Floating Village Tour

we decided to check out the floating village near siem reap.  about a 20 minute tuktuk ride to the boat and then about a 1.5 hr tour from there.  we booked the same driver that toured us around the temples the three previous days.  kim was his name (well not his real name, he just made it easier for us).  he was not a salesman (compared to all the other drivers we encountered) and he was very honest (told us how he got paid, how he got meals at certain places for free if he got us to eat there too, which spots were worth going to and which were too touristy).  much of the information he gave us was not necesarily to his benefit.  we tried to be pretty generous with him seeing as though he probably saved us a lot of money and unnecessary hassle.

the ride to the boat was fascinating.  we drove through the poor part of town along the siem reap river and encountered many interesting sights and smells.

we elected to go on a tour with only a guide and driver as opposed to cramming on one boat with 15 other tourists.  it only cost us one dollar more paid as a bribe to the boat organizing dude.  or at least that's what it looked like...kim did all the groundwork for us.  :)

our tour guide was a 23 year old studying the cambodian and english languages.  i'm pretty sure he's a volunteer that jumps on these boats to practice english and earn tips.  he was fun to talk to and he was buddies with the driver who didn't speak much english.  they were really jovial and loved to interact.
driver on left and guide on right having a snack.

we started off in a smaller river that opened onto the HUGE tonle sap lake (googlemap tonle sap to look for scale).  the village is in the lake close to where the river meets it.  the people in the floating villages are among the poorest and rely solely on fishing for income.  it is the beginning of the dry season here so water levels are relatively low and the colour of the rivers is about that of coffee with a lot of cream.  people are swimming, fishing, doing laundry, etc.  yikes.  i think westerners would die within 20 minutes of contact with this water.

we stopped in at a crocodile and catfish farm on the lake near the village.  they also had a floating temple, floating basketball court, floating water purification facilities and floating school.  a number of these extra buildings had name plates indicating who had sponsered them.  all from europe or north america.

on the way back they asked if i wanted to drive the boat back up the river!  ha!  i did and it was fun.  roel sat on the nose of the boat and enjoyed the breeze, he didn't feel a need to try driving.

the next day we hopped on the bus for six hours to phnom penh.  by this time i was starting to have some stomach cramping and low grade fever.  roel's allergies kicked in full force as well.  it was a long bus ride packed full of tourists and locals trying to get to the capitol city for chinese new years.