Cambodia’s Lake Tonle Sap is a lake like no other. One could say the same about those who live alongside, or those living literally on top of the lake. By the end of the day today, we’ll be close by, on a boat on the Tonle Sap River.
This morning we woke up in Siem Reap, Cambodia. We said our good-byes to hotel staff, who already felt like family, and set out by bus on Cambodia’s National Route 6 for Kampong Chhnang.
All Aboard!
At Kampong Chhnang, we boarded the Amadara, a boat operated by AmaWaterways. We’ll spend the next seven days on the Amadara, cruising down the Mekong river toward the Mekong Delta and the South China Sea.
We’ve been on this boat before, quite a few years ago. We signed up for the same river cruise a second time. I know. Who does that? I guess we do – because we loved it so much the first time. So if we can swing it, why not?
Last time we were here, we headed north on the Tonle Sap river to Lake Tonle Sap. In the dry season, it’s the size of Utah’s Great Salt Lake, but only only 3-4 feet deep.
During monsoon rains, the lake grows by 400%, until it’s 60 feet deep and nearly the size of Lake Ontario. It’s not the most accommodating place for a lakeside village, but there is one. It’s called Kompong Khleang.
Life at the Lake
Some of the structures at Kompong Khleang are built on 30-foot-high stilts to accommodate Tonle Sap’s huge change in water level. When the lake is full, everyone gets around by boat. During the dry season, they stay in shape by climbing ladders to get up into their homes and businesses. Ugh.
A lot of people in this poor, remote part of the world are immigrants from Vietnam. They settled here long ago, but when the Khmer Rouge took over, ethnic minorities were hunted down like animals. The ones who survived were those who fled back to Vietnam, where they had nothing.
When the Khmer Rouge had been driven out, they returned to discover that new Cambodian laws prohibited non-ethnic Cambodians from buying or owning land. But this was their home. So what did they do? They built their homes on the lake – right on the water. No land ownership necessary.
Life on the Lake
There are several floating villages on Lake Tonle Sap. In these floating villages, schools, markets, churches, temples, are all floating on the lake. Chickens and dogs run around like they would on a farm on dry land.
The hardware store, grocery store, and their version of a Seven-Eleven are on boats that come around selling door-to-door. No electricity? No problem. They use car batteries. When the batteries need charging, they call the battery charger boat guy. How about Uber? Not yet, as far as I know.
They make their living from the lake, raising high-value fish in fish farms right under their houses. Shrimp, too. They also catch, cure, and process lake fish for sale to distributors.
When we cruised by in small boats to take a look, kids were running around playing. People smiled and gave us a friendly wave. They seemed to be as happy as anyone anywhere.
On this trip, our first stop will be at another small village, but this one is on dry land. It’s one of the few villages in Cambodia that wasn’t leveled during the reign of the Khmer Rouge. It survived because they used it as a storage depot.
With the exception of visitors like us, the modern age hasn’t yet reached people living in this small, isolated village. The way of life there has changed little in 100’s of years. Should be interesting, eh?
To be continued…
Featured photo: Life on Lake Tonle Sap, Cambodia. Credit: istockphoto/takepicsforfun
