Fat Foot Syndrome

It happened to me. After a long sit on a plane for an obscene amount of time, I arrived in Thailand with elephant feet. I could feel them tingling with tumescence. I had to squish them into my flip-flops like meaty sausage. Later, when I took my shoes off there was an indent carved into my skin, like meaty sausage... I've seen this condition before; in old women with circulatory problems and generalized "oldness" symptoms. They are told to wear pressure socks and take diuretics to keep fluid from pooling in their 70 year old feet. But since I had just been sitting for 24 hours with my feet low I figured I would just walk it off.  After three days of walking the streets of Bangkok I still had these bloated stompers. The older women in the group complained of swollen feet but I never once admitted that I too was suffering. That would just be humiliating!

So I went through my whole vacation with inflated balloon feet, elevating them at night, semi-concerned that I may have a persistent condition, like forever. But after arriving back home to the desert my feet mysteriously deflated to normal within a couple of hours.

tropical foot
(my bones and veins and tendons are buried)                                        

dry climate foot: sinuous

The Great Shrinking Lake of Cambodia

Wet season, Dry season It's a big deal! There is a massive yet shallow lake in central Cambodia which provides fish for all of South East Asia. In November, after the rains, it swells up and leaves the trees and roadways submerged. During these times a fisherman might only have to climb 10 steps up to his house which is perched on stilts. His only way of transportation is his fishing boat. Then as the months progress the lake dries up and almost disappears, causing a river to reverse it's flow and  the folks who live in floating houses to seek wetter wet. The stilted houses are on dry land and a fisherman must climb 30 steps up to his house. Now the rice farmers take over. There is a lot of trade going on.

Great Tonle Lake, Cambodia

This fisherman moves his house to where the fish happen to be, soon the lake will be 1/4 this size

Next Up: Why Cambodia is my favorite