Floating Village

On our last morning in Siem Reap, we hired a tuk-tuk driver to take us away from town, out into the country, and to tour the Floating Villages of Chong Kneas. The Cambodian government has a fixed price on this tour, and we were led to a boat with a driver and English speaking guide. This fishing village is a mix of Vietnamese and Cambodian people, and is a mobile village of about 3,000 people. During the low season, they live on Tonle Sap lake, but during the rainy season, they move their village up to the mountain. Everything is done on this village...living, fishing, going to school, going to church, and going to stores or restaurants. From what I can gather, this is a middle class Cambodian community, as the fishermen have a steady income. Most homes were quite clean and many had ammenities like TV's and antennas.

Here's the floating school. The adjacent building was a floating building with just a basketball court and soccer "field".
This woman has a floating store...selling groceries and necessities out of her boat.

Here are some schoolchildren paddling themselves home after a morning of school.



floating church: there was one Muslim church and one Christian church, and all of the boats dock along the side every Sunday