Rhythm

View from a side-street

After a restful most-of-the-day, my cold's pretty much dried up and my voice has gone from a whisper to an audible rasp. So pleased to be on the up.

This evening I celebrated with a quick cycle round the block. Stunning sky so glad to have got to see it. It gets dark here at 6pm and it's the same, give or take half an hour, all the year round. So twas a timely ride, even if a bit hectic in the middle of rush hour.

With the sun disappearing relatively early, the rhythm of the day here is a lot different to what I'm used to in the UK. Most people are up at 5am and out by 6am. Lunch is 11am-12pm and then it's snooze-time before things get going again around 2pm. Around 5pm people start heading for home and by 9pm most are in bed. So it's pretty quiet as I'm writing this (8:15pm).

I'm wide awake now though so probably won't sleep til 11-ish. Last time I didn't keep to the local rhythm and tended to get up 7-ish and go to bed 11-ish. It worked OK but near the end I realised I'd missed out after an early morning visit to the market. The place was buzzing. And my fumbling khmer went down far better than on the usual sluggish afternoons.

So earlier mornings may well be beckoning. Just need a week to properly de-jet-lag and build the resolve........