Tonle Sap Revisited

Flooded forest of Tonle Sap

Tonle Sap is the largest fresh water lake in Southeast Asia - not that this fact justifies a visit or even a revisit. It is more than just a "Great Lake".  Tonle Sap is a way of life and a unique culture to be experienced. It is one of my favorite places.

Tonle Sap is referred to by the Lonely Planet guide book as the "Heartbeat of Cambodia".  Personally for me, Tonle Sap is the lungs of Cambodia.  The lake provides food and irrigation water for one-half of the people in Cambodia.  The great lake is connected to the mighty Mekong River - one of the greatest rivers of the world.  Tonle Sap's water level fluctuates greatly in response to the seasons.

Sunrise over Tonle Sap - November 2014

 
In the rainy season from May to October, when the Mekong River is at its fullest, water flows from the Mekong into the lake.  In the dry season as the Mekong's flow diminishes, water flows from the lake into the Mekong.  The ebb and flow of the Mekong River as well as local rainfall causes the water levels in Tonle Sap to range from a maximum of 2 meters (6 feet) in the dry season and to a maximum of 10 meters (32 feet) in the rainy season.  The flooding of surrounding land during the rainy season provides a great deal of food and shelter for aquatic life thereby making Tonle Sap one of the richest sources of freshwater protein in the world.  Tonle Sap is a nursery for many of the fish in the Mekong River. During the dry season fisherman average a take of 220 to 440 pounds of fish a day.

Tonle Sap grows from approximately 965 square miles in the dry season to just over 5,020 square miles in the rainy season.  The increase in area as well as increased depth presents challenges in terms of housing for the inhabitants in the area.  The local people have met the challenges of Tonle Sap by building either floating homes or building homes atop stilts roughly 20 to 30 feet high.  It was the opportunity to witness this unique lifestyle that first attracted me to visit Tonle Sap.  Both Duang and I are interested in seeing how people live in environments and situations different from what we are accustomed to.

Raised houses of Khampong Khleang

Our first trip to Tonle Sap was in August 2007, during the rainy season.  It was thrilling to lookout the plane's window to see miles and miles of flooded forest as we approached Siem Reap International Airport on the roughly one hour flight from Bangkok.  It is a sight that I am just as thrilled and excited about today as back then.  Even during the dry months of November and December the flooded plains are impressive.

Based upon our experience during our first trip to Tonle Sap in 2007, we incorporated a home stay in the village of Kampong Khleang to better learn and understand Cambodian life on Tonle Sap during our return to Tonle Sap in November 2014.  I had planned our trip to Tonle Sap to coincide with the full moon and Bon Om Touk (Cambodian Water Festival).  Bon Om Touk is an annual festival held in November to celebrate the reversal of Tonle Sap water flow.  The reversal of flow into the Mekong River marks the start of commercial fishing season on Tonle Sap - the fish that had hatched during the rainy season, and were nourished on the nutrient rich waters of the floodplains of Tonle Sap migrate from the shrinking lake and out into the Mekong River.

Our stay in 2014 was very informative and enjoyable.  However we were there for the actual start of the commercial fishing season and it had not fully been established during our visit.

Checking a fish trap - November 2014

 
In 2015 I had considered returning to Tonle Sap including experiencing another home-stay.  After doing some preliminary research for a return trip, I discovered that the water levels in the lake were very low.  Since one of my goals was to document more of the life on the flood plain, in particular the fishing, I decided not to return to Tonle Sap until water levels were higher/


Last year based upon our 2014 trip, I considered going in either December or January - once again for the full moon.  I believed that going a month or two later would improve the opportunities for documenting the commercial fishing activities on the lake as the flow out of the lake into the Mekong River would be more established.

I also wanted and knew that I can take better photographs of moonlight over the floodplain - partially submerged trees, flat water, and a full moon low on the horizon and climbing high in the sky.

Research indicated that December 13 would have a full moon and January 12 would be another full moon.  On December 13, the moon would rise at 4:09 PM and set the following morning at 4:12 AM.  On January 12 the moon would rise 4:51  PM and set at 4:58 AM the next morning.  These times were convenient for the photographs that I intended to take.

