A major tourist attraction in the Siem Reap area besides the temples is the floating village on the Tonle Sap lake. Juli, Talita, Paul & I rented a tuk-tuk and set off to check it out.

The tuk-tuk could only take us as far as a pier from where one had to rent a boat to get to the floating village. But at the pier, the system is set up in such a way that tourists cannot go directly to the boatmen to negotiate a fare. This allows the middlemen (some association whose name escapes me) to charge an exorbitant fee (at least by Cambodian standards) of 12 USD per person for a seat on one of the boats.

The boat we got on to was being rowed by two young boys, the older of whom was no more than 15 years old. The destination of all these tourist boats is one of the large floating restaurants close to the floating village. On the way one can see some several floating houses, some floating stores, a floating church and even a floating basketball court.

The floating church

The floating crocodile farm right next to the floating restaurant

It was only when we got close to the restaurant that I could see what a ginormous lake Tonle Sap really was. Like a sea it stretched on out till as far as the eye could see. On reading about it later, I discovered that it is the largest fresh-water lake in South East Asia.

The expansive Tonle Sap lake

Soon after we reached the floating restaurant, there came a large boat carrying many Chinese tourists. Right on its tow were a large number of smaller boats being rowed by women and children. These, as we discovered, were beggars from the floating village. Each of these begging boats was being rowed by a woman with an infant in her lap, and two or three very small children sitting inside the boat. Slightly older kids had a metal bucket which was their own private little boat.

Several of the just-arrived Chinese tourists went to the restaurant to break their dollar bills into smaller change of Riels. This they then held out for people in the begging boats to fight over. I cannot even begin to put into words the disgust I felt at watching this scene unfold. It was hard to believe that these were human beings who had been reduced to this state of having to grapple for some small change, like a pack of hungry dogs fighting over some meat. Obviously my sadness was not shared by the Chinese tourists. From what I could see, every one of them (men, women and children alike) were having a blast, and this is probably what disturbed me the most.

The begging boats

Despite their pitiable state, I was mesmerized by the kids in the metal buckets. They were sitting in their own buckets so comfortably as if the bucket was just an extension of their bodies. No matter how much they moved about trying to squeeze in between the other begging boats or reaching for the money being held out, hardly any water got into the bucket. Even when some water did manage to get in, it was calmly emptied almost sub-consciously. I think I can safely say that I have never before witnessed such absolute lack of fear of the water.

One of the bucket boys

Soon, the tourists were bored of holding money out and sat down to enjoy their lunches while the begging boats hung around, probably to see if they would be offered something else. But after a while, another large boat of tourists docked at a different floating restaurant nearby; prompting the entire congregation of begging boats to make a beeline for the other restaurant.

Over the past few days, we had seen a lot of temples in Siem Reap, and it was refreshing to experience something else for a change. But on the whole, I’d say the Tonle Sap experience was not worth the time or the money. Most of the money we had paid had almost surely gone to the middlemen controlling the boat association, with hardly any going to the impoverished boatmen.

Once back at shore, we got onto our tuk-tuk and started the return journey to Siem Reap. On the way, there was a beautiful field of Lotus flowers where we stopped to click a few pictures.

The field of lotuses

With the kids near the lotus field