Cambodian toilets

This is my friend's toilet. When he needs to poo, he has to put his feet on each side of this and squat with his bum pointing at the hole.

If you come over here to visit me, you don't have to use a toilet like this. I have one you can sit on like the ones in Australia.

love from your Grandad in Cambodia

Stilt house

This house is built next to a river called Tonle Sap. Every year the river floods. When there is no flood it is two metres deep. When it floods it is fourteen metres deep. The water will come up close to the house and the people who live here will have to get in and out by boat.

The other houses in the picture are made from palm leaves. They will have to be moved before the flood comes otherwise they will be under water.

I wonder if the kids who live here like to swim.

love from your Grandad in Cambodia

Ugly giant

Last weekend my friends took me for a bicycle ride in the country. We went to a Buddhist temple named Wat Preymool. At the gate there were two ugly giants like this.

Do you think this one looks scary? They are there to stop evil spirits going in. I am not an evil spirit. I am your grandfather. So they let me in.

Maybe one day you can come and visit and see if the giants will let you enter Wat Preymool.

love from your Grandpa in Cambodia

Can you see it?

A few days ago I was sitting under a tree with some friends and I saw something move. When I looked I could see a lizard among the leaves on the ground. I could only see it because it moved. When it was still I could hardly see it. It was almost the same colour as the leaves. Do you know the word for this? Camouflage.

When I moved, the lizard ran up the tree. Then it could not hide so well. I was able to take the second photo.

My friend says that in his language the lizard is called 'bung koei'. I think that maybe it is a little dragon. What do you think?

love from your Grandad in Cambodia.