In October, after consulting with our previous guide, I learned that the water levels had returned to the 2014 levels.  I decided and made arrangements to return for the December full moon.

Although we were returning in the dry season, the weather forecast for our week in Siem Reap was not good.  Fortunately the rain was not as bad as had been predicted although any hopes for photographing the moon over Tonle Sap or Khmer ruins were dashed.  The mostly cloudy skies actually helped with photography in that it greatly cut down on the dynamic range between the bright and dark areas of the scenery.

Fishing boat being offloaded in the rain

We approached the village of Kampong Khleang, where we were going to spend the night in a villager's home, in the middle of a rain shower.  My decision to return in December, a month later than our trip in 2014, was already paying dividends.  Outside of Kampong Khleang we came upon a commercial fishing offloading station.

Women packaging the day's catch

Fishing boats were being offloaded by hand.  From the holds of the wooden boat, small fish were scooped up by hand and put into plastic laundry baskets to be carried by crew members up the lake bank to a temporary station where women filled plastic bags and weighed the bags to ensure the bags contained the proper amount of fish.

Middle-men from the various villages and from Siem Reap, mill about waiting for their orders to be filled.  After paying for their product to the people set up across the dirt road from the packaging station, the vendors loaded up their fish in a motley assortment of vehicles - motorcycles with large bamboo woven baskets strapped to their sides, "beater" cars, cars that have been modified to be a quasi-pickup truck, pickup trucks, and an occasional light truck - either stake bodied or enclosed.

Everyone worked quickly, the women sitting on woven mats and tarps placed on the mud with a temporary metal pole and plastic tarp canopy providing some cover from precipitation or sun. The men swiftly walked up the muddy slope from the lake to dump basket full loads of fish on the tarp in front of the women, then hustling back down to the beached boat where their coworkers filled the baskets to repeat the process.

After observing the offloading process, we continued on our way to our home-stay.  We continued along the narrow dirt road until we arrived at a barrier.  Due to the road having been underwater the previous month and the recent rains, the road was unusable to vehicles other than motorbikes.  The road was a quagmire for about 50 meters.  It was a complication and a challenge that was well met by our guide team.  A few phone calls and a couple of conversations later, we boarded a somlaw, a three wheeled motorcycle with a passenger or cargo compartment. A short ride past the barrier brought us to a congregation of boats for hire.  After a short conversation, we were on a boat with our guide headed to our home-stay.

Our previous home-stay is no longer available so we were staying with another family in a different part of Kampong Khleang.  This was fine with us because it was an opportunity to experience a different locale and family.

Our Kamong Khleang Home-Stay

Our home-stay was one of the raised houses located on one of the main "streets" of Kampong Khleang - a street that we had taken a boat down 5 months earlier when the water level was higher.  The house was built about 25 feet above street level and rose out of  the main canal.  From the open side at the back of the house there was always something going on - day and night.  During the day there was a constant parade of boats plying the waters - fishing boats coming and going, small boats filled with uniformed students, tethered convoys of boats transporting farm equipment and workers to distant fields, small boats containing tourists, and boats of local people, many of them children, going about their daily business.  At night, all night, the sound of un-muffled car engines, and un-muffled small diesel engines that powered the fishing boats punctuated the darkness.

Sunrise over Kampong Khleang

From the front of the house which overlooked the main dirt road, a parade of people, bicycles, motorcycles, and somlaws went about.  The road is used to go to the local schools, the market, a Wat, and to access sections of the village further down the canal to the permanent lake. In the late afternoon and morning of the second day, the street was filled with uniformed students on their way to and from school.  There are two sessions of school everyday so it seems that there are students in the streets all day long.

Kampong Khleang is a fishing village - a real fishing village and not one of those tourist "fishing villages" that you often encounter back in New England.  There are no hotels, motels, service stations, chain restaurants, international fast food outlets, or souvenir shops for tourists.  All the facilities there support and are for the benefit the local people. We are visitors into their world - a world that is different and definitely unique.

