Day 46 - Floating Village and New Years Celebration!

We weren't really sure what to expect from Cambodia, to be honest, and we were a little surprised at the really nice state of the art airport and the road from there to Siam Reap city - all have apparently been recently opened as part of a development project. We have been told Cambodia was one of the poorest countries we were visiting so it didn't match up. The city itself still has a very SE Asia flavor but what we'd seen was a little more modern even than Vietnam. In addition, there are more cars and far fewer scooters than we'd grown used to, so it seems more peaceful.

Today's outing was to a local fishing community called Kampong Khleang that sits on a river and flood plain and feeds into the largest lake in Cambodia (Tonle Sap Lake). The drive in was with our local guide, Bantku, who married into a fishing family, his wife's family is still living in a floating village. As we've experienced previously, it was fascinating to see such a different way of life than our own and here was one that is almost entirely built around fishing and farming. In the center pic below what looks like bottles of Johnnie Walker Whisky are actually gasoline for sale in used bottles. Bantku, our guide for day, told us they are purchased for scooters and boats. It must be the perfect amount to fill the small tanks.

The overwhelming feature of the community was the houses built on tall stilts that sit on the riverbank or houses being built over oil drums which are actually able to float in the water. We assumed the purpose of the stilts were to protect the houses during rainy season. That is correct but Banku said it was also to keep them safe from the dangerous snakes and scorpions! He also informed us the river was very low at the moment, only about 3ft deep or less in places but that once the rainy season starts it goes to 30ft, flooding the road we drove in on. He recommended a kayak tour down the same street later in the year!

As we'd seen in Thailand all the boats were "long tails" which can run in much shallower water than a regular outboard motor can do. The boats can operate with the propellor barely submerged, and in some cases only half submerged in shallower areas.

Many of the houses were quite large but all were built well above the flood levels on impressive timber posts. It was tough to see the rudimentary conditions of the houses (and now understood what we had been told about the country's financial state), but it is a way of life that has existed for a very long time and the people seem to be content.

In pics below a thatched roof building and two school buildings. If you zoom in you can see the oil drum floats that the building sits on and although it is beached now, it can rise and float with the rainy season floods. Pretty cool!

The whole village, and Siem Reap for that matter, was in state of excitement for the upcoming New Years celebration which spans the next 3 days. We saw lots of families preparing for the celebration where they gather, eat, play games and drink beer (so we've been told).

After cruising past the tiny town, we kept going until we hit the large lake and proceeded to visit a floating village. It was again, a fascinating look into a way of life revolving around fishing. There are 2.5 million people who live on and around the lake like this! The people live in quite expansive floating structures which they keep in the lake unless there is bad weather or floods that cause them to pull the whole house into shallower water up the river for safety. For the rainy season, all of the houses are moved to land because the weather is too dangerous.

Then it was back to dock, again enjoying the sights and sounds of the locals.

On our way out, after getting off the boat, we witnessed the buildup for the New Year Celebration!

OK - so firstly, we had NO IDEA we would be here during the New Years Celebration in Cambodia nor were we aware of some of the customs for this 3-day holiday. It turns out there's lots of music with enormous speakers, a fair amount of beer consumption but the unexpected one was squirting water on everyone. We were warned not to wear any good clothes when we went out for dinner and now we understand why. See the pics and videos to get a feel for what was a quite a crazy scene and joyous occasion in Siem Reap tonight! Most people had super-soaker water guns, others garden hoses and some had buckets of water! Needless to say, we got pretty wet, but what a cool thing to experience. Happy New Year!

Cambodia Fun Facts:

• The food has been delicious

• It has been extremely hot and humid

• The people are incredibly kind and respectful

• People constantly say thank you by bowing and holding their hands together at chest height