Seam Reap, Cambodia

Tonele Sap and the Floating Village

The first day in Cambodia we went to The Tonle Sap with the Floating Village.

The Tonlé Sap is a combined lake and river system of huge importance to Cambodia.

It is the largest freshwater lake in South East Asia and is an ecological hotspot that was designated as a UNESCO biosphere in 1997.

For most of the year the lake is fairly small, around one meter deep and with an area of 2,700 square km. During the monsoon season, however, the Tonle Sap River which connects the lake with the Mekong River reverses its flow.

Water is pushed up from the Mekong into the lake, increasing its area to 16,000 square km and its depth to up to nine meters, flooding nearby fields and forests. The floodplain provides a perfect breeding ground for fish.

Tonle Sap is home to a large Vietnamese and Cham people community, living in floating villages around the lake.  The village is based on house boats.  As we visited Tonle Sap just at the end of the monsoon, we could only see the tops of the threes.  Our guide told us that between dry season and monsoon the difference of the water stand is 12 - 15 meter.

Many people are living of fishing from the lake. 

The population can be as many 9000 people living in this village on the lake, partly on stilts and partly on boats.

The boat houses moves their location depending if it is dry season or monsoon.  The lake rises twice each year.

Arriving we were met with small almost naked children people begging for money.

We had a boat journey on the lake, visiting a floating souvenir shop and an alligator “farm”.  Alligators are not natural in this area; the farms are there for us tourists.

Mothers with children from infants to 5-6 years old were meeting us in boats wanting to earn some money.  Selling small bananas, cans with lemonade or just hoping we would take some photos of the children with snakes round their necks.  I think the first words this children learns is; “just one dollar sir”.

The village has its own church, school and shops.

Bananas, one dollar mister

I`m rather impressed with the schools gym room.  And of cause all the children is good swimmers. 

The privacy is little for the people living in the floating village.  The walls on the floats is of palm leaves and blankets, just one room for whole family, and the outside toilet leads directly into the lake.  Batteries provide them with pthe ower, and all transport is with boats. 

Some of the houses are in better condition, some seem to be falling into the lake, and some of the houses can hardly bee called houses it is just a shelter.

It is an incredible poverty, people living together with chicken, hens and dogs.  No electricity and no running water.  The hygienic conditions are terrible, but I do not think the children were dirty, they seemed to love swimming.

Visiting Tonle Sap and the Floating Village was an interesting, but first of all, a chocking experience for all of us.

Souvernir shop

We were prepared on the poverty but not on the conditions on The Floating Village. This was our first day in Cambodia, and just one of us had a few one dollar bills. 

I wanted to by some bananas, give the mothers some dollars for taking their photos but had no less than a 100 dollar bill and none of them could give me change. 

You might think we are delicate and naïve, but the conditions by and at the Floating Village was beyond imagined and I do not have a name on the stink that hang over the area. 

Driving back to our hotel we asked our driver to stop by a change office.  We all wanted to have one dollar bills, lots of one dollar bills.  We are going to travel round in Ankor and Seam Reap, and we are sure we will meet lots of children trying to sell us bananas, pineapple, shawls, post cards, books……………………….. 

And as my twin sisters husband said; Here you have the opportunity to give the aid without greedy middle hands.  So we wanted to be prepared. 

"Just one dollar mister"