Tales From a Female Traveller

Float Away With Me

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On our last day of our 7 day Angkor pass, we had virtually run out of options in the temple department so our legendary Tuk Tuk Driver Mister Seng An suggested we do a Tonle Sap river cruise to see the Floating Village and also head on out to the Land Mines Museum (which I will blog about later). Shocked that he didn't want to get off work early with a nice 8 bucks in his pocket, we accepted and he promptly took us to the riverside to buy our ticket. I'm glad we did accept too because it was great.

The whole village literally does float. Everything from houses to churches to basketball courts, everything is mounted on bamboo! It was about 10 bucks each for the boat hire, with which you get two "sailors", a driver and a guide to tell you about the things you see and you arrive in this little port town which is packed to the brim with these long boats. All the boats are actually jam packed next to each other along the riverside and to get one out they have to push and pull on the other boats to free their own... totally not up to safety standards and there was water in the bottom of ours the whole time but hey... are you really gonna let a little brown, unsanitised water get to you? Noooooo.

So we started our tour of the Floating Village which goes for about an hour or so and they take you right down the little river and out into the Tonle Sap which seems to spread for miles and miles. There are a lot of Viet-namese here at the Floating Village and unlike Khmer's they are fairly unsure of westerners and pretty much keep to themselves as they are considered unwanted buy the local Khmer culture. But given enough patience and time you can bet anything you'll get a smile out of at least one of them. You can tell the Viet-namese from the Khmer's by their distinctive dress. The Khmer's normally wear the traditional Krama (checked scarfe) and the Viet-namese have the pointed hats they're so well known for. Generally though, they seem to mix well, apart from the odd argument here and there, which is forgotten about within a minute or so.

I had heard a lot about the Floating Village from other travellers and about how they didn't think it was all it's cracked up to be, but I liked every second of it. If you can get past the beggars, as with anywhere else, you are sure to enjoy it. So... out we putt to the lake where our driver turns of the engine, looks at us gravely and says...
"That's it"
------pause------
"You swim back." he taunts.
------pause------
"Swim?" I say... "I can't swim!" I proclaim, to which he erupts with laughter.
"No no, I only joke you." he plays, "tour end here but we take you, you no swim."
Which wasn't entirely true, the tour doesn't actually end until you're taken to the Village gift shop. First, they get you off your rickety boat to show you a woman feeding some catfish (go figure), then they move you onto about two dozen caged crocodiles for you to gawk at, then they take you over to a bunch of fish tanks which seemed to me like a mini aqaurium of sorts showcasing the best and the worst of the River's inhabitants, then they shuffle you up to the roof so you can get a birdseye view of things which is actually quite cool, and finally, they strategically get you into that infamous gift shop where you ARE expected to buy something. And I did!

Anyhoo, the best thing about the Floating Village in my opinion is the methods of transport. You have long boats with lawn mower engines, you have larger tourist boats, you have speed boats (which are despised of by the locals to due the amount of capsises they cause), you have bamboo rafts and finally, amazingly..... you have pots. Uh huh... that's right... Pots. Among all these rather medium to large sized vessels I have just mentioned, you can find kids in pots. Kids floating in pots. They totally try and rip you for all the dollars you're worth but there's no way I was gonna miss a photo of a kid in a pot. Totally hilarious that they just float around in open water... in POTS!!... I love it! Anyhoo, check out the photo link because it's simply something you'd never normally get a chance to see otherwise.

All in all... a nice little retreat away from temple sightseeing and after we had gotten back on the Tuk Tuk this adorable little girl yells "HELLOOOOOO" and starts running alongside us with this beautiful white flower in her hand, waving furiously to us.... what a way to end a day...

posted by Lucyspeak @ 9:15 pm