Siem Reap Home-stay

the floating village at a distance

Cambodia's charm lies in the preservation of its culture and authentic way of life. Travelers from all over the world are almost always captivated by the simplicity of how people live, especially in the rural areas. This week, I had the chance to look around and have an up-close encounter of local life in the province of Siem Reap.

Around 3:30 in the afternoon, after a long bus ride from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap and a little "stranded" drama for at least 20 minutes, I finally set off for a visit at a floating village in Mechrey, about half an hour drive from Siem Reap town. The boat, which can accommodate around 15 to 20 people, went through a canal-like water way full of water hyacinth floating on it which made me think that navigating through the shallow waters is impossible. We went out to the northwestern part of the great lake Sap. Along the way, you can see different species of birds flying around in various colors and appearance. An environment of all greens enveloped my sense of sight and I was caught in my own thoughts for a moment... This is where I want to be, close to the silent music of nature and away from the continuous hum of motorbikes and vehicles in the big city...

locals collecting water hyacinths

After around 10 minutes on the boat, we finally reached the mouth to the open part of the great lake. I was confronted with a different way of life. Shanties floating on the water made of palm leaves walls and roofs, with cages of animals that they race. I was actually surprised to see chicken living on the lake! Can you imagine? We used to raise chicken in our backyard back where I was from, but hey, this is the lake! What are those chickens doing here? Only then did I realize that the lake is their backyard... Amazing! From the point of view of Charles Darwin's Natural Selection theory, I won't be surprised if years from now, these chicken would form gills and swim like fishes in the lake! (Just a thought.)...

Moving on, the little floating village has a school, big one! I saw two decent restaurants with the owners widely smiling to us. There were little crocodile farms, as well! We stopped by one of the restaurants and checked out the crocodiles that they are raising. It was my first time to have an up-close encounter! Man, if I say up-close, I mean UP-CLOSE! I could almost touch them! They look like logs sprawled on the floors of their man-made house where people can see them and feed them. They also have long-beaked birds that I don't even know of, and big pythons! Gosh, it was like I am walking through a jungle! Only that they don't bite!

view from atop the homestay

The lady who owns the place asked us to stay upstairs as she was offering homestays for guests who want to experience a day or two living on the floating village. She has a small room upstairs, with bamboo blinds dropped down to cover the place at night, two hammocks hanging down, some mats laid on the floor, and mosquito nets to protect people from mosquitoes, of course. We went up the room to check it out, and from there we could see basically the whole village: the farm where they plant corn and vegetables on the bank of the lake during the dry season (the bank is submerged underwater during the wet season so this is their only time to plant on actual soil). The breeze was so nice, as if giving you the feel of the sincere hospitality of the people around. From a distance, we can see the sun slowly setting down the horizon as the sky slowly turns to oranges, purples and golds. Glorious! Moments like this make you feel how vast the universe is and how powerless we are under its power, bringing us back the humble realization that we are just tiny specks in the face of the world... Anyway, the lady's offer was so enticing but too bad we had to head back to the hotel as we didn't set out to stay for the night... In my mind, I was saying, "Next time..."