Hello Cambodia (Jan. 24-25)
On Jan. 24th we hopped on a bus headed for Cambodia. We arrived at the Bangkok bus station at 6:30 a.m. after being told that the traffic would be so bad it might take our taxi an hour and a half to get there. It took only 15 minutes. The early wake up was greeted with a few moans and groans from all of us, since nobody was feeling well, suffering from tummy troubles, and especially from Maya who is turning into a bit of a sleeper-inner, not liking to wake up early.
Soon enough we were on the bus from Bangkok, Thailand to Siem Reap, Cambodia. After about 4 hours on the bus we knew we’d arrived at the border by the large overhead concrete archway depicting the sacred and most famous tourist attraction, Angkor Wat (the words “Kingdom of Cambodia” were a good clue too!). Despite still feeling ill we began to feel excited about this next unknown on our travels.
At the bordertown of Poipet we were expecting, based on our readings, a tough entrance into Cambodia attributed mostly to corrupt border officials and lots of beggars. Our bus attendants did a good job telling us what to watch out for and what we should and shouldn’t do. We’d heard that the corrupt customs guards try to separate us from some money in addition to the VISA fee we had to pay. Together with a group of travellers sitting around us on the bus we agreed to stick to our guns and not pay the additional “corruption levy”, since we had all read information saying that you could just "outwait" the border guards to avoid paying. At the customs booth, we indicated ‘No’ to the extra $$ so they set us aside to wait out processing of other travellers’ VISAS. The sign above the visa window clearly says $30 USD but they had written on a paper $30 USD + 100 Baht (worth about $4 Canadian each – not a huge amount, but we'd rather not pay it). When we saw a few of our fellow travellers pass through quickly by paying the extra $$, Kim and I turned to each other with questioning looks - they later said they decided it was just easier to pay! In fact, it looked like we were the only ones to refuse paying at all! After about 10 minutes of wondering how long they would hold us for, and second guessing whether we should have just paid the money, a guard brought out our Cambodian VISAS and unceremoniously motioned us forward to the next processing stop. Well, that wasn't so bad! We were a bit apprehensive though, because we had read about how the police are not your friends in Cambodia, and paying them off is sometimes your only way out.
The border is a busy place with all sorts of vehicles passing through, much like at home but with much greater variety, way more exhaust pollution and unregulated safety standards. We saw three guys pushing and pulling a cart that looked extremely heavy the size of a dump truck. There’s also a casino at this crossing which provided an interesting juxtaposition of wealth and poverty. There were a few beggars asking for money including some men who had presumably lost their legs to landmines. The air was dusty, there was garbage, noise, and people everywhere, all of which all set the tone for visiting this very poor nation.
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| That's right, no vehicle or animal pulling this load, just 3 determined Cambodians! |
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| Our driver, Tha, loading our bags into his tuk tuk - it's quite a load with the 4 of us and our gear! |
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a fairly tame representation of the streets in the city
notice the scooter going the wrong way on the far left - seems to happen all the time
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| country roads - more dust, but more relaxing! |
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| wonder what his story is? |
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a school girl in uniform riding home
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| no livestock under this very tidy house, but the scooter was there, along with a table for the family to sit at |
Finally we reached a canal where a longboat and driver were waiting to take us up to the floating village, and out on to Tonle Sap Lake. He had some difficulty turning around amongst the other boats, he smiled and said "small river" - since the water level is low at this time of year.
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Our boat and driver - he was very proud of his boat.
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As we slowly moved up the canal, with Lucas sitting on the bow, our young captain used the limited English he knew to tell us about life in the village and on the lake. 7000 people live in the village year round. Most villagers are very poor, surviving mostly on their daily or seasonal catches of fish and the rice and vegetables they are able to grow or buy. He said that fish forms a part of the villagers’ diets 365 days of the year. Tonle Sap Lake is a huge economic driver in Cambodia, supplying fish to all parts of the country. There is concern however that it is being overfished and our captain talked about how small the fish are getting.
When we reached the village itself it wasn’t floating at all – it was house after house built on stilts about 5 meters high on the banks of the canal. We were there during the summer when the water was low, but during the rainy season Tonle Sap Lake increases in size from 2700 square kms to over 16000 square kms, flooding into the village, over the roads, rising high enough to make the houses look as if they are floating. This huge change in area and volume occurs because when the Mekong River swells during the monsoon season, there is so much water volume that it actually causes its tributary, the Tonle Sap River, to reverse direction for a period of time, forcing it to flow into the lake rather than draining it. As a result, the surrounding floodplain forests, mangroves and rice plantations flood.
