Monday, January 14, 2008

Tonle Sap, Cambodia

Finally we reached our destination ~ Tonle Sap (the largest fresh water lake in South East Asia). Yeah, this was the muddy and dusty pathway we took. Those thatched huts were located along this pathway.

This was our "Tour Boat"~ bringing us to tour around The Floating Village in Tonle Sap.

The Floating Primary School

The Floating Church

During our boat ride, we saw quite a number of locals on their boats coming along side our boat selling stuffs like canned soft drinks, bananas, souvenirs etc.

The Floating Restaurant and Souvenir shop and Crocodile Farm.

What is that??? Yeah, those who have read my previous entry might know the answer. Yeah, that was a child beggar paddling inside the bucket or pail.

Remember the handicapped child beggar in the previous post? Several of these child beggars were seen in the lake.

Young mother selling banana, with her baby sleeping on her lap. Amazing...

Another pathetic looking baby girl hoping someone will buy the banana so that she can call it a day and go back home earlier. This is one of their daily routines...

The other tour boats which stopped by in this Floating Restaurant.

The mobile grocery store for the locals

Mmmmm... I have no idea what is this...

So many family members resting inside the small floating house. Can you imagine yourself staying in such a place? Nah....

Journey back home...

Some weird looking boat..

37 comments:

moz monster said...

Sure looks like a scenic place. I'm sure it's a photographer's heaven, with all the interesting subjects !

How many photos did you end up taking in your entire Cambodia trip ?

mistipurple said...

how did you feel when you were there, snapping these pics? heart sng sng hor? :(

rainbow angeles said...

Your new camera zoom zoom function veli terror, hor? ;)

If you brought your DSLR with a canggih lense, sure lagi keng!!! Faitik go buy the lense!

L B said...

Now I don't feel a need to go to Cambodia anymore, thanks to all these documentaries from you! Thanks! :-) Freshwater means no salt?

Anonymous said...

Yup, and they have schools, libraries and even a basketball court all floating one
:)
Did you see child with a snake there?

may said...

I think hor, I want to have a floating blog... float on the river...

*float*
*float*
*float*

mistipurple said...

i got one stupid question. why wanna build on water? got land mah.

_butt said...

I feel bad for them :(

kyh said...

the floating church looks cool! like in venice liddat.

aiyo u din buy the bananas from that poor lil girl meh? kesian her hv to come out make business when other children bz playing toys at home. :(

Doreen said...

I dunno, my heart aches seeing these photos....especially the handicapped child......

Chen said...

moz,
u will surely love the place, and camera is definitely