This is one of a large series of pictures that show a set of norias or waterwheels at a site that on one hand has a Cham teahouse and on the other a mosque that we will visit afterwards. The noria was used in Roman times and though I read somewhere that people think there were buckets attached to its water-driven spokes the system is more ingenious. The water is scooped up in the downward phase into almost cupboard-like compartments, that will empty at the highest point. The obvious advantage is that the flowing water both powers the noria and supplies the water that needs to be raised (since the fields are well above the water level of the river). Though now irrigation is done by motored machines the norias are kept in repair and working order to continua the cultural inheritance.

My visit was ten days before the sluices would be opened and the wheels set in motion. Indeed the river smelled a bit.