Lakes and Landmines

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We went to the floating village yesterday afternoon as we were risking temple burnout! It was really good. We boarded a boat that cruised along the Tonle Sap Lake (largest lake in SE Asia) and took us to the floating village. At this time of the year the village is quite close to Siem Reap as the water is high but at other times of the year it is much further out. The village is made up of a whole series of floating houses and other buildings. There was a floating school and even a floating pig farm!

A lot of the people who live in the village are Vietnamese. I saw my first conical hat! The children who lived in the village were so cute. (I know I am saying that a lot about Cambodia children). When they saw us coming they paddled up to the boat in a small metal washing up bowls. Needless to say they wanted to sell us some postcards or hoped we would give them some cash. Someone in the group gave one little girl half a tube of Pringles which she was highly delighted with and that ensured that we all got lots of good pictures. These kids love having their photo taken.

We went out for dinner last night to this really good restaurant in town that sold local food. We went there by tuk tuk, which is our current favourite mode of transport. The tuk tuks here are not like the ones in Bangkok. They are more of a small carriage being towed by a motorbike. They can be a bit hairy at times but we have not crashed yet! The meal was a really good ending to what must have been the longest day so far. I think we were up from 4:30am til 10pm! I need some sleep!

We visited the landmine museum this morning, which was interesting. There are so many landmines in Cambodia. Current estimates suggest that there may be as many as four million mines and unexploded ordinances in Cambodia. Each year there are around 800 casualties of which at least 100 resulted in death. They are literally everywhere. As well as highlighting the problems the museum also houses children who have been disabled by land mines. It gives them a proper chance in life.

After the museum we had another look around town and had some lunch before we headed to the airport to catch our flight to Phnom Penh.

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