Near the northern end of Tonle Sap lake, some 15 kilometers south of the lively and touristy Siem Reap is Floating Village. It should really be called Floating Town, because about 6,000 people of three different denominations live in improvised houses built on boats and rafts and it stretches over a vast area. Some 60 years ago people who couldn't afford the rent and didn't have or lost their land moved there to live on the water, because living on the water is free. There are floating mechanics shops, floating school and a floating basketball pitch. We even saw a floating church (yep, a Christian church - there are a lot of Vietnamese there on the lake) parked in a canal. We were driven in there with a boat that had an engine that could drown thunder and went between the tin and palm tree (and occasionally wooden) houses. The guide kid took us to an orphanage school on the water where we donated money and took a self-congratulatory photo with the children. Then he took us to a crocodile farm and as we went past whole families of beggars came up to us in their own boats. One didn't have a boat but a wash basin, same one she probably uses for doing laundry in the muddy, smelly waters of the lake.
When we wanted to eat something on the way back we stressed that we don't want a restaurant but something "simple" and the tuk-tuk drivers reluctantly stopped at the local market. And there it all was. The smell of decaying fish, the landmine victims going about their business, all food laid down on the ground and looking more miserable than I have ever seen food to look. Even sticky rice, though hidden in bamboo didn't seem very appetizing. Except when I didn't want to buy it the saleswoman seemed... something... I think my stomach sunk a little when I saw her face. She was this middle-aged woman who probably had just this bike and a few bamboo sticks with rice to make a living with was far better than all the beggars around, Cambodia has no social security. I don't think this place felt this real until now. Toto, I don't think we're in Europe anymore.
-Eva
After almost a week in Southeast Asia in the wet season with only twenty minutes of rain, we already thought something must be wrong here. Today however, we had another glimpse of monsoon. And what a good one! We had hired two Tuk-Tuk-drivers to drive us around for the day, and on a mountain it suddenly started pouring. This nicely warm rain is a welcome refreshment to the tropical heat and the blazing sun you otherwise encounter. Soon, the tiny waterfall nearby was swollen enough to serve as a shower, and the dusty path down the mountain turned into a muddy river! I can see now why travelling in the wet season is hard in places with only dust roads.
- Ralf
