Floating on the Tonle Sap

Tonle Sap is a lake situated in central Cambodia. It is fed by the Siem Reap river originating in the Khulen mountains to its northeast. It is drained by the Tonle river, which is a tributary of the Mekong, joining it at Phnom Penh - the capital of Cambodia. The size of Tonle Sap changes dramatically over the seasons. During the dry season, it is large enough to be mistaken for a small sea but it is during the monsoon, that it swells to 3 times its summer size, becoming the 2nd largest lake in the world. It was the lifeline of the ancient Khmer empire - yielding the largest freshwater fish harvest in the world. In the 21st century, it houses a large number of floating villages. These places are small self contained communities living on the lake. They have houses, markets, hospitals, schools, museums and even floating basketball courts - all floating on the river. We visited this place on the first day of our stay in Siem Reap.



On our way to the floating village. Looking back towards Siem Reap and the massive cumulonimbus shining in the dying light of the day.

This guy is the anchorman of the boat on which we were traveling. I secretly crept up from behind for this shot ... it was too good to miss :)

Others returning as we set out for the lake. During the mid-day, the heat is unbearable. So we decided to go at the end of the day and stay there for the sunset.

Ma rowing them back home after school. These kids live and go to school on the lake. Most of the schools are sponsored by Japanese and Korean organisations.

A floating basketball court next to the school 'building'. This place also has a large number of Vietnamese refugee families.


A few random shots from the lake ... the cloudy white balance and low ISO brings out the warm reddish color.

Dima - all smiles. This was partly due to the boat ride and partly due to the moderate temperatures of the dusk. For the next 3 days, Dima almost lost his smile. The intolerable heat, temple hopping without any rest, lack of sleep didn't give him enough reason to smile - even in front of the camera. The smile returned when we reached Sihanoukville towards the end of our trip.
As the sunset approached, I left my touristy seat inside the boat and took position at the edge. It was an nice experience. After the scorching day, it was also very soothing and relaxing. The picture below was taken by Ivan, who realised the merits of the non-touristy seat and came out on the 'deck'. Other tourists, sitting in comfort under the canopy of the boat, stared at us weirdly.
The world comes to a standstill. Its just the gentle breeze, the boat swaying the waves and the haunting silence
The view from my angle. I was thinking about the incidents 48 hours ago. We were still in Seoul and it was freezing. And now I'm sitting thousands of miles from Seoul, on the edge of a boat staring down at the water.
A poetic Ivan savours the silence and sunset. "I wonder how are the lives of the people who live on this lake?", he asked. "Wanna give it a try?", I replied. He continued to stare at the horizon, "Maybe ..."The day comes to an end on the Tonle Sap.

After sunset, we came back to Siem Reap and after a nice dinner, went to bed setting the alarm for 4am.

More to come ... stay tuned

Picture credits: Thanks to Ivan for pics 3, 4 and my pic on the edge of the boat.