Floating Villages

It is hard to believe that in only three days we went transitioned from Vietnamese villages in the clouds to Cambodian villages on the water. This morning (yes it was difficult to wake up), we drove out to one of the floating villages near Siem Reap and spent an hour or so touring the village by long boat. We learned that over 80,000 people live in these villages although I find it hard to believe some of the ''house boats" can survive the weather conditions in the rainy seasons. It is quite a site... children paddle around in little buckets with snakes (yes large snakes) draped around their shoulders trying to get some money from tourists. There are also floating churches, schools, and super markets. The predominant work is obviously fishing... although we learned that fishing also includes pulling no less than 4,500 snakes out of the river every day. This is probably one of the very few bodies of water you couldn't pay me to jump into knowing that fact. (Fried snake is actually a delicacy here - as is crocodile, we saw some of those too). Life in this village is almost impossible for me to imagine... here are some pics I found online until I can upload my own in August.

We spent the afternoon walking around town, shopping at the market, eating, and getting $5 massages. We actually attempted to go back to Viroth before Em had to leave, but they didn't open until 7:00pm so we had an early dinner in town. I signed up for a cooking class tomorrow morning that I'm really excited for. They will take me to the local market to pick out food and I can choose whatever dish I want to learn how to make... then we cook and eat lunch!