Siem Reap to Tonle Sap - Nellie and Monk Take to Two Wheels

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Siem Reap to Tonle Sap - Nellie and Monk Take to Two Wheels

After being tuk-tuk'd out and wat'd out over the last couple of days, Nellie and Monk decided to do as the locals do today - take to two wheels. They hired a bike to go exploring in the countryside and headed south from Siem Reap toward Chong Kneas which is about 16km from Siem Reap and sits (sometimes) on the Tonle Sap Lake.

The road from Siem Reap passes through village after village before becoming open countryside for 5 or 6 kilometers before reaching Chong Kneas. This road is a complete contrast to the well-manicured roads around the Angkor complex and life in these villages doesn't look to be easy. For many parts of the populated stretch after leaving the outskirts of Siem Reap, the air is thick with the smell of either fish sauce being fermented or possibly shrimps being dried. Monk, who loves to cook with fish sauce, has to confess that it's not the most appetising of smells during the production process.

While one sees goats and cattle along the way, the commonest animals are dogs - nasty, rabid looking beasts. Monk just keeps on pedalling. Fortunately, the dogs seem used to cyclists so don't chase after them as some 'western' dogs do. Even around the Angkor complex, Monk saw so many dogs in two's or in small packs by the roads or coming out of the forests - these would clearly have been wild dogs.

Along the road today, Monk encountered a group of about a dozen walkers, led by a young Englishman from Manchester. They were on their way to Tonle Sap to catch the boat down to Phnom Penh, planning to stop to camp on the way. The dogs must be a real hazard for walkers. Monk did notice that they seemed to have a couple of security guards, one at the front and one at the end of the group which was spread out over a kilometre or so.

It's a fascinating ride through the villages and out into the open rice fields beyond. At one point, the rice fields give way to an area planted with beautiful white flowers. On further investigation, Monk was told they were lotus flowers. It seems they're a multi-purpose crop. The flowers can be sold, the seed pods can be eaten and the roots can be used in salads. Monk was shown how to extract the centre of the seed pod - not a fantastic flavour - perhaps it's an acquired taste.

There's an almost endless stream of other pedal bikes and pop-pops going back and forth, most of them laden to the gills with all sorts - sacks of grain, bundles of firewood, boxes of melons, chickens - just about anything that can be sqeezed onto them - including, in many cases, whole families balanced precariously with the tiny wide-eyed children, squeezed in between the adults, clinging on for dear life. At one point, a pop-pop passed Monk going in the opposite direction piled high with god knows what. A few seconds later, the sound of metal skidding across the tarmac road surface caused Monk to stop and look back, expecting the worse. To Monk's relief, the man and his machine were still upright some distance down the road but the entire load had been scattered in all directions.

Tonle Sap is an enormous lake that stretches from Chong Kneas south to become the Tonle Sap River which eventually flows into Phnom Penh to meet up with Mekong on its way dwon from the Tibetan Plateau (via Laos andThailand). It's the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia. During the rainy season, the size and depth of the lake increases significantly and its surface area can increase five-fold as flood waters from the Mekong cause a backward flow up the Tonle Sap River and into the lake. At this time of the year, the level is low and at Chong Kneas the houses are marooned on stilts several metres higher than the marshy ground, ready for the high waters to come in a few months time. Chong Kneas is clearly not a wealthy town despite being the arrival/departure point for many tourists enroute between Phnom Penh and the temples of Angkor. In the town square a small market seemed to have not very much to offer - perhaps it was too late in the day. A stall of what we would call salted winkles in their shells was laid out directly in the hot sun - Monk loves such delicacies but decided to skip on it this time.

The passenger boats to Phnom Penh leave from Chong Kneas and take about 5 to 6 hours to reach Phnom Penh. Monk considered this route to Phnom Penh - it seemed an interesting way to make the trip. Research showed however that the boat is many times more expensive than the bus and takes about the same time. More importantly, there are bad reports about overcrowding on the boats and about their safety.

A few kilometers from Chong Kneas, on the lake, is a floating village comprising hundreds of homes, shops, schools and churches. The location of the village changes, getting closer to or further from Chong Kneas, as the level of the lake rises and falls over the year.