The Shooter

Since the homes do not have front yards, the areas between homes, underneath houses, and alongside the street are the playgrounds for the children.  Children occupy themselves riding bicycles, playing marbles, pretend fighting - super hero style, and helping with chores such as repairing fishing nets.

Adults also spend time along the streets doing a myriad of activities such as repairing fish nets, cleaning fish nets, coating metal fish traps with some type of hot black coating, drying ghost shrimp in the sun, and stacking firewood for the kitchen.

This location was definitely a "photography rich environment".  Our tour company once again had delivered exactly what I had been hoping for.

Our host worshiping at home shrine

Our home-stay hosts were a father, mother, and their middle-aged daughter.  The father is a very devout Buddhist and he was a kindred spirit for Duang.  He performs a daily ritual just as Duang does and has a large shrine in the home just as Duang has.  Although they could not communicate together they shared a common belief system and could worship together using Pali, the common language of Theravada Buddhism - akin to Arabic for Islam.  As so often works out in our relation, the Thai modern day mantra "Good for me, good for you" came into play. Duang elected to remain at the home and worship while I set off after lunch in the light rain on a hired boat to visit Moat Khla.

Our host prepares our lunch in the Home-Stay kitchen

 For this trip, I had informed the tour company that I wanted to spend more time touring the lake and experience the fishing operations.  The tour company's response was to take a 2 hour chartered boat trip from Kampong Khleang to a floating fishing village called Moat Khla (also shown as Meat Khla) on Google Maps.  Moat Khla is 24 Km south of Kampong Khleang and accessible only by boat.

A boat fishing with medium sized wire fish traps

Shortly after leaving Kampong Khleang, the light rain stopped.  The voyage out to Moat Khla was quite enjoyable - passing over and through the flooded forest.  Passing and being passed by boats of many sizes and purposes.  We saw fast speedboats, wood dugout type boats paddled by a single person, a string of three barge type boats filled with farming equipment and workers being towed by a small boat, large boats piled sky high with metal cage fish traps, and small boats piled high with small round metal fish traps.  We passed several locations where a fish camp had been set up comprising of one or two floating houses, several small powered boats, and a medium sized boat for transporting the large catch to an off-loading station.

Setting out small fish traps on Tonle Sap

As the scenery flowed by to the beat of the bow wave and the rhythm of the small automobile engine driving the boat's long shaft double bladed propeller, I found myself at the confluence of my past and my future in my own world.  Many years ago I listened to a Jackson Browne song, "Before the Deluge".  As I motored across the flood plain of Tonle Sap the lyrics and rhythm of that song saturated my mind even as I snapped away photographs to document the experience.

Before the Deluge

Jackson Browne

Some of them were dreamers
And some of them were fools
Who were making plans and thinking of the future
With the energy of the innocent
They were gathering the tools
They would need to make their journey back to nature
While the sand slipped through the opening
And their hands reached for the golden ring
With their hearts they turned to each other's hearts for refuge
In the troubled years that came before the deluge

 

Some of them knew pleasure
And some of them knew pain
And for some of them it was only the moment that mattered
And on the brave and crazy wings of youth
They went flying around in the rain
And their feathers, once so fine, grew torn and tattered
And in the end they traded their tired wings
For the resignation that living brings
And exchanged love's bright and fragile glow
For the glitter and the rouge
And in a moment they were swept before the deluge

 

Let the music keep our spirits high
Let the buildings keep our children dry
Let creation reveal its secrets by and by, by and by
When the light that's lost within us reaches the sky

 

 

Some of them were angry
At the way the earth was abused
By the men who learned how to forge her beauty into power
And they struggled to protect her from them
Only to be confused
By the magnitude of her fury in the final hour
And when the sand was gone and the time arrived
In the naked dawn only a few survived

And in attempts to understand a thing so simple and so huge
Believed that they were meant to live after the deluge

 

Let the music keep our spirits high
Let the buildings keep our children dry
Let creation reveal it's secrets by and by, by and by
When the light that's lost within us reaches the sky

 

 

Songwriters: Jackson Browne

Before the Deluge lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Peermusic Publishing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moat Khla home - home on the lake

Moat Khla met all my expectations, well actually all of my realistic expectations.  I would have loved to stay the night or perhaps two nights and to explore the entire village on my own in one of those small wood boats that you paddle.

