Floating Village - Siem Reap, Cambodia

On Wednesday Stacy and I, on a recommendation, traveled to a floating village.  It was a ways out of town and cost a little more than we expected ( a good portion of the profits go to the low-income residents of the village), but it was well worth the trip. When we reached the dock we were a little confused as to where we were going; the water level is so low right now that we boarded a boat that was floating in  mud. We took the  river that then lead to the open water where the village was located.

It took about 8-10 minutes to reach the floating village of  3,000 people. They have a school, orphanage, and even a basketball court intermixed with the houses. The majority of these people are Vietnamese.  All the houses floating on top of bundled bamboo polls was quite the sight.  Some houses also had  pens attached floating in the water where chickens, fish,  and crocodiles are kept. They also have a good size boat where there is a tourist shop, fish farm, and crocodile farm. Stacy wasn't to keen on seeing the crocodiles in captivity.

It really showed how simplistic people can live. Some of the houses consisted of only a small rowboat with a straw shack built on top. Intermixed among the houses we saw children floating along in large steal bowls with oars. Overall, it was worth the experience and pretty cool to see in person.

~  Randi