On our way from Siem Reap to Battambang in Cambodia, we decided, instead of catching a bus or train, we would take an 8 hour boat trip, through the floating villages of Tonlé Sap.
They told us that there hadn’t been much rain lately and that the boats might not be running, but we arrived to find plenty willing to take us
So we willingly boarded and headed off down the river towards the main lake
We reached the opening of the river to find (what we expected) many houses floating in the water
As we got closer to the other side of the lake, we patches of reeds passing by, but the driver of the boat didn’t seem to care about slowing
We knew when we had hit the village on the other side
oops, sorry…
The village here was alive with people on boats buying, trading and just living a completely different life than anyone could imagine
Each boat was armored with a propellor on the end of a long arm, presumably to get past all the reeds
which were obviously still a nuisance.
The reeds began to thicken towards the end of the village and we broke out across uninhabited plantville.
no rulez
blowing kisses
We came to another village where jumped off the boat for a quick break and a bite to eat
After our meal, we hopped back aboard and made way down the river for Battambang
It felt like hours winding through bends
and passing unique homes
until we finally made it to our port of rest, where it felt good to stand again on solid ground
2014
(moto)
(tuktuk)
(pride)
(playground)
(jetty bar)
(beach litter)
(sand castle)
(sand cock)
The hotel staff organised for a tuktuk to pick us up one morning to take us to the railway
There were a couple of tourists in line waiting for their set of wheels to arrive, which took away from the legitimate feeling we were expecting
but once we got on our ride, we passed people who obviously used the railway as a main ‘street’
After about 20 minutes we reached the end of the line, where we stopped at a bunch of shops ,who were waiting for tourists to spend some money on their common goods.
We decided to skip the shops and walk to the actual end of the line
cow gate…
Some local girls came out and checked us out. I’m sure they were probably pretty used to seeing westerners on the daily.
The ride back felt quicker,
But the locals still stood out the most, and were definitely a highlight of the whole experience.
photojesus 