Rachel's Ramblings: Messing About on the River

If I have learned nothing else on this holiday it is never to take for granted how lucky I am. Another trip, another eye watering experience, another series of incredible photographs bear witness to sights I might only otherwise have seen in books or on the television and STILL have difficulty believing. For these people this is their LIFE. It is sometimes hard not to feel like a voyeur so perhaps, if you are reading this, you will accept the need of my conscience to share, even if in some small way, so that others who might not choose to visit are at least aware. Soom aw kuhn.

Almost an hour's drive out of Siem Reap after another early start we realised we were now on a single track red dirt road lined with shacks either side, beyond which falls away the bank to the water way below. These timber and grass constructions on stilts are the homes, businesses and storage units of countless families who choose to live along the banks of the Tonle Sap lake and the waterways that it feeds. As explained by Mr Lim this way of life is all these people know, never having a chance to leave and learn other skills, and so perpetuating an existence heavily dependent on fish, what rice they can grow in their paddy fields and traded goods when available. For all that they appear content, busy going about their daily routines with everyone pitching in to make their world go round.

The bamboo stilts last 6 years, then have to be replaced.

We are in the dry season at the moment. In a few months when the rain comes the water will rise to the level of the houses on the higher level. Those lower down will have their anchors loosened so they float.