or cars braved the streets, but those that did had a lot of trouble. At one intersection, the water was up to our knees, and we watched as multiple motos got stuck in it. Some boys who were riding three-deep on a moto had to jump off and push themselves out of the flowing river that was once a street. I laughed with two ladies who were trying to bike through the river, and of course they failed miserably, but it was all so ridiculous and hilarious that everyone kept laughing.

The rain wasn't letting up any time soon, so Val and I sat on the corner restaurant and ordered a delicious Ice coffee (Instant coffee mixed with Ice and condensed milk... tastes more like melted coffee ice cream). We watched as kids played soccer, Business men held their breifcases above their heads, tuktuks stalled in the rain, and a woman pulled an entire umbrella out of a sewer where the water was so deep you couldn't even see the umbrella in the first place. The country is certainly not equipped with proper draining facilities, and we were even more dismayed as we saw that all the trash that people throw on the ground or put outside their house gets swept up in the flood as well. We also witnessed a man peeing in the streets, which is not a new sight for me, but made all the more worse when we know it is added to that dirty, polluted water that everyone has to walk through when it rains. After discussing this, Val and I went home to shower.

It was a fun time to watch everything halt in Phnom Penh, and also enjoy the slightly cooler weather brought by the rainstorm.