Moat Khla School - floating school of course!

Moat Khla is a fishing village of floating houses anchored among the trees and vegetation of the Tonle Sap flood plain.  There was a floating school for the children.  A floating Wat for worshiping and for some local Monks. Some of the floating structures were floating markets - sort of like 20'x 20' general stores. I even saw a floating mobile phone store.

Moat Khla Schoolgirls

We attracted quite a bit of attention as we passed through the village.  Everywhere that we looked, we were greeted with smiling faces and hearty waves from people of all ages.  Moat Khla has got to be one of the friendliest places that I have ever been to.  I could not help but think that with our arrival. "the circus had come town".

No place for bicycles - boats only

In a floating village, live is lived a great deal out in the open - the only walls are the walls of the houses and often those walls are not complete walls so that you can view life going on inside of the homes.

Homework in Moat Khla - repairing fish net

Moat Khla

Our excursion along the waterways of Moat Khla revealed many domestic scenes of life in a fishing village.  People were repairing fish nets, working on their boats, preparing meals, shopping at the small markets, caring for children, headed out to the fish traps, and in several places - children playing in boats.

Preparing a meal - of course - FISH!

After two passes through the village we commenced our two hour return voyage back to Kampong Khleang.  The return trip was much like the trip out to Moat Khla - many boats of all types with people occupied with their livelihood of fishing the riches of Tonle Sap.

A family fishing team

 I returned to our Home-Stay in Kampong Khleang to share my adventure with Duang, watch her help prepare dinner with our host, and relax in a hammock watching the light die over the main canal.

After another good meal with the host family and our guide, we went to bed early.  We all slept in the great room of the house.  The house had a great room, a small kitchen, a bathroom with a squat toilet, a covered open front porch, and a small bedroom that was not used while we were there.  There was a handmade bed in the great room that we were given the option of sleeping in or on a mat placed on the floor.  We chose to sleep on the floor and a young nephew slept in the bed.  Prior to going to bed, mosquito netting had to be erected over the sleeping spaces - one for us, one for the grandparents, one for our guide, one for the daughter, and one for the nephew.  The house had no doors and the front and back of the house did not have walls.

We actually had a pretty good night's sleep although interrupted several times by boat traffic in the canal but what would you expect staying in a fishing village?  I woke up early and after a quick hand shower I laid in a hammock on the back of the house and enjoyed the sunrise - watching the light increasing in the sky revealing details along the canal and listening to the sounds of an awaking village.  It was a memorable stay.

A fellow diner at breakfast

We walked down to the local market in Kampong Khleang and then to a small. very small, restaurant for a delicious bowl of soup for breakfast.  Along the way to and from breakfast we experienced many more glimpses into life in a fishing village and of course many more smiling and waving people.  One elderly woman ran into the street so that she could have her picture taken with us.

My experience on Tonle Sap was not over.  There was another albeit shorter boat tour of the area.  Once again Duang opted to remain at the home-stay to worship and meditate.  I went with the guide to visit the area where small family boats sell their catch to middlemen in small boats.  The boats congregate outside of the village in a area off to the side of one of the main waterways that leads out to the deeper lake.  We had visited the same area on our 2014 trip.

Catch being loaded for sale to vendor

Outside of the village we came upon a section where there several floating houses.  We were greeted everywhere with smiles along with waves.  There were also some surprises along the way too.  In the USA there is a saying usually a somewhat sarcastic response to a statement of the obvious ... "Does a bear shit in the woods?"  I know that bears do because I have seen their scat in the woods,  But for this revisit to Tonle Sap I have the evidence to "Do children pee in the lake?"

