Satellite
  • Day 49

    floating village

    November 21, 2016 in Cambodia ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Dear travel journal,
    Today was a good day. Got up and walked i to town and head breaky with dana at a vegan cafe that was quite tasty. A quick tuk tuk back to the hotel and we jumped on the minibus to the floating village. We minibused it past small villages and rivers and rice fields and people fishing and then jumped in the tray of a truck and 4-wheel-drove down a super muddy dirt 'road' that had a rover one side and then stretching rice fields all the way to the horizon that progressively had more and mlre water flooded over them the further we went. It was soo beautiful with the bright green rice fields and cows and cranes everywhere and people working and the sun reflecting off the water. It really was awesome. In the wet season the entire area, fields and all are under water. Once we got to a point where the river took over and became more of a lake we jumped into a boat and headed down stream. I sat on the roof of the boat for a huge chunk of the trip and just watched the boats going past witb other tourists, locals in fishing boats and trees that sre submerged to the canopy. We past a couple of building on the way before entering the village proper. All of the houses are on stilts. There were boats everywhere, people fishing and kids swimming and fisherman clearing their nets from the mornings catch. We went through the village and out the other side which opened out into a massive lake that looked like it stretched out forever. It was very cool. Then back into town and we got off at a little building and jumped into little flat row boat type things in pairs. I was wish dana and we went past houses and floating shops and had a chat with a local who was trying to sell is stuff but was nice and had good english. And then we floated through the trees which apparently in the dry season has no water and you can walk between the trees. Then back on our boat and a bit further into the village and we jumped off the boat onto a jetty (bamboo sticks with a bit of wood tied between) to the only bit of land exposed in the village that goes completely under by about 2 meters in the wet season. We walked past kids everywhere, houses, little shops, people working on nets, dogs and chickens everywhere. At the end was the school and then the temple which is still under construction. While we were waiting for the boat to come and get us dana and euan where talking and euans traidmark 'oh shiiit' in his kiwi twang was said a few times. Then one of the local boys walking past, who must have been only about 10years, repeated it. Woops - we are teaching locals some bad things lol. Then back on the boat, upriver, and jumped back on the truck to the minivan back to town. It was an awesome morning, exactly the side of these countries i wanted to see. The real cambodia. Aparently the money we paid goes straight back to the community to help rebuild the roads destroyed by the wet season, maintain boats and for the locals. The water in the area is quite brown and dirty. Everything from the village, including their toilets (if they have them), goes into the river. For drinking they get water into a container and mix in lime or lemon juice and wait for it to seperate. And then take the clear water on the top to boil and use that for cooking and drinking. Most of the community is buddist and they cremate all bodies of people who have passed away, sometimes having to preserve the bodies over the wet season until the water has gone down a bit.
    Then we stopped for lunch and headed back to the hotel and had a quiet arvo in before i headed out for dinner with the kiwi boys. Then the group minus dana, bianca and blake went to the circus. It was awesome. It was a story about bullying and descrimination and how acceptance is a good thing and leads to the good health and fortune and blessings. Apart from the story line the tricks and the muscles - omg. And the organisation helps put disadvantaged kids through art school. 1200 per year get a free education and 150 end up proffesional arts, but they all get skills to help them build lives and get jobs and support themselves. Just awesome. Then.... we all went to pub street. Woop woop. Last night we are all together. Tour ends tomorrow - sad face. We went back to the temple bar. There were soo many more people. It was so good. We just danced and laughed and danced for hours. People slowly left and dana, euan, guss, felix and i were left. After some interesting encounters with tuk tuk drivers, we started headed back. We passed tom, innisa and heika all having a drink and then ran into everyone else. So the group was all together again. Except for roxana and yve and biance who didnt come out. Poor B is soo sick - hope she gets better soon. Then slowly everyone went back to the hotel leaving me, blake and tom. Which was just a random as conversation but slighly amusing. Then we joined lisa and innis who were smoking and sat around and had a chat. Then blake and i checked on all the boys, appologised to their cranky neighbour, gave gus a bottle of water while he was half passed out on the bathroom floor and left blake too it. Dancing was so fun. Cant believe im the sober one and im the last one up. Lol oh well, im up in 5 hours so should probably crash. Night xo
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