After an early flight we arrived in Siem Reap and got our first look of Angkor Wat from our mini bus. That afternoon we travelled to Tonle Sap lake and took a boat across the lake to a small village.
The boat journey was long, hot and smoky and the boat broke down on the way and our driver had to jump into the lake to fix it. We were starting to wonder if it was really worth it when we arrived at the village and were greeted by a dozen smiling children.
We wondered up the village street and marvelled at the houses of wood balanced ten foot high on stilts so the village would survive the wet season. We walked to the village centre and temple, where we were shown around by the head monk who took us to the temple roof to get the best view of the village, as well as teaching us a bit about Buddhism. We also had a group blessing for a safe journey back to town (which we needed).
After our temple visit we walked over to the local school and witnessed some of the young children (ages 5-8) having a lesson. Like true tourists we interrupted this but they didn't seem to mind. One of our group then gave out sweets to each child and got a thank you in English and Cambodian in return while they all sat patiently waiting for their turn. We joked about how different the response would be back home from a bunch of homegrown school kids.
We then enjoyed a quick beer at the local bar and looked at photos of the village in the wet season and just how different it looked. Basically everyone lost the lower floor of their home and had a lake at their doorstep.
As we wondered back to the boat we were again swamped with friendly children wanting to be in our pictures and then they walked us back to our boat, holding our hands. We then began the long journey back where the boat broke down twice and we ran a ground on a mud bank but somehow we made it back. We can only thank the Buddhist monk for his blessing, otherwise we might still be stuck on Tonle Sap lake. Despite the problems of the journey and it aggrevating Carl's chest infection it was well worth it for a glimpse into a real Cambodian village.
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