Brother and sister doing what comes naturally

We returned to the home-stay, bid farewell to our hosts, and set off for a leisurely return to Siem Reap.  Our trip would end the next  day with our return to Bangkok and then to our home in Udon Thani.  It had been a great trip with all of our important goals either met or exceeded.

As we drove away from Kampong Khleang with Tonle Sap on our right, once again I thought of the Jackson Browne song as observed the flood plain.

"And in attempts to understand a thing so simple and so huge
Believed that they were meant to live after the deluge"  I always find comfort and take solace from our journeys to witness how people live. These experiences show me that there are many different ways to survive, and in most cases to live happily other than the way that I am accustomed to.  These experiences give me confidence that if circumstances change for us we will be able to survive - that we are meant to live IF we are willing to adapt.

These experiences with other cultures and life styles, for me, are also a celebration and appreciation for the diversity of man and the spirit of all mankind.

It's that time of year, once again - Tonle Sap

Late Afternoon on Tonle Sap - Kampong Khleang, Cambodia

November has arrived here in Isaan.  The Monsoon Season appears to be over - we are getting more and more days without rain and more days with bright Sun and blue sky.  Our temperatures are also much more comfortable - highs in the mid 80s to low 90s with lows in the mid to low 70s.

The rice harvest will commence in a couple weeks.  It is time to travel or at least to think about travel.

Two years ago, Duang and I made a 6 day trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia.  It was our second trip to the ruins of Angkor Wat.

Our trip in November 2014 also included a return tour of Tonle Sap "The Great Lake".

Tonle Sap is the largest fresh water lake in Southeast Asia - not that this fact justifies a visit.  Tonle Sap is referred to by the Lonely Planet guide book as the "Heartbeat of Cambodia".  Personally to me, Tonle Sap is the lungs of Cambodia.  The lake provides food and irrigation water for one-half of the people in Cambodia.  Tonle Sap is connected to the mighty Mekong River - one of the greatest rivers of the world.  Tonle Sap's water level fluctuates greatly in accordance to the seasons.  In the rainy season from May to October when the Mekong is at its fullest, water flows from the Mekong into the lake.  In the dry season as the Mekong's flow diminishes, water flows from the lake into the Mekong.  Water levels in Tonle Sap range from a maximum of 2 meters (6 feet) in the dry season and to a maximum of 10 meters (32 feet) in the rainy season.  The flooding of surrounding land during the rainy season provides a great deal of food and shelter for aquatic life thereby making Tonle Sap one of the richest sources of freshwater protein in the world.  Tonle Sap is a nursery for many of the fish of the Mekong River. During the dry season fisherman average a take of 220 to 440 pounds of fish a day.

Tonle Sap grows from approximately 965 square miles in the dry season to just over 5,020 square miles in the rainy season.  The increase in area as well as increased depth presents challenges in terms of housing for the inhabitants in the area.  Man has met the challenges of Tonle Sap by building floating homes or building home atop stilts roughly 20 to 30 feet high.  It was the opportunity to witness this unique lifestyle that first attracted me to visit Tonle Sap.  Both Duang and I are interested in seeing how people live in environments and situations different from what we are accustomed to.

Our Homestay Accommodation - the house on the right

Based upon our experience during our first trip to Tonle Sap in 2007, we incorporated a home stay in the village of Kampong Khleang to better learn and understand Cambodian life on Tonle Sap.

Preparing Our Lunch In Kampong Khleang

 I had planned our last trip to Tonle Sap to coincide with the full moon and Bon Om Touk (Cambodian Water Festival).  Bon Om Touk is an annual festival held in November to celebrate the reversal of Tonle Sap water flow.  With the start of the dry season water commences to flow out of Tonle Sap into the Mekong River making up to 50% of the Mekong River flow.  During the rain season water flows from the Mekong into Tonle Sap.  The reversal of flow into the Mekong River also marks the start of commercial fishing season on Tonle Sap - the fish hatched during the rainy season, and nourished on the nutrient rich waters of the floodplains of Tonle Sap migrate into the shrinking lake and out into the Mekong River.

