Final Day in Cambodia: The Floating Village

While exciting, adventuring far from home can be very humbling. The language is different, the food is different, and there is so much that you don't understand.  Credit cards are uncommon in both Cambodia and Viet Nam, plus the exchange rates are tricky to calculate in your head: you need either 25,000 Vietnamese Dong or 4,000 Cambodian riel to make one US Dollar. It's the strangest thing to have your total come out to over a million!  Watching me fumble with money was pretty entertaining to the locals for sure. For any future travelers, it's a good idea to bring either a debit card or a decent stash of cash with you. In Cambodia, you can use US Dollars and Cambodian riel interchangeably. In Vietnam, you will need to exchange your dollars to VND. Interestingly enough, this is commonly done at the best rates at pawn/gold shops. 

Out of all the cultural differences, I think the very most humbling is not knowing how to use the bathroom. Have you ever traveled to a national park and seen illustrated signs in the stalls instructing one how to use the toilet? And have you ever thought, how could a person not know that? Well traveling abroad, those signs are meant for you. Soiled toilet paper? It goes in the bin, not the toilet. (Also, thanks for the translation. The Khmer script is gorgeous, but leaves me feeling quite illiterate. With 74 characters, it is the longest alphabet in the world.)

Think putting TP in the trash is gross? Well, the toilet paper is primarily for drying as you should have already washed yourself using the sprayer attached to each every toilet.

Some toilets you stand on (possibly near the vegetables.)

And some signs are just for the men but appreciated by women, no matter what your language or culture.

Anyway, enough potty talk. On our final day in Cambodia we enjoyed another incredible breakfast.

Looking through the guest book, we discovered that another couple was so delighted by the cuisine that they drew this fantastic picture of all the food they'd eaten at the Homestay Yellow Natural House.

For our day's adventure, we decided to visit the Floating Village of Kampong Phluk. Our neighbor Peter Breinholt (yes, the Peter Breinholt) recently came back from a similar trip to Vietnam and Cambodia with his daughter and mentioned that the floating village was one of their favorite experiences.

For me, I loved walking through the village market on the way. This woman was frying plantains.

Here's our guide explaining how they use the fermented fish in the buckets for making fish sauce.

While I personally was fascinated, I overheard a couple men from India whispering about the tour being boring because this market was just like their markets back at home. I guess it all depends on perspective. Cambodia is half-way across the world for me, but just a three-hour plane ride and weekend trip for them. 

What's in the basket?

Fried ants.

The fresh vegetables and fresh fish looked amazing.

Just so you know, the French don't have dibs on frog legs.

Not unique to Cambodia, I snagged this picture of a heavily laden motorbike. In both countries, we saw motorbikes everywhere, often loaded to astonishing capacity with goods or people.

To tour Kampong Phluk, we naturally boarded a boat. It turns out that the village is only flooded for part of the year, so it was fortunate we came during the rainy season in terms of seeing the village "float."

In front is an administrative building and behind is the village school.

I felt pretty fascinated by this health center and wondered what nursing here would look like.

Boating past each of the homes, you caught a small glimpse into daily life: laundry hanging out front, lots of children playing and jumping in the water, chickens and turkeys in wire coops created by the stilts beneath the main house.

Our tour guide turned me into a poser.

According to our guide, every family has a boat for personal use, a boat for fishing, and sometimes a boat that they rent out for tour groups like ours.

The village felt particularly lively since school was out of session. It was fun to see all of the kids out working and playing.

According to our guide, the village began as a place for families to escape when they wanted to evade taxation by the French, It has grown to about 1000 families, most of whom still don't pay taxes because their income falls below the taxable threshold. Instead of living off the land, they live off the water and feed their families and make extra income by fishing, although tourism is becoming a more important part of the economy.

In the center of the main village is a lovely temple.

I believe this is a homestay where tourists can come.

Right next door is a school for teaching English. Volunteers can come teach English and stay in the neighboring house.

Walking out to where the water begins. I particularly love the little kid who ran splashing by me.

My Mom and I paid a little extra to have this village girl (I'm guessing fourteen?) paddle us through the village and the mangroves. While she was very shy, it was a fun way to experience more village life.

A new spin on accessibility issues..

I thought that the long propellers moving the small boats were quite fascinating.

Headed deep into the mangroves.

While I didn't take a picture, at one point she paddled us to some snack boats that were selling drinks and treats right in the middle of the mangrove forest. Coolest place ever to purchase Pringles!

The water is all freshwater connected with the Tonle Sap Lake, the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia. Interestingly enough, the lake reverses its flow twice a year. During the dry season, water flows out of the lake into the Mekong River.  During the rainy seaon when the Mekong delta floods, water pushes back up through the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers into the lake, causing the lake to expand to up to 5 times its dry-season size. 

I'm just grateful that the only alligators we saw were contained. Apparently there are very few wild alligators left.

For lunch we were taken to a restaurant that obviously catered to tourists, but still had some really great food. Being so close to the water, I'm glad I ordered the fish, While much larger than I expected, it was some of the tastiest fish I've ever eaten.

Plus, who doesn't want their steamed rice served in an adorable banana leaf cone?

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Cambodia treated us so well. When we got back to the Yellow Natural Homestay, Navy immediately brought us some drinks and sticky rice treats. Even though we weren't staying another night, we were still welcome to lounge in our room, store our bags, and use the hammocks.

My Mom says that the papaya seeds kind of look like fish eggs. She's not wrong.

Before leaving, we made sure to grab a photo with Navy and thank her for their family's amazing hospitality. We hoped we would meet again, but also hoped it wouldn't be too soon. 

You see, leaving our homestay, we honestly didn't know if we would be back again that night. As we hopped into the car that was going to take us to the airport, our expedited visas back into Vietnam hadn't arrived yet. (I know, I know, the visa saga that never ends.) While the company we were working with promised them by 6pm at the very latest, our flight was scheduled to depart at 6pm.  In reality, we needed them by five. The company offered to further expedite them for an extra $250pp, but we politely declined and decided to risk it. It would cost much less to repurchase our flights, plus we wouldn't mind staying in Cambodia another day. Fortunately our visas arrived while we were driving to the airport. Our flight ended up being delayed, so we likely would have been fine even if they hadn't shown up until six. Still, it was a relief to have our visas in hand and finally put an end to that drama. I don't think I will ever forget to secure a visa again!