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  • Day 5

    A long day on a boat....

    July 5, 2019 in Cambodia ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    After a restless night it was up at about 0600hrs to get packed and ready to depart. Breakfasted … we were ready to go by about 0715hrs on a sunny and humid morning. We headed out of Siem Reap on some fairly busy roads to start with, sometimes sealed and sometimes not, intermittent roadworks and mud added to the challenges. We soon found ourselves travelling through the jungle and past small villages, at time quite boggy and muddy. After a while however the area opened out to rice fields being grazed by water buffalo.
    At about the 20km mark we had a toilet and water break before heading down the river for a few km. The track was relatively good at this point although muddy at times.
    I forgot to mention yesterday that when the sun came out in the late morning there must have been a mass butterfly hatching as we seemed to be riding through clouds of bright yellow, blue and black and white ones much of the day (until it rained). Today however it was dragonflies in abundance.
    After a few more km’s along the river we got to a village where although the road was no longer passable for the bus, the river wasn’t high enough yet for boats. We therefore had to get our stuff from the bus and rode the final few kms to the village where the small boats were located. The track was really quite rough and a bit slippery so care was needed and it was a bit of a slog (and we were quickly quite mud splattered).
    At the village we were allocated 4 boats, one exclusively for bikes and the other 3 for people AND bikes – a max of 6 – 7 people per boat. In these we traveled initially down canals and then down a larger river. We passed other crafts with locals coming back to their villages with produce or fish as well a couple of small settlements with fish traps and crocodile pens.
    The village with the big boat was much larger and had many floating homes built on bamboo rafts which can cope with the wet season floods where the water can ride by 5-6 metres. We were not going to Lake Tonal Sap (the largest lake in SE Asia as the water was still to low… apparently the water flows out of the lake in the dry season and into the Mekong, but interestingly the flow reverses in the wet season and the Mekong backflows and fills the lake. At the big boat village we had a chance to visit a small NGO shop, view some crocodiles in a pen and purchase a DELICIOUS iced coffee – then it was all onto a “big boat” .. which was quite literally just big enough for us all.. with the bikes on the roof .. for a long trip down the rivers towards Battambang. The river was fairly wide with thick beds of water hyacinth on each bank. The stems and flowers can be eaten and they are also used for weaving (as in the baskets at the NGO) … it was a bit of a long trip and there was time to read, snooze and have a bit of lunch….. and then…. and then… the wheels fell off and I no longer like water hyacinth which I see as the beginning of “the end” or should I say the start of the not so enjoyable bit of the day…
    We had been travelling for maybe an hour and a half when to a bit of a grotty village, it kind of smelled a bit off, stagnant and the water was dirty and there was lots of floating rubbish .. the reason for this soon became clear as the water really wasn’t flowing well due to the channel being totally blocked by the vigorous water plant. The “plucky captain” decided to try to ram his way through “a la icebreaker” and is the best tradition of the polar exploration wasn’t so much frozen as completely stuck in a thick tangled mass of floating vegetation. The stuff is so thick that even though the water was 2 metres deep the crew and 2 of the guides sank only up to their waists as they tried to free us from the tangle – nasty green snakes notwithstanding. I am not sure how long we were stuck there but there was lots of backwards and forwards ramming (as in the classic icebreaker move) and poking with long poles. The engine had the guts revved out of if so much so that the radiator cap shot off and water was splashing over the deck… finally however we were free and on our way. By this time however the sunshine had changed to icy winds and thumping down rain. We had a clear dilemma. The path was clearly going to be impassable to the van but equally difficult for bike riding as the mud was reported at being at least a foot deep in places. However despite the wet the river level was sufficiently low as to make the passage of the boat tricky. AND added to this Brett (the Aussie tour leader) clearly has the flu complete with chills and rigors and wasn’t really in a fit state. Soh took change brilliantly … we traveled onto the usual drop point where noodles and Oreos were accessed for those who needed them and then we continued on upstream albeit slowly and with one sandbar type incident.
    It really was a very long day on the boat and we were all very relieved when we met up with Hoem by the river bank. By then it was well after 6 and rapidly getting dark and with 22km still to go into Battambang and a 8pm dinner reservation we were into the van and back to the hotel. Quick shower and then off to Jaan Bai restaurant for the most delicious dinner. Another social enterprise venue, the name Jaan Bai, means “rice bowl” in Khmer. The restaurant is an initiative of CCT and the Feel Good Coffee Group. It provides skills development and employment for Cambodian youth, with a share of profits going towards CCT’s child protection and community development work. The food was superb.. although it did seem a little rushed .
    The back to the hotel as we have to be at breakfast by 0630hrs for a 0700 departure ……
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