The Floating Village, Cambodia
20.12.2011 - 20.02.2012
20 °C
Floating Village - 20th December 2011
Just outside of Siem Reap there is a village, which is a little different from others I have seen. To get to the Village you have to charter a boat on the Tonle Sap Lake which Phnom Penh sits at the opposite end. I'm not sure what the Cambodian name is for this place but where I am from you would call this this waterworld, or some persons idea of a tourist attraction. Indeed, it is a tourist attraction only because it is so incomprehensible, only it is not one of the Chinese type prefabricated variety like Dwarf City where all the little people live in mushroom castles where they sing and dance and put on a variety show for the gawping Chinese.
People including myself, want to see this as this is impossible to understand without visiting how a floating village actually looks, and what kind of person lives there. People are not made for water, and if we were we would have Kevin Costner type gills.
In Cambodia there are different rules and life for the majority is about farming to exist, it is still very much an agrarian state. If the only way to exist in Cambodia is to be a permanent fisherman then let's go fish!!
There are advantages to living on water.
1) Low council tax (I bet!)
2) Neighbour dog keeping you up on a night? Well up anchor and move along.
3) Swim to your neighbours and keep in shape, watch out for the crocodiles though..
In fact, the ameneties in this village is like any other, so this village doesn’t let the fact that it is built on water deter it from having what all decent villages around the globe need to have a buoyant (pun intended) community spirit. What more could you want in a community.
Village
A floating Catholic Church
A floating Pig Farm
A floating Crocodile Farm
A floating shop where you can buy all your essentials....
A floating billiards hall
A floating school with basketball court
And then to top it all off we have children floating in tubs holding bloody big pythons. If your mother could see you now… oh there she is, encouraging you to beg for a dollar.
There was even a floating Orphanage of which i didnt take a photograph of...…… (ok so these are not essential to a village but in Cambodia, there are too many orphanages in too many villages)
Article By David Beattie of Rounton Coffee
Posted by beatski 00:46 Archived in Cambodia Tagged cambodia village lake floating reap siem phnom penh tonle sap Comments (0)
