Off The Cooper Trail!: You Live Where?

Our second day in Siem Reap was spent on a boat exploring one of the floating villages on the Tonle Sap (Tone lay sup). We started our journey with a 25 minute tuk-tuk ride through rural villages to get to our boat.

For $40 we had our own boat, driver, and English speaking guide. This meant that we got to ask lots of questions about Cambodia and what everyday life is like for its people. Our guide told us he makes $50 a month! This may not be 100% true, but in all actuality it could well be very accurate. This was a mind blowing piece of information. It also meant that both Harper and Promise both got to drive the boat at various stages of our journey.

The Tonle Sap is a huge inland lake that if fed by the mighty Mekong River. As a result, its height fluctuates quite dramatically two times per year. In the wet season the Mekong pours into the Tonle Sap filling it to capacity. During the dry season, the edge of the lake retracts by 6-8 km. This means that the floating house move this distance with the changing shape of the lake.

It was amazing to see how these people live – how they get their food from floating markets, the floating school, and the big pontoons with pool tables on them! Our guide took us to a local (floating) shop so we could buy some note books and pencils to give out to the kids at the local school. This was a great opportunity and Harper and Promise really got into the giving spirit and loved being part of the class for a short time. This place certainly gives new meaning to ‘waterfront homes’!