It is the time of Chinese New Year. The night has been punctuated with crackers and noise, and in the moring we are greeted with dragons as we leave the hotel.
Tonle Sap
The largest fresh water lake in SE Asia. Complete with stilt houses, floating villages and hoon speedboats (lets ignore the pollution). The floating villages are for those too poor to buy any land. There seems to be segragation between villages, with one being Cambodian and the other Vietnamese.
There is no sewage system for any of the houses, and the lake is relatively shallow. The river feeds down to the Mekong. In local jargon it is called the Magic River. During the dry season, the water flows from the lake to Mekong, but during the wet, the volume in the Mekong is so great that it flows the other way, back to the lake.
The road in to the village, is a land spit, with water on both sides.
Surprisingly, the road is a dirt road, quite narrow, almost too narrow for the bus. You can see the effect of the dust on the houses. But then again, think of the mud and mess in the wet.
There is also a lot of more traditional farming, as well as the fishing
First view of boats
Stuck before we can leave. The pilot is in the white shirt – Vuttha (slightly off screen and also lifting) claims he is 19, and his brother is 13. A quick move to the back of the boat for all us passengers gives enough change of balance to lift it off the dock – visions of us floating off driverless into the river are quickly allayed. It is still requires some backing and filling to get the angle right, plus a bit of muscle from Vuttha on the pole.
Hardly looks seaworthy, but it is only a lake, and during the dry, quite shallow.
This guy is fishing for catfish in the pristine blue water. Idea is that when the catfish pops it head up out of the water, he throws a net over it.
When the motor fails, you can always paddle.
This is a spirit house, not a domocile or lookout. The fishermen visit to make offerings to the spirits for a better catch.
Part of the floating villages
Dragging fishing nets on to the boat, Doesn’t look terribly stable, but I have a feeling that I would prefer it to standing in the water for hours hoping a catfish would suddenly pop its head up.
The whole motley crew, stung out all over the boat.
Not too sure how much use the handrail would actually be, but it looks pretty. Cetainly interesting getting on and off the boat.
