Friday night at Tonle Sap

After a brief respite back at the Villa, we met for our trip to the floating village on Tonle Sap. Tonle Sap is the largest freshwater lake in SE Asia. During the rainy season it can be huge. It's nowhere near as large as Lake Superior, but still way too big to see from one side to the other. It's part of the Mekong River system. The capitol of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, sits at one end and a 3-4 hour boat trip away is Siam Reap. Anyway, the lake is surrounded by mangrove trees which can be nearly submerged during the rainy season. They are nothing special to look at but very versatile. The leaves are used for thatch, the bark for tea and the wood can be used for building all kinds of things. When we arrived, we had about 15 minutes to walk around the small village where we were to catch our boat. We wandered around gawking and taking pictures. I've posted a bunch of pics already of this village and the little kids. The village was about 30-40 feet wide at most with a road running down the middle. I should amend that to say that the land part of this village was 30- 40 feel wide. The houses mostly extended out into the water and were built on stilts. Definitely a different world. When we got to our boat I was amazed to find that our boat drivers were at most 14. But they did fine. It was only a little scary at first. The floating village that we were to see moves around the lake depending on the season. We were lucky that at this time it was nearby. The rainy season usually ends at the end of October, but for the past year or two there has been comparatively little rain. The village is a "Tonkinese floating village". I think I have the spelling correct, but essentially it is referred to that way because theoretically most of the residents are of Vietnamese descent. Our guide, Ta, told us that in reality only about 30% of the villagers are Vietnamese. Most of the villagers make their living directly or indirectly from fishing. Many different kinds of fish can be found in the lake which provide great eating! Among the pictures I've posted is one of a spirit house. This one differs from others that I've posted both in size and location. It is built at the entrance to the village and every year a special ceremony is performed to both protect the fishermen and to ask for help in being successful. After cruising through the village we went out on Tonle Sap for a bit to watch the sunset which was quite lovely. All in all, a great view into a very different lifestyle.

Popular posts from this blog

Back in the Land of Smiles

Hello all! Here I am, back in the hot and humid Land of Smiles. I've been here a week so far and had a slight flu relapse and an uncharacteristic bout with "Delhi Belly". Needless to say, I've been slowed down a wee bit. But enough about me! Probably the most significant thing that's happened here since I've been back is the election. After a rough past year for the incumbent Thai Rak Thai (Thai Love Thai) party including the violent Tak Bai incident that I discussed in the fall, they handily won the election. In fact, it was a landslide. The current Prime Minister, Taksin Shinawatra's programs and policies were completely endorsed by the Thai people. One enormous plus for TRT's easy win was the government's handling of the Tsunami tragedy. With a few exceptions (identification of the bodies for instance), the response by the government was swift and effective from all reports. Clearly the Thai people approved overwhelmingly. I asked a f
Read more

Weekend at the beach!

Over the weekend, I went to the famous beach town, Hua Hin. I took a fairly inexpensive air conditioned van from Bangkok to a hotel I had never seen. When I got to the hotel, I was appalled to find that the room I was given was facing out over the busiest and noisiest road in Hua Hin. To top it off, the glass in the windows was less than one centimeter thick. Fortunately after about 45 minutes of discussion, they were able to move me to a quieter and nicer room at the back of the property for one night. I took a stroll on the beach, finally got checked in and went for a tasty and spicy seafood dinner. The next day, I had to move back to the original room or find a new hotel. Fortunately I decided to look for a new hotel. I found a fantastic place a bit off the beaten path in an area just south of Hua Hin called Kao Takiab. It had a wonderful beach and it was very easy to stroll along it, watching the locals, the farangs and the temple dogs running freely. After a swim in the ocean to c
Read more

Cambodia - Day 1

If Cambodia is NOT on your list of places to visit, it should be. In fact, it oughta be near the top. The smiles alone made my trip worthwhile. For friendliness, I have never been to a place that surpasses Cambodia. From the moment I was picked up at the Siem Reap International Airport to the time I sadly boarded the plane for my flight home I saw nothing but enthusiastic courtesy and a very real curiosity and friendliness. You can see from the pictures I have posted that it's true. Since my college years, I have wanted to see Angkor Wat. It's been in the back of my mind for many years. It seems that whenever I had time to go or could afford to go, the political situation precluded it. For years the land mines left over from the Vietnam war made visiting most anywhere in Cambodia too dangerous. The stability or lack thereof with the Khmer Rouge made visiting a no-no. But in the past few years, the land mines have been cleaned up at least in all the major tourist areas and th
Read more