Tonlé Sap Floating village, Cambodia
Sunday, October 21 2007 @ 08:55 PM | Contributed by: Oliver | Views: 790
 | The Tonlé Sap fresh water lake in Cambodia is the largest lake in south-east Asia and the most important natural resource for the country. The lake is changing its size dramatically during raining season since the Mekong inverses its flow with the season and flows into/out of the lake accordingly. There are many people living off the fish of the lake, and also more than 8000 people living in a village on the lake, partly on stilts and partly on boats. The boat houses shift their location with the rising lake twice a year. |
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| The people in the floating villages live in little privacy, usually in a small shack covered with palm leaves, a whole family in one room and an outside toilet that leads directly into the lake. Power is coming from car batteries, transport is done on anything that floats and food is coming through trading, fishing and local services provided. | ||
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| Some of the houses are in better condition, some seem to be falling apart any minute, others are simply a boat with a roof that tries to protect from the heavy rains of the season. | ||
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| Large buildings house the communal facilites, such as a church, a library or a sports hall. All of them seem to be donations from foreign governments such as Japan, the EU or the US as one can read on the signs above the doors. | ||
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| Transport here has its equivalent to the bicycle and the pickup truck, for indivdual or mass transport even floating shops for home delivery. | ||
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| Otherwise money is earned by selling a canned drink or a small bunch of bananas to tourists, all for the magical "one dollar, sir!". After a successfull sell, the owner of the tourist boat gets another dollar as share and the next boat with tourists is aimed at. Fishermen drive by with huge scaffolding for drying their nets after going for the larger fish, and the small fishes are beaten out of the nets with bamboo sticks on a specially designed raft. | ||
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| The living conditions are more or less poor, the hygiene is terrible, and living together with chicken, dogs and fish in the same hut surely does not help. | ||
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| The dimensions are according to the surrounding, a local supermarket is nothing more than a shelf, the only fresh water comes from a pump and the SPA for local tourists is a bunch of hammocks in a larger shed on stilts | ||
Please see also these articles about Angkor Temples:
Angkor Wat | Sunrise at Angkor Wat | Reliefs of Angkor Wat
Banteay Srei Temple | Preah Palilay Temple | Bayon Temple | Ta Phrom Temple
These are more articles from Cambodia:
Khmer Dance | Floating Village | Royal Palace | On the road | Hotel de la Paix
Angkor Wat | Sunrise at Angkor Wat | Reliefs of Angkor Wat
Banteay Srei Temple | Preah Palilay Temple | Bayon Temple | Ta Phrom Temple
These are more articles from Cambodia:
Khmer Dance | Floating Village | Royal Palace | On the road | Hotel de la Paix