Tonle Sap Harvest - Selling fish to a Middleman

We spent the night with a family in Kampong Khleang.  The mother and father were teachers at a local elementary school and have three children, to girls and one boy.  Their home is built on stilts over the lake but fronts a raised dirt road about 2 feet below the house.

Kampong Khleang Neighborhood

It was quite interesting to spend a day and night with the family.  Although they did not speak English, we could see that they were nice people and concerned that we enjoyed our stay.  We appreciated their efforts to ensure that we were comfortable and found their children to be quite entertaining.

Our host's family

We slept in the large front room of the house, the room closest to the street.  Our bed was one of the hardest beds that I have ever slept on.  A mosquito net protected us throughout the night and we were not bothered by buzzing in our ears.  We were not even bothered or awoken by the three children sharing the room with us - sleeping on mats placed on the floor and protected by their own mosquito net.  The two motorbikes kept inside the large room did not make any noise but the odor of fuel permeated the air.  What kept me awake were the sounds - the sounds of dogs foraging beneath the house and along the street, the sound of cats foraging beneath the house and along the streets, the sounds of dogs and cats encountering each other, the sounds of new born babies in the houses next to our room - 15 feet away and separated from us by two layers of woven bamboo.  There was also the occasional sound of a motorbike tearing up the dirt road. Who said that rooster crow at dawn?  Sure they crow at dawn but they also crow much earlier, too!

Sunrise Over Tonle Sap From Kitchen Area of Our Home-stay

Yes, it was not a very good night of sleep but oh what an experience it was!  As the Sun rose over the floodplain the ever increasing sound of awakening life built up.  Insects, birds, motorboats, and the sounds of people awakening to encounter a new day of life on the lake created a unique symphony not available to tourists in the city.  The symphony of sound was supplemented by the smells of a the new day - charcoal fires to cook the first meal of the day, the odors of pork, chicken, garlic, onions, fish, and the smell of motorboats setting out to check the fish traps at dawn.  The new day was announcing its arrival along with the acknowledgement of the potential that each reawakening brings.

The view outside the front door of our home-stay

Yes, it was not a good night of sleep but oh what an experience it was!  I have always embraced the value and prestige of my life not in the comfort that I have enjoyed or the material wealth that I have been able to acquire but rather in the experiences that I have encountered.

Tonle Sap Boatchild

For Plains Indian warriors, prestige and honor were acquired by "counting coup" - For the Cheyenne counting coupe involved touching an enemy with a stick, bow, whip, or open hand.  For me it is counting experiences - counting experiences involves the act of touching lives or being touched by the lives of others as well personal interactions with the world about me.  I am fortunate to have a wife who is willing and able to participate in my quests to count experiences.

One of the main streets of Kampong Khleang

Last year I considered returning to Tonle Sap including experiencing another home-stay.  After doing soe preliminary research for a return trip, I discovered that the water levels in the lake were very low.  Since one of my goals was to document more of the life on the flood plain, I decided not to return to Tonle Sap.

Kampong Khleang Intersection

On our last trip, we were taken by our home-stay hosts in the early morning to check the family's fish traps set out on the floodplains outside of Kampong Khleang.

Tonle Sap Backwater Early Morning Encounter

Checking fish trap early morning on floodplain

This year I am considering returning to Siem Reap and especially Tonle Sap with either a one or two night home-stay.  Based upon our last trip, I am considering going in December or January - for the full moon.  I believe that going a month or two later will improve the opportunities for documenting the commercial fishing activities on the lake as the flow out of the lake into the Mekong Rier will be more established.

I also want and know that I can take better photographs of moonlight over the floodplain - partially submerged trees, flat water, and a full moon low on the horizon and climbing high in the sky.

Sunset Over Tonle Sap

Research indicates that December 13 is a full moon and January 12 is another full moon.  On December 13, the moon will rise at 4:09 PM and set the following morning at 4:12 AM.  On January 12 the moon will rise 4:51  PM and set at 4:58 AM the next morning.  These times are convenient for the photographs that I intend to take.

