Feb 14 Siem Reap, Tonle Sap, return to Bangkok

This morning we drove through a rural farming area and experienced a ride on an ox-cart which is still in use by local farmers if they're not wealthy enough to have a pick-up or scooter.

That's our guide Bun with the red lanyard

Then we boarded a little tour boat for an excursion on the Tonle Sap, or Great Lake.


The Tonlé Sap is the largest freshwater lake in South East Asia and is an ecological hot spot that has been was designated as a UNESCO biosphere.


The Tonlé Sap is unusual for two reasons: its flow changes direction twice a year, and the portion that forms the lake expands and shrinks dramatically with the seasons. From November to May, Cambodia's dry season, the Tonlé Sap drains into the Mekong River at Phnom Penh. However, when the year's heavy rains begin in June, the Tonlé Sap backs up to form an enormous lake, and its size increases eight to ten-fold.

But for us it was fascinating to watch the local Cambodians fishing along the canal, and then as we went further, we were intrigued by the floating villages. 

fish traps

Our guide explained that most of the floating villages were ethnic Vietnamese without any of the benefits of Cambodian citizenship.
Click for an interesting article from the NY Times, "For Vietnam Boat People in Cambodia, No Anchors."

This is a floating school, probably charity sponsored

Their houses can be anchored to posts above the water line or built on bamboo rafts so that during the flood season they can float to a higher location.  It is truly subsistence living, and makes us feel ever so fortunate.

On the way back to Siem Reap we stopped to photograph a water buffalo

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and greeted some Cambodian kids returning from school

Then back to the hotel and off to the airport for our flight to Bangkok and our next hotel,  It was another great flight on Bangkok Air.  We spent the last night at the Kantary House in Bangkok and had dinner at a super-exclusive, high-end mall down the street.  What a contrast between that conspicuous consumption and the hard life of the rural or boat people!