Monk hired a boat to take himself and Nellie out to the village. The boat was manned by Tra and Chet. Chet is 12 years old and his elder brother Tra says he's 23. No sooner had the boat cast off than it stopped again. Chet stripped naked and dived overboard. After some fishing around underneath the boat he proudly produced a mangled plastic bag and cimbed back on board. Fortunately, Tra had turned off the engine while Chet was perfoming his sub-acqua feats. This happened another couple of times before we finally hit the open waters of the lake. The water is so full of plastic bags that get sucked into the cooling inlet and the engine begins to overheat.

As if this wasn't enough to worry a landlubber like Nellie, 12-year old Chet then took control of the boat as he navigated the narrow channel against incoming boats and faster boats overtaking - it was like a marine version of dodgems. Monk was part relieved and part concerned when the boat left the main channel for an even narrower and shallower side channel. Tra took over control as Chet moved to the rear to finely control the rudder as we came head-on several times with other boats. A couple of times we went aground and Tra resorted to 'pole-ing' us off the bank. Monk breathed a sigh of relief when the channel emerged into the open waters of the lake.

Tra showed us around ome of the highlights of the village including vegetable gardens and pig pens complete with the most massive sows - poor things couped up with no space to grub around or get any exercise. Apparently, the part of the village we were visiting was populated entirely by Vietnamese immigrants alhtough there is also a Cambodian 'neighbourhood'.

We stopped at a floating supermarket where Tra suggested Monk buy something to take to the teachers at the floating school we were to visit next. Monk chose to buy a pack of 20 books and pencils which they apparently badly need. The price was extortionate at US$20. Monk managed to haggle down to US$15 - still way, way over-priced - but he couldn't turn up empty-handed. When he got back to dry land, he met a German girl who'd had the same experience but had refused to buy them at that price - her boatman refused to take her out to the floating school. Monk's suggestion for anybody planning this trip is to buy books and pencils in Siem Reap at a tenth of the cost and stop the profiteering on the part of the floating supermarket - who are probably in cahoots with the boatmen.

The school was amazing, the childen were just like children in any other school, happy and laughing, despite the cramped space. They even had a tiny playground in a caged area where they could play ball games without fear of the ball, or any of the children, disappearing overboard. The teacher seemed genuinely grateful for the books and pencils.

The last stop was at a floating tourist market where one could buy the usual kind of tat. However, there were some interesting exhibits and also tanks with live fish as well as half a dozen real live crocodiles. Tra pointed out a fish with a jaw just like a crocdile, tapped it on the head and quickly pulled his hand back. He showed Monk the scarred end of his finger and the missing nail - at some time in the past, Tra had been too slow and the crocodile fish had struck lucky! Young children with snakes draped around their necks posed for photographs begging for 'dollaahs'.

On the way back to Chong Kneas, Monk and Nellie took turns to drive the boat.

The ride back to Siem Reap in the hot afternoon sun wasn't the same fun journey as the trip out in the morning. Monk pedalled on, knowing an ice-cold Angkor beer was waiting at the end of the ride.

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Comments

[Shan]

Dogs
I'm not sure what country you were inbut the dogs I have seen are not at all dangerous nor are they wild. They are simply poor unfortunate strays, never ever a problem when walking and always quite friendly when approached with the kindness they deserve. Youare paintingsn unfair picture of these unlucky animals.

[TravelsWithNellie]

Dogs
Dear Butterflie145, Thanks for your comment on my blog. Let me first declare that, like you, I am a dog lover. While in Cambodia, I was unfortunate enough to be harrassed by dogs 4 times - once during daylight hours and 3 times late at night while returning to my hotel. During the day, the domestic dogs are languid because of the heat. At night they are more active and it seems they like to act in groups - I hesitate to say packs because it sounds too emotive. Fortunately, I was never bitten. In Kampot, a local resident taught me the technique, as used by local people, to get rid of the dogs. One reaches down to the ground, pretending to pick up a stone. It works - I tried it. The dogs are so conditioned to having stones thrown at them that they recognise the gesture and get away as soon as they can. The fact that they recognise this gesture suggests that dogs hassling local people is a real problem - I don't believe that the locals throw stones at the dogs for no good reason. As for the dogs around the Siem Reap site, I can't be sure that these dogs are wild, as you can't be sure that they are 'strays'. They are a long way from any inhabited villages from where they may have 'strayed'. If they were not born into a domestic environment then they are by definition wild. In the UK we have a travellers' advisory service called MASTA. They recommend rabies vaccinations for anybody travelling outside of urban centres in Cambodia. Rabies is present in Cambodia, not just amongst dogs, but other animals as well, including wild monkeys. Please be careful and safe travels. Best regards. Monk