When travelling abroad, there are usually two ways to do things. You can take the prescribed “tours” and see the safe sights, which usually leads to a day filled with plenty of tourists and overinflated prices. Or you can do a little extra work and take the road less travelled. In case you missed it the first twenty times we’ve said it, we are the road less travelled sorts and that is how we came to have a truly unique experience on Tonle Sap.
The Tonlé Sap (meaning Large Fresh Water River but more commonly translated as Great Lake) is a combined lake and river system of huge importance to Cambodia. It is the largest freshwater lake in South East Asia.
For most of the year the lake is fairly small, during the monsoon season however, the Tonle Sap river actually 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. Tonle Sap is one of the most productive inland fisheries in the world, supporting over 3 million people and providing over 75% of Cambodia's annual inland fish catch and 60% of the Cambodians' protein intake.
We knew that we wanted to see and experience this place and meet the people who make their lives there but we didn’t want, under any circumstances, to risk a repeat of the Thai floating market scene. With that in mind, Rebecca dug into the research materials and found that there was a section of the lake that was a little farther out of town that we could hire a boat and see what we wanted to see in our way. As luck would have it, that happened to be Soryar, our driver’s, hometown. Nobody knows the town like a local so we left the planning of the day in his very capable hands.
We drove for a long while out of Siem Reap and turned down a dirt road. Soryar pointed out sights of significance like the local monastery, more ancient temples and his parents’ house. In fact, as we passed we saw his folks outside the house waving to us with obvious pride in their boy. We eventually came to a point where the van could not continue on the road as it had gotten very bad. We parked and walked a few hundred meters to a small motor boat that would be our transportation for the next leg. The kid driving the boat looked like he was about 14 but Soryar assured us he was a mature 18.
We started out on a long narrow waterway that was lined with beautiful scenery as far as the eye could see. White lilies were in bloom all around and looked almost like snow. Before long we came to the villages. There was an entire community of homes and shops all built on stilts in the middle of the lake. Soryar explained that their lives were very hard because they had to move the houses twice each year as the river fills and recedes.
Perhaps the most amazing thing to us was the children of Tonle Sap. Everywhere we looked we saw very young children expertly piloting boats of all shapes and sizes up and down the water-filled “streets.” There was no need for adult supervision because they had been born there and this was like walking to them. It was particularly interesting to see boats full of children returning from school. They were their own school bus drivers.
Our first stop on the day was a Buddhist Monastery and school. We purchased much needed school supplies for the impoverished kids and were invited to hand them out. What followed was total insanity. These children are so eager to learn that we were completely mobbed…..FOR A FEW PENCILS! Rebecca commented that we could not get American kids that excited if we were handing out IPods wrapped in hundred dollar bills. Only Patti was able to exert a modicum of control over the situation. Her “mommy skills” kicked in and we could here her voice in a firm tone saying things like, “Don’t grab” and “One for you” or “No….that one was for her.” We, however, had no such skill and were totally overrun by the mob. It was honestly heartwarming and they were so grateful.
Next up was lunch. Soryar had the boat pull over at a house and we climbed the ladder to find a table set on the porch. We sat and waited for menus that never came. The food decisions had been made for us for two reasons; they knew better than we could and on Tonle Sap one eats what one can get. We ordered beers and waited.
Now, when we called it a “house” we may have overstated it a bit. It was more like a shack on stilts. It had the front porch where we would eat, a rather large single room, a rear porch that served as a kitchen and an interesting “bathroom” of sorts. Under the house was a pen for holding their pigs and chickens. Patti called us into the main room to look at something. It was a newborn baby in a hammock. There was a long string tied to the hammock than led to the kitchen. Patti had a big grin on her face and just said “wait.” All of a sudden the string pulled taught and the hammock rocked harder. It was the mother’s way of rocking her child while cooking our meal. Necessity really is the mother of invention.
The food started to arrive at the table and we knew right away we were in for a treat. First was a huge plate of peel-and-eat shrimp that were pulled from the river literally right below our feet and seasoned to perfection. Then we had a soup that was absolute heaven. It kept coming…a whole chicken….a whole fish…rice and a different dipping sauce for each item. Soryar, who after some coaxing agreed to actually sit with us, was grinning like the Cheshire Cat. He could tell that we were happy and that obviously pleased him.
He then told us that we would have to board smaller rowboats for the next leg as the motor boat could not go where we were headed. We climbed aboard these boats very carefully in order to not tip them because they sat only a few inches out of the water. Off we went and within 15 minutes we entered a floating forest. It was surreal and more than a little hard to believe. There we were in an actual forest with massive trees but it was completely filled with water. Without the sound of the motors it was completely silent excepting the sound of the paddle moving us forward. We were taken by surprise and were in awe of everything around us.
We eventually made our way back to the main river where our motorized boat was waiting to take us back onboard. We’re pretty sure that Soryar was just showing off now…it was too cool. Instead of turning for home, our driver headed out. We left the river and entered the main body of Tonle Sap. It was massive and could easily have been mistaken for an ocean.
The ride back to the van was punctuated with more of the same; people living their lives on the water, animals being raised for food living in pens under the houses and children swimming or rowing. Without notice, our driver pulled up to some sort of floating pen and waved us in to have a look. Inside the pen were at least 50 fully grown crocodiles. We were separated from them by only a few strips of bamboo, which was a little disconcerting. Soryar explained that they were being raised for sale and would fetch about $1000 each, which is a crazy amount of money for these people.
As if this was not enough, Soryar had more in store. We landed the boat. Said our goodbyes, and got back in the van. The next stop was his parents’ house. We were greeted with genuine warmth and given cool coconut water right out of the coconut. We sat there and learned about these people and their lives. It was wonderful.
Soryar had arranged alternate transportation for us back to the main road and before long a pair of ox carts arrived. Having tried camel and elephant already on this trip, we were totally up for ox. To make a long story short, (you’re thinking, “why start now”), the elephant is number 1, ox is second and camel is a distant third as far as we’re concerned.
Soryar’s next stop was Little Angels craft store. Like every village in Cambodia, this one has orphan children who are being cared for by concerned local people and those people have to find a way to feed them and get them into schools. In this case that’s achieved by selling beautiful leather crafts made by the kids themselves. While we shopped there we watched the kids making more of these lovely things and were treated to a traditional Khmer puppet show put on by the orphans. We were easy targets for the super-cute kids and the good cause so we bought a few pieces.
We ended the day back in town going to another orphanage that Rebecca had contacted prior to leaving the US. It was in the ghetto of Siem Reap. Soryar told us that the area was full of “gangsters.” Through some winding dirt roads we finally located our destination. This orphanage was in need of school uniforms, so we passed along more of the donations we’d collected and sat for awhile to meet some of the children who were able to go to school as they returned from the evening session.
All in all it was one of the most fantastic days, not only on this trip but ever. We barely knew what to expect but everything was perfect. If you find yourself in Siem Reap and want to see it the right way….call Kim Soryar!
Many of these photos can make it into NG. No doubt
Posted by: Casey | November 10, 2007 at 04:58 PM