I have not checked to determine if the stars are aligned for a trip but the moon certainly is.  Yesterday I sent an email to my contact in Siem Reap to determine the current water levels.  This year, in Udon Thani we have have had much more rainfall than last year so I am optimistic that Siem Reap and the Mekong River have received much more rain too so that a return trip is warranted.

If the water levels are sufficient, I will have to discuss with Duang before making detailed plans and arrangements.

Cambodia - Day #4 - Tonle Sap _The End of this Trip

Floating Village of Chong Kneas

Sunday, 12 August, was our last day in Cambodia.  Just because we had an afternoon flight back to Bangkok did not mean that our adventures were over for the trip.  Our guide and driver brought us out to one of the places that was on my list to visit - Tonle Sap.

Tonle Sap Tour Boat

Tonle Sap is the largest fresh water lake in Southeast Asia - not that this fact justifies a visit.  Tonle Sap is referred to by the Lonely Planet guide book as the "Heartbeat of Cambodia".  Personally to me, Tonle Sap is the lungs of Cambodia.  The lake provides food and irrigation water for one-half of the people in Cambodia.  Tonle Sap is connected to the mighty Mekong River - one of the greatest rivers of the world.  Tonle Sap's water level fluctuates greatly in accordance to the seasons.  In the rainy season from May to October when the Mekong is at its fullest, water flows from the Mekong into the lake.  In the dry season as the Mekong's flow diminishes, water flows from the lake into the Mekong.  Water levels in Tonle Sap range from a maximum of 2 meters (6 feet) in the dry season and to a maximum of 10 meters (32 feet) in the rainy season.  The flooding of surrounding land during the rainy season provides a great deal of food and shelter for aquatic life making Tonle Sap one of the richest sources of freshwater protein in the world.  Tonle Sap is a nursery for many of the fish of the Mekong River. During the dry season fisherman average a take of 220 to 440 pounds of fish a day.

Tonle Sap grows from approximately 965 square miles in the dry season to just over 5,020 square miles in the rainy season.  The increase in area as well as increased depth presents challenges in terms of housing for the inhabitants in the area.  Man has met the challenges of Tonle Sap by building floating homes.  It was the opportunity to witness this unique lifestyle that attracted me to visit Tonle Sap.  Both Duang and I are interested in seeing how people live in environments and situations different from what we are accustomed to.

The Village of Chong Kneas

Drawing Water in Chong Kneas

We were taken to the village of Chong Kneas which turned out to be where our guide was from.  Chong Kneas, from what we saw, is a collection of woven bamboo huts with thatched roofs where very poor people live on a dike high above the waters of Tonle Sap. The streets were unpaved and the air was filled with fine red dust whenever a bicycle, motorbike, or pick up truck drove by.

Chong Kneas is the jumping off point for exploring Tonle Sap.  It is from Chong Kneas that you can rent a boat to go out to the nearby floating village, go fishing, or go off further to other floating villages.  Our guide arranged for a boat for the three of us and we set off to tour some of the lake.

A Tonle Sap Resident with a Pot of Prepared Food

A Mobile Floating Market On Tonle Sap

The area where we traveled was very busy.  Boats of all shapes and sizes as well as varying degrees of seaworthiness slowly plied the waters.  Some of the boats that we passed were mobile floating markets selling goods and staples to the people who lived on floating houses.  Some of the boats were mobile refreshment stands selling fruit, snacks, and drinks to other boats such as ours.  There were boats carrying grandmothers and children off to some other part of the lake.  Men were in their boats headed back to their home with some supplies to fix their homes or second boat.  We were able to observe many small town activities - but all of them were water borne.  In our travels we even came upon a Christian church.  During the reign of the Khmer Rouge all religions were severely persecuted.  Even the Buddhist religion that dominates all of southeast Asia suffered greatly at the hands of the fanatic Khmer Rouge.  Monks, temples, and monasteries were destroyed.  However the resiliency of religion was not eliminated.  Today once again you can see young Buddhist Monks in Cambodia.

