Floating Villages on Tonle Sap Lake

House boats
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Being here....was like being in the midst of a National Geographic Photo Shoot. It was amazing, sad, devastating, and fantasic, all in one.

First we made our way down via bus, along a long dusty, dirt road, which in the rainy season would normally be underwater. Nearer the lake, a small community of thatched huts, made with stalks and dried palm leaves lined each side of the road. Some had no walls, most had no floor and all were built up, off the ground, on small stilts, so as necessary these homes could be moved nearer to the water, and moved back during the monsoon.

We saw floating churches, floating schools, and even a floating pig farm.

House on the back of a truck
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We watched a one such house was loaded up on a pick-up truck, furnishings, people and all, and was drove down the road, in search of cleaner water.

Most huts, had a make-shift store attached to the front side, some selling fruits, nuts, candies, and other selling skinned heads!

As we neared the lake, house boats line the river bank, some small, some large, but all very primitive.

We boarded our boat and set off in the Lake. Lake is a funny description, because I would call it a river. It was so large at some points, you could see land in any direction. We traveled by boat through their village. Everyone going about their day, as if we weren't even there.  Some were washing dishes in the lake, others bathing.. we saw floating churches, floating schools, and even a floating pig farm.

Cleaning Pig Heads
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Small boats would occasionally row over, trying to sell bananas, fruits, and even cold beer.Babies were teetering about the back of these tiny boats, where on some entire families lived. A little boy paddled over, floating in a large pot, asking for dollars. It was amazing to see, yet devastatingly poor and terrible sad, all at the same time.