Tonle Sap Floating Villages
Trip Start
May 22, 2010
1
6
22
Trip End
Jul 03, 2010
Siem Reap, Siem Réab, Cambodia
Friday, May 28, 2010
It was our last day in Siem Reap and the boys (Hugo and Bas) talked me into taking the cruise along the river out onto the lake to the floating villages. I didn't want to go originally as Lonely Planet had it down as a bit of a scam, it probably was as it did cost us $10 each but I enjoyed it.
The river and lake were both really low as its only just coming out of dry season now, the water was awfully muddy so much so that whenever another boat came by everyone immediately leaned away so as to avoid being splashed! The locals didn't seem to care that it was completely opaque and continued to swim, wash and work in it!
On arrival at the floating village we were met by a number of smaller boats used by the locals, some were begging others were carrying children holding snakes also asking for money. Venomous or not I kept my distance. We spent an hour or so wandering around the floating 'visitor centre' which included a small display about the annual cycle of the river, some facts about the local population (such as only 47% of them are literate and 12% of children die before they reach 5) and a crocodile and fish farm. Our guide told us that there is quite a big Vietnamese community here who migrate for the fishing hence the Vietnamese school we saw on the way in.
It wasn't the most exciting thing we've done while we've been here but it was educational to see how some people live their lives. Afterwards we bought a pass to use the hotel next door's amenities, I chilled by the pool reading while Hugo and Jack hit the gym. In the evening Hugo and Bas took us to this really tasty restaurant called Khmer Kitchen, followed by farewell drinks in Angkor What? where we set eyes on whom would be our new travel/ drinking buddies.