A Floating Christian Church On Tonle Sap

As we passed floating homes we observed babies being fed and bathed on the covered porches just a couple feet above the water.  At other homes young girls were doing daily chores such as washing clothes and washing plates.  Other porches had elderly people relaxing in hammocks strung from the wood columns of their floating homes.  Many Tonle Sap residents were content to just watch life as it passed by them just as Duang and I watched a much different life float by us.  A frequent sight was a toddler standing on the porch or in the doorway of their home wearing nothing but a smile as they waved to the passing boats.  In some areas along the shoreline children played on the beach enjoying swimming and splashing in the water.  I photographed one group as we rode by.  It was only after that we got back to Thailand and started to process the photographs that I realized how happy he was to see us.  I know that he was happy to see us because he had no pocket to keep a banana!  Think in terms of the old joke "Is that a banana in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"  I am not sharing that photo but I am sharing a previous "acceptable" photo of the group.  There is no telling what you will see when you go out and about here in Asia but it is life - daily life that you will find.  The daily life may be very different than what you are accustomed to but isn't that the reason that you travel in the first place?

Children Enjoying the Hot and Humid Morning

Tonle Sap Refreshment Vendors

Snack Boat Coming Alongside

We passed through and by the floating village and entered the realm of the fishermen.  As we looked forward towards the horizon in front of us we could not see land.  We came upon boats of fishermen setting their nets or hauling in their nets.  Despite being a ways from the civilization of the floating village we were not in any danger of starving or dying of thirst.  Soon we were approached and joined by a small, very small boat, manned not by a scurvy crew but a very cute crew selling refreshments.  A young mother and her two toddlers came alongside and offered to sell us fruit, prepackaged snacks, soft drinks, water, and beer.  I was concerned about becoming dehydrated.  I was concerned about eating since it had been over two hours since we had a large breakfast.  I was wondering and concerned as to when I would have a beer while in Cambodia.  The children were so adorable and I became concerned over the family's plight so we bought soft drinks for Duang, the boatman, and our guide.  I enjoyed a can of Cambodian beer and we all shared a couple bags of snack food.  We mid farewell to the vendors as they headed off in search of another vessel in "need".  Childhood is often short and many times nonexistent for the children of Southeast Asia.  Surprisingly they don't seem to mind.  For many of them working with their parents for the survival of the family is not a chore but a part of life.  On some days it is an opportunity to meet strange people who talk funny from a far away place.  I suspect that not having Sponge Squarepants Bob, Shrek, MTV, Disney, and Pixar Studios cartoon characters or video games does not hinder their development into adults that are capable of supporting themselves and being happy. What should the true purpose of childhood be - to be entertained or to become prepared for adulthood?

Snack Vendor Shoving Off on Tonle Sap

After our tour of Tonle Sap, we stopped at "Artisans d'Angkor".  Artisans d'Angkor is an organization established to help restore traditional Cambodian culture and art.  Artisans d'Angkor provides training, employment and marketing for young Cambodians in traditional arts such as weaving, stone carving, wood carving, woodworking, dance etc.  The students become artists and their work is placed up for sale in the organization's shops.

Wood Carving at Artisan d'Angkor

Student Learning Stone Carving

Under the Khmer Rouge you were either a government worker, in the military, or a farmer.  There was no appreciation for art.  Traditional culture was looked down upon and admitting to being an artist could get you murdered. After the reign of terror ended, there were many Cambodians without any viable skills. Young people were unemployed.  A generation had lost its identity and soul.  As part of international efforts to assist the Cambodian people recover, a French group created a place where the new generation of artists could be trained by the few remaining keepers Cambodian culture that survived.  It is a center of hope and testament to the strength of man's desire to be more than a beast of burden.

After purchasing some works, we returned to our hotel, checked out, and took the short ride to the Siem Reap Airport.  Our trust in selecting a guide and driver had been greatly rewarded.  We saw many interesting and unique sights from an insider's perspective without the stress of doing it on our own.  We had a great trip with many fond memories.  We left Cambodia very pleased with our trip and knowing some day we would be back.  I think that there are still some ruins we didn't get to see.