The floating village of Chong Kneas

After three days of intensive temple hopping, today has been a more relaxing affair altogether, and i headed out to see the floating village of Chong Kneas. No, Chong Kneas is not some Cambodian megalomaniac who has developed his own village out in the middle of the main lake in Cambodia and is hatching diabolical plans for world domination, like something out of a Bond film (although a small part of me secretly hoped this). It is quite simply a village on the water.

Whole communities of people all live on the lake and it is quite interesting to see the sort of households they have established. There are even distinct communities like Vietnamese, Muslim (the guide lumped all Muslims into one group, which would no doubt upset Sunni and Shia readers - but i am only saying it as it was relayed to me), Cambodian (obviously) and Thai. Being a temporal zone, the water levels on the lake differ from season to season, and so the village has to move about in conjunction with these seasons. When the waters are high, the people seek refuge closer to land as there is a danger they will get swept away, When the water levels are low they move closer to the lake.

Apparently, although i am a bit skeptical, the water level changes by about 10 metres in depth from the height of the dry season to the height of the rainy season. Not sure this is feasible, but the guide was pointing to trees and saying in a few weeks they will all be underwater....so i guess i have to take him at his word.

Girls waving at silly English tourist as he snaps them collecting water. That is the interesting thing, the water is muddy as hell and yet this is what is used to wash with, cook with and drink. As you can see, this is the house they live in, and as far as i could tell, there was no plumbing evident, so i can only assume that the lake also performs that service too. Net result: water quality slightly worse than in our region!!

All sorts of facilities are provided for on this floating village, even going as far as having its own 5-a-side football pitch and a basketball court all floating on the lake. It does make you wonder who has to get the ball when it is blasted into the lake!

This gives a whole new meaning to the term "slam-dunk". Still it is nice to see that other countries are helping support this community, the basketball court was provided by Japanese government.

Also, I popped in to see a floating fish farm, which was similar to the one in Langkawi, although this had a load of crocodiles all penned up. It does not take a genius to realise, from the swathes of crocodile skin handbags and shoes that were on sale, what the future held for these creatures, but it was quite nice to see some crocodiles up close.

Soon-to-be handbags/shoes basking in the Cambodian sunshine. See you later, alligator!

In other news, i am all booked up for my flight out of Siem Reap tomorrow, i leave early morning, and will be back in Kuala Lumpur early afternoon. Now i just need a hotel.....