August 28, Friday: Boat Trip to see Life on the River

On Friday, August 28 I decided to see Cambodian river life first hand. I took a boat from Battambang to the temple town of Siem Reap. Most of the trip is down a river along which many people live. A small part of the trip is on the country's great lake: the Tonle Sap. Historically, the country's wealth has come from the fish from the Tonle Sap and its annual flooding.  Martha and the kids took the bus. There were no toilet facilities on board and the trip was projected to be at least 7 hours long assuming the boat does not get stuck as it often does with low water. That stopped Martha from going and the kids felt they had seen enough of Cambodian subsistence life.

On my trip the fiberglass boat was underloaded, so seating was comfortable, which is not the norm. The water was high due to recent rain so we made the trip in six hours: unusually quick. On the way I got quite the sights. Passengers are allowed to sit on the roof -not that there are seats there- so good vantage for pictures. 

My engineering mind took note of the motorboats. The motor was mounted high on the boat. The propeller hit the water about a boat length behind the boat and was only just submerged. Thus the propeller stuck no deeper than the boat itself. The boats themselves are long, thin and wooden. Unfortunately, I did not take a picture of one, so grabbed one from the web. The common name is long tail boat.

The poverty was the most extreme on the river far from the lake. I would see the typical house on wooden stilts along the bank. Note that wooden stilts in a damp area are a major liability. There were many ramshackle covered boats on which people could find shelter from rain, sleep -I guess- or prevent their boats from flooding. The houses were isolated or sometimes grouped in hamlets of a few houses.

As we got closer to the lake, hamlets grew to long thin floating villages. That is one long row of house boats of river built houses. The rows were usually not more than one house deep. Travel between houses was done by boat. Our boat, a once daily scheduled service, would drop people off at multiple points in a village. Other times a wooden boat would come to meet us to pick up or drop off locals.

I have no idea how those people get drinking water. Notably, sanitation was into the river. People and livestock have been pooping in it for millenia, so why stop? At our one stop, a floating restaurant, the toilet was simply a stand toilet with a hole that drained into the river.

I lived on fruit for the trip. I offered a dragon fruit to an elderly couple. Dragon fruits are plentiful all over. They are juicy and have a mild taste. The couple took it, but they did not eat it to my surprise. Instead they stuffed into a bag of bread. I saw later why. They were dropped off at a small lonely house with a family. I assume they intended to share the fruit with the entire family.

The lake is big and we stayed on its edge and sailed through narrow channels in the marshes at its edge. I think the skipper choose to take those channels, many almost as narrow as the boat, due to the high water. There was not much to see there.

Once landed, Tuk Tuk drivers streamed onto the boat offering rides. The one I had ordered from the hotel was not there. He had not called me and did not know that the boat arrived early. At the hotel, our group was passed out in the rooms of our very nice hotel.  Their bus ride had been comfortable and uneventful. The kids took a few plunges in the pool, I think, but that was about it. We ate at the hotel.

Joris's Photos of the Day