By the end of our second day in Siem Reap, we were pretty much "templed out"...something that must be pretty common! Our guide, Mr. Vith, suggested that on the third morning we take a boat trip down the river onto the Tonle Sap to visit one of the Lake Villages, Chong Khneas.
The Tonle Sap is a huge freshwater lake/river system. Most of the time it's pretty big, but in the rainy season, the Mekong River actually reverses its course and flows *into* the lake, causing it to grow to over twice its dry season size. At the time we were there, the rains were just beginning, and the floods were a few months away.
The road south out of town started out in good condition, but gradually deteriorated into a rutted dirt track.
The road is elevated a few meters above the surrounding marshlands, and the houses are built on stilts to be at road level. Many of the houses were built by squatters.
We had stopped back in town to pay for our boat tickets (it is organized by a central company). Once we got to the end of the road, our guide located a boat, and we set out on the river.
We passed numerous other boats along the way, and a couple of floating barges holding the local primary school. The water level will rise by several meters in the rainy season, putting all the marsh grasses, etc. underwater-- so having everything float is a smart idea!
There is even a floating "rec center", with an enclosed basketball court:
The river then opened up onto the Tonle Sap itself, and we could see the floating village:
There are several of these floating villages on the lake, but this is one of the most frequented by tourists, thanks to its proximity to Siem Reap. Most of the folks on the lake are actually ethnic Vietnamese rather than Cambodian, but our guide told us that there are pretty well divided "neighborhoods" within the village. (Here, at least it's relatively easy to move house if you don't like your neighbors...)
Life is hard here, and most people are engaged in subsistence fishing, etc. There is a great deal of innovation, with folks creating floating chicken coops, "fields", etc...
We stopped at a floating tourist center, with a great display on the lake's fish and waterbirds (as well as traditional fishing methods), a small shop and a chance to view some local residents:
There is even a church, which attracts many people to services by promising them a free meal afterwards. Not entirely sure how I feel about that, honestly...
All in all, it was a really eye-opening experience to see how differently people lived. The same was true for the entire Siem Reap trip, for me: I felt like an obscenely rich person casting an imperious eye at the "quaint native customs", and that assessment isn't really far off the mark for any Westerner that comes here.
It really is true: how you live is, in great part, a fluke of where you were born. But no matter where you are, people are always finding creative ways of meeting their needs.
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