We are now in Siem Reap and it is quite flooded but ok. You can wade about and most places to eat are still open and the Night Market is unaffected, so life as a tourist can continue comfortably!40 minute leg massage and my toe nail polish changed for $5, what more can a girl want!
Up early - 6am - no breakfast as today is an important Festival Day and the kitchen is closed, even though they tell us it would be open at 6.30! Not too worry banana's and tea left out and we hook in!
The driver could not get here due to increased flooding during the night so a Tuk tuk to where the car is and we are off. Approx 45 minutes out of town to the village of Kompong (which means harbour) Phhluk. Its very muddy and raining but plenty of tourists about. They even built a bridge for us to be able to use the toilet!
Off in the boat for the village, this is a different floating village as the house's, shops, schools, pagoda's are actually on stilts about 6 to 7 metres high but appear to be floating. For about 3 months of the year when the river resides they look weird as they soar out of the ground. So really we have visited the Tonle Sap Venice!!! But right now the stilts are very much underwater and the house's appear to be floating.
It is an amazing place, and we are lucky enough to stop off at the Pagoda to enjoy festival rice cake's given to us by the monks and listen to the monks chanting and accepting the offerings, there were hundreds of people in the pagoda, very noisy and busy.
We go right out on to the Tonle Sap Lake which is amazingly big, cannot see anything other than water! We turn back into the channel and head back towards the floating village, stopping off at a restaurant and enjoy some hot coffee and sandwiches for lunch, back in the boat and back to the jetty, mud? whatever you want to all it!
Fascinating Village, and well worth the trip out in the rain and floods, so many happy, swimming, smiling, waving Khmers. This trip has been well worth the day out, our driver and guide have been wonderful and taken such good care of us, thanks to Peter jones at www.seecamboiadifferently.com for putting this together for us.
Life is so simple for these people and l dare say very hard at times, but still they wave and smile! We can learn a lot from them.
