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Published: January 27th 2013
Seeing Hands Massage
A very rundown place of business, but the massage was one of the best I've had.It's the weekend! No work for us so we're off to a slow start again, after all, what's the rush? We bummed a lift to Pub Street with other volunteers who just happened to be leaving Globalteer House at the same time we were. We need to get our visas extended and have to hand our passports in to a travel agent there. Our 3 month extension cost us $80.00 each. Whilst in the travel agent, we purchased bus tickets to Battambang, where we plan to go next weekend.
We hadn't yet treated ourselves to a massage, so decided today was the day. We could have entered any number of salons or spas around town and been given VIP treatment at a price far less than home, but we had already decided where we were going to go - Seeing Hands Massage.
They give one of the best value for money massages in Cambodia and provide employment for blind men and women. These people are trained in the art of massage, which enables them to make an independent living. Following the sign above a rather grubby side street, we found them easily. As you can see from the photo,
Fuel Station
Recycled whiskey bottles put to good use. their 'salon' wouldn't make it into the tourist brochures, but we had a great hour long Shiatsu massage, which focuses on the pressure points, for a mere $5.
We did some quick shopping at The Old Market, as we were both after some cotton trousers to wear, then returned home for a lazy afternoon and evening. A very slack Saturday indeed!
Sunday morning we were up bright and early. We had a tuk tuk booked for
7.30am for a day trip to Kampong Khleang, one of the stilt villages on Tonle Sap Lake. This village isn't the closest or quickest to reach from Siem Reap. We actually bypassed two closer villages to avoid the tourists. We wanted a more authentic experience.
First a little information about the lake and the stilt villages - during the wet season Tonle Sap Lake is one of the largest fresh water lakes in Asia, swelling to 12,000 sq klms. During the dry half of the year, which is now, the lake shrinks as small as 2,500 sq klms. During the wet, the surrounding forested floodplain gets inundated with water and supports an extraordinarily rich and diverse eco-system. More than 100 varieties
This Little Pig..
Snapped this from the tuk tuk as we were about to pass him. Guess these little pigs will go to market, or the cooking pot, one day. of water birds, 200 species of fish, crocodiles, turtles, otters and other wildlife inhabit the mangrove forests.
The lake is also an important commercial resource , providing more than half the fish consumed in Cambodia. The people living here live in harmony with the lake - floating villages, towering stilted houses and huge fish traps, their way of life is deeply intertwined with the lake, the fish, the wildlife and the cycle of rising and falling waters.
Kampong Khleang is only 55klm east of Siem Reap, but it took us nearly 90 minutes to get there. Tuk tuk's won't break the speed barrier, that's for sure. But we enjoyed the ride, with the wind in our hair, and the dust in our eyes, life couldn't get much better! Savvy, our driver, is an amicable fellow and one of our regulars. We paid him what he asked to take us out for the day, which was $25, even though we were back in Siem Reap by
1.00pm.
We were awestruck by the forest of stilted houses rising up to ten metres in the air. In the wet season, the water rises within a metre or two under their
floors, and the village will look entirely different. Kampong Khleang is a permanent community, and the largest on the lake, with an economy based on fishing.
We were approached by a local man and asked if we would like a two hour boat trip down the lake, at the cost of $20 each. Savvy was happy to nap in his tuk tuk, so we paid our money and boarded the boat. It was a motorised long boat, which could carry 10 passengers, but we were the only two on board, which suited us as we could hop from side to side to take photos, and not be in anyone's way.
It was a great couple of hours and gave us an insight to life on the lake. For the first 40 minutes or so we could see the banks on both sides, then suddenly they disappeared as the boat entered the main body of the lake. The water stretched to the horizon and we found ourselves amidst the most amazing floating village. We saw pigs in pens suspended over the water, children handling row boats with a lifetime of experience, women washing clothes and rinsing them in the
Cambodians At Work
This is a close up of the people in the previous photo. lake, men throwing their fishing nets to catch the night's dinner. These people live a simple, uncomplicated life and we were lucky to catch a glimpse of it.
On return to the tiny dock, Savvy was waiting patiently for us to be ready to leave, and after a few more last minute photos, we headed back to Siem Reap. We had to stop for fuel on the return trip. You'll love the fuel stations here for scooters and tuk tuks - roadside stands with one litre bottles of fuel for sale, and the free use of their funnel to empty it into your tank with! Check out the photo, lots of recycled Johnny Walker Red bottles here!
We had Savvy drop us off at Lucky Mall, once we were back in Siem Reap, as we badly needed some basic grocery supplies. We stocked up big as we were getting another tuk tuk home, and it saves us carrying stuff on our bikes later in the week.
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Petra
non-member comment
Your Hair!
...looks like it is getting lighter...! Is it the sun?