We arranged for a local gentleman to take us on a small boat to Tonle Sap, South East Asia’s largest lake and home to a floating village. After the underwhelming experience of the floating market, I thought a visit to a floating village would be an interesting experience and give us an opportunity to see the countryside.
Tonle lake sounded so interesting. Home to a few floating villages we opted for a visit to the lesser known Kampong Phluk, with a local guide thus avoiding predatory boatmen and aggressive scammers.
Turned out it really was a day of two halves.
From the moment we met out guide - Mr I, our day took a very strange turn and continued to do so. On the drive over to the lake our guide explained his background. Mr I’s mother claimed she was uneducated and worked as a farmer during the Pol Pot era. His father on the otherhand was an educated policeman and during a public meeting the government asked for educated and skilled officials to help run the new government. He put his hand up to volunteer and was instantly taken away for execution with all the other volunteers. Our guide, Mr I was 15 days old at the time so he never remembered his father. He has made it his mission to educate others. He was a very interesting person who spoke very openly about this difficult and complicated country.
He gave us an insight into modern Cambodia and the corruption that infects the lives of those who live in this country that has suffered so much. Between a poor starting point and decades of terrible wars Cambodia is a mess and the selling-off of any asset that looks to have value to the Vietnamese then more recently to China is basically robbing the people of what little hope they had to improve their lot.
Our day began at the local market which was great. A happy, jolly place, lovely Khmer food and some very lovely hats.
Petrol attendant. Petrol is cheaper to buy in bottles than at a station.
We saw how the architecture changed as we hit the countryside.
Eventually we arrived at the lake only to find that our booking wasn’t actually including the boat hire - we had to buy another ticket for 50 dollars - but it’s for the village we were told. It was totally my fault I hadn’t read the very small print. We suddenly had a camera flashed in our faces as a lady idled past us.
We boarded our little boat.
Our Captain.
The road runs parallel to the river.
Tonle Sap lake flows in two directions depending on the season. During the dry season is covers about 2,000 square kilometres and is less than a meter deep. When the rains come the lake covers 16,000 square kilometres and has an average depth of 9m. This is a dramatic change that affects the lives of the people who live on the lake. For us, we are here at the end of the rainy season, going into Autumn. The water is high, but not at its highest. As we made our way across the water you saw the telegraph poles where the road would be in the dry season, running parallel to the lake.
Buildings along the roadside.
The floating houses of Tonle Sap are not actually floating, the houses are actually built on very tall bamboo stilts around 8 meters high. During the rainy season, the lake rises and covers the stilts, giving the illusion that the homes are floating in the water. People spend their entire lives within these floating communities, moving with the rise and fall of the waters. They depend on subsistence fishing as their main source of income and food.
Government buildings have red roofs.
There is an infra structure here - electricity, running water, school and health centre. Unlike, as our guide informed us, the other floating villages on the lake populated by illegal Vietnamese who have nothing.
Here you can see the electricity cables.
The village is extraordinarily peaceful, but it doesn’t seem a jolly place, such a contrast to the market. We landed at the village centre which happens, at this moment in time, to be above the water level.
Here, rising up from the dusty ground, are the houses on stilts, every design different, providing shelter to whole families: grandparents, parents, children, a couple of chickens and a handful of dogs.
There’s quite a bit of rubbish lying in stagnant dirty water.
A funeral was about to take place of a little boy who had fallen in the water and couldn’t swim.
As we walked around the atmosphere was not great. Not many people were around because of the midday heat, but those that were, many just stared straight through us. few people engaged with us. I got the impression they don’t like tourists, and who can blame them. it became clear this is not a village that is benefitting from the high ticket prices. Quite the opposite, they are Cambodia’s forgotten people with other people making money out of them.
Grandma picking up her grandchild after school.
School for extra learning funded by donations.
In part of this enormous lake, the mangrove forests spend half the year under water. We were met by a group of unwelcoming women who I felt pretty intimidated by. We got onboard one of the sampans and were rowed through the drowned forests; through the tangled trees, it was strangely eerie but beautifully peaceful.
We came across a boat with a lady collecting wood, then we came across a group of women, blocking our way. Suddenly the whole atmosphere and magic changed. We were asked to buy something to help the school. We bought a drink but that wasn’t enough. We were told our rower is hungry. We were asked to buy her cake, which we did - they only had a large bag. We handed over our dollars. As we rowed off they were laughing and jeering at us. It was quite unpleasant.
Finally we were deposited at our original boat no smiles, no acknowledgement. Mr I asked if we would like to see the the alligator farm - caged alligators illegally farmed - I really don’t think so!
We headed back.
As we got onto dry land a woman came up to me with photos of us printed onto a a terrible A5 montage of Tonle Sap sights. She was demanding money off me.
Over the years tourism has grown substantially on the Tonle Sap Lake. The quantity of tour boats must be having an affect on the lake and its sustainability. We, the visitors, are called the Cash Cows and it appears the people on the land who take your ticket money give nothing back to the community. Sustainability is also potentially going to be affected by the Chinese hydro stations that are due to be built. The water will be controlled thus affecting the life cycle of the lake.
We got an email from the airline. Our flight had been changed. The airport just 15 minutes drive away was now closed and the new super deluxe airport was now open. A huge airport funded by Chinese investment is now the local airport - A 2 hour taxi drive away costing 50 dollars. We actually saw a couple making the journey by tuk tuk - it would have taken well over 3 hours. The taxi driver said the new road to the airport is free for the first 2 months then users will have to pay the new road owners. Say no more…