I went to the Vietnamese Floating Village of Siem Reap a while ago. The residents of this village mostly are Vietnamese, most of them are illegal. The house in this village is actually floating on the Tonle Sap lake. The base of the houses was built by bamboo and they can float from a place to another place. They have to put down the anchor if they wanna settle down in a place. Some of the houses was tied to another houses or the shore.
This is a very hot and sunny afternoon when i took a trip cruising around the lake to see the village with a closer look. While we are on the boat, we have been approached by a boy age 6 with a snake around his neck. The tour guide told us we have to pay him 1USD dollar if we wanna snap a photo of him and the snake. Seriously, that's a Peyton and I am so afraid it might swallow that little boy.Later on we saw more kids with snake around their neck and some of them are not even on a boat，it was just some kind of big bucket which can float.
A lot of the people trading their goods like clothes, groceries, fruits and vegetables on the boat. They have to wear hat and covered themselves because they have to work under this hot sun for the whole day. The villagers seems like very busy as some of them have to get the tiny fish from the fish net by hitting them constantly. Kids are roaming around in the house or just on the river. Some of the older children have to earn money by having snake around their necks or selling souvenir/drinks to the tourist.
After the trip to the village, I have been always thinking about the fate of the children in that village. This children are around their family most of the time and they seem like happy with what they have. They are laughing and trying to entertain themselves with what they have. I have seen this boy have so much fun by just throwing the sticks to see how far can these sticks go. There are a lot of children I have seen in big cities, normally with their nanny/maid seem unhappy most of the time. Although they dress well, eat well and have a lot of toys but their parent hardly have time for them. I am wondering if the children are willing to exchange with what they have now for a good life that live with their nanny???? I am doubt. If i am them, I guess I did rather to stay at my parents side with full of love no matter how difficult the life is. Love is the most important thing to keep our life goes on!
