SOUND BYTES:

Random sounds from the city streets and surrounds 

 

An Aussie tourist- “Just get us there and wait. I’ll buy you a drink on the way back!”

Mr Tuk Tuk driver nods and smiles. “Does he even understand?” I wonder but I fear he does. 

 

Recently, every evening a distinctive upbeat dance music arrests our attention. After several audio attacks, we both immediately jumped up to see the source. A very well illuminated, moto flying the Cambodian flag and its rider sporting the best punk cut I’ve spotted in the kingdom, cruises by obviously hawking wares and I wonder, “Is it Prah Hok?” Still I recognize this person and he has cooperated with my snap a shot agenda, before. That’s nice. The orange suited punk has serious entrepreneurial skills. 

 

We were in a half full train carriage heading for Kampot when the train stopped at a little set of two stairs on the side of the tracks. No platform but a scheduled stop and when the doors opened the hysterical, frantic screaming and crying of a child filled the carriage. The whole compartment watched as this distressed, tiny toddler repeatedly shrieked “Baba, baba, baba,” at the top of her lungs. The resigned mother boarded along with several others carrying bags and containers and deposited the still sobbing, screeching child on a seat very near us and opposite a man who had actually made space for them to join him. Mum went back outside for more luggage and the totally distressed child was now banging on the window. Her dejected looking father was waving and trying not to sob himself outside. Frantic looking around seconds later revealed to this little miss that mum was now nowhere in sight either and the ruckus escalated in volume and switched to, “Mama, mama, mama.” Everyone tried to placate the little girl but she was not to be consoled. No one complained and there was a collective effort to distract and cheer up this little one. Even the two kids, who up until now had been boisterously annoying the passengers, returned quietly to their seats. Soon enough she was exhausted and fell asleep and for the rest of the ride everyone in the carriage stole looks at her, assisted mum and generally came by to check she was OK. I was so impressed with the level of concern and support that complete strangers offered this young mum. 

 

 

Despite living in the downtown area, we frequently hear birds and are more than grateful to be able to. We see them too but mostly we hear them: roosters crowing in the middle of the day or night but rarely at dawn, gorgeous little oriental magpie robins chirping away merrily, massive coucals cawing while we swim laps, sparrows tweeting away as everyday background noise in almost every location, mynahs  noisy and invasive even though the variety we see here are Asian mynahs, yellow vented bulbuls, which we refer to as masked raiders as they dart in and out of trees hunting but rarely make any sound though they are frequently visible. However, it is the great hornbills swooping from highly unlikely locations and swishing by with their wings making a whirring sound like helicopter blades on silencer mode that are my all-time favourite sound bite of the inner city, while over fed city pigeons cooing insistently and seeking out ever more intrusive nesting positions would have to be my least. So, while we do miss the regular sightings of kingfishers in the mangroves, the breeding pair of sea eagles soaring over the crab market and the egrets, herons and stilts wading in the paddies, which we often saw in Kep, with a keen eye and a tuned ear birding is still possible in PP.

 

We were sitting reading on our terrace in the early evening when we suddenly heard near deafening Latino music. Instantly we both peered into the street below where a parked quad bike was a one-man festival of flashing lights and pulsing sound. The very next moment a snaking line of about ten connected rollerbladers swished their way up the street towards the river. A solo, speedster leader was up front. A lookout was alongside the team and keeping watch. The lights in their blades and their neon tops were their only safety precaution. They were moving way faster than the moto traffic and it was quite the mesmerizing sight as they flashed by accompanied by music and then the peloton seamlessly fed into the busy traffic on the riverside and were gone. Next, the quad bike was mobile in the opposite direction and we could follow his progress through the neighbourhood for a few blocks via the booming reverberations emanating. Finally, silence reigned and we returned to our books.

 

One of my favourite sounds in this season is the rain approaching. As monsoon storms sweep over the city we can hear the heavy rain on the tin rooves all around us long before we see it on our own terrace or balcony! I love to watch as the immediate surrounds mist over to almost whiteout conditions as the front advances to the point of reaching us. Then, its necessary to take cover from the eye of the storm and enjoy the spectacle of the lightning, thunder and rain unleashing its fury on the streets. It can be over in a flash or drone on in undulating waves with varying volumes for several hours. While it is a delight to observe and tune in to the music of nature from the dry, comfort of home, it is never any fun to be caught out in the middle of a storm whilst wandering. Just yesterday evening while eating in a delightful courtyard setting, one such storm, which we had outpaced to get to our destination, opened up and the skies literally bucketed down on the near full restaurant. Luckily, we could claim a table under cover and even offered to share with a woman who had been eating alone and was in an identical situation when no more tables were available. We met a new acquaintance and spent a pleasant evening together and as the storm began to abate we went our separate ways. Not so luckily, upon reaching home we discovered the bed room windows we had left open and the pool of water on the floor, damp bedding and stained walls from the blue lining of the blinds, which were soaked through and stained blue in blotches too. Oh well another monsoon saga to be told.