Siem Reap, Cambodia
Friday, July 25, 2008
The second day at Siem Reap we went to see the floating village on the Tonle Sap lake. This lake has historical significance in Cambodia. Supposedly it is the highest producing fresh water lake of fish. It is the bread basket of Cambodia and grows on a typical year to quadruple its "dry season" size. Run off from the himalayas all flows down the mekong river and its tributaries towards the ocean, at some point all the water cannot escape into the ocean fast enough and the Tonle Sap lake river actually reverses its flow and all the extra runoff that cannot escape the to the ocean from himalayas fills up the Tonle sap to enormous size. This is lake and its abundance built the angkor wat temples in a round about way. the Khmer civilization fed by the rice that was grown in the wetlands near the lake and the fish that was caught there fed the entire population. when we were there the lake was extremely small for this time of year.
fun fact: the floating houses on the lake can move miles each year as the lake swells.
fun fact 2: all the people that liveonthe floating house urinate and defecate straight into the lake
fun fact 3: i had to partake in this "lake paris-ish" activity while we stopped on a floating restaurant during our trip