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| it's a long way down at this time of year |
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| every family seems to have some sort of boat out front |
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| a similar view around several corners - over 600 homes in this village |
As we passed one house the driver pointed and said it was his family's house. He lives there with his mom and 4 siblings, although we think we understood that his brother has gone off to university. That would be pretty rare from what we were told, as most kids who grow up in the village stay in the village since they lack the skills needed to live in the city. Our driver shared that he stopped going to school in Grade 9. He also told us that he sleeps in the boat - I guess it would be hard to get much privacy or feel much independence in this tightly packed community.
All up the canal we saw fishermen and children wading in knee-to-waist deep water casting their nets to catch the small fish.
The boat ride also provided an amazing insight to the importance of the lake and how it shapes life for the villagers. All along the canal we saw people bathing, playing, fishing, mending nets, painting boats, harvesting floating hyacinth plants and tending animals and gardens. The fluctuating water levels pose a challenge to raising livestock. At one point we saw a cage made of bamboo, housing several pigs, which the captain called a pig farm. It was on a raised platform only a metre or so above the water level. Presumably, they raise the pigs only during the dry season.
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| casting a net |
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Rounding up some water hyacinth - we were told later that very poor families will
eat the stems, but others will feed it to livestock
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Bringing in a haul of tiny fish - this is the size of fish we commonly saw, it would be
used to make fish balls and fish cakes. We heard a lot about how the fish used to be much bigger.
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"Pig farm" - quite a contrast from the ones in the Cariboo! These pigs seem to have
just enough space to stand up and turn around, with the plastic providing a bit of shade for them
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Some kids having a bath of sorts in their boat.
There is garbage lining the banks of the river all along the village, the locals don't seem to
notice it and think nothing of adding to it, which of course makes no sense to us.
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a young girl doing some laundry in the river
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We got out of the boat and walked through the “main street” of the village where there were 2 schools full of activity. Maya wrote the following about our time there:
Near Siem Reap, where we stayed for 5 days, we went to the floating villages! I didn't really know what to expect all I thought I knew was that there was a village floating on a lake. I thought that they had a chain attached to the bottom of the house, store, or school with an anchor on the end. But no, every building was on tall stilts and unless you want to swim to school when the water is high, you take a boat. We visited when it was pretty low so it didn't look like it was floating. I think it would have been cooler to see it when the water was high but it was still interesting so see.
We were on the boat for 30-45 mins until we stopped. We got off and walked along the road for 5 seconds until we saw a school. A lady came up to us and asked if we would like to buy some school books and pencils for the younger children. We bought 10 books and 10 pencils, then Lucas and I got to walk in to a class room and hand them out. We walked in and I noticed that the classrooms are much different that ours - they had no desks or tables just a small plastic chairs, cement and wood floors, open air windows, no lights, 1 out of 8 kids had a pencil and paper.
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| The "main street" of town - it would be a river in the rainy season. |
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| Friendly, patient, adorable little school kids. |
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We wondered how many times a day their class gets interrupted by well meaning tourists bringing
in books and pencils. We felt a bit silly, although the kids seemed appreciative.
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We got back into our boat and continued up the canal until we reached the lake where we relaxed in the sun. The lake was huge, it looked like an ocean from where we were, no sign of land on the horizon. Our driver had such a peaceful smile as we drifted on the lake, it seemed that it was his happy place. Eventually the wind floated us towards a huge set of fish nets framed on bamboo poles. The netting was arranged in a shape and direction that funneled fish into the nets as they migrated out of the floodplain forests to complete their life cycle in the lake. Our driver explained that the people who built it had lots of money, enough money to pay the police!
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A fancy fishing system, apparently widely accepted as being built with police approval after a payout.
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| nothing but lake on the horizon past the fishing nets |
It had been a fascinating day on the lake and canal learning about real life in the area of Cambodia. What a contrast to the lives we live at home. We returned to our waiting tuk tuk driver who took us back to our guesthouse and cool water of the swimming pool.
The next day we kicked back and did little except to visit the night market, which proved to be extremely popular with the backpacker crowd. One street, called Pub Street, was very commercialized and lit up like a Christmas tree by neon lights. Quite a sight to see but not the scene to spend much time at with the kids.
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Part of the Cambodian identity crisis - spaces like this seem so out of place next to the
poverty of real life and the ancient ruins.
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On the way to the market we stopped to treat ourselves to a Siem Reap special (at least, we haven’t seen this anywhere else yet) – a foot massage given by little fish. Kim and the kids shrieked and squirmed as they lowered their feet into a tank of tiny, apparently very hungry, little nibblers! Maya described it as “very tickly, it felt like a thousand tiny kisses on my feet”!
The fish gently nibbled at their feet and lower legs for about 20 minutes, while they tried to keep still and relax, and watching life on the street go by.
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it feels nice once it stops feeling so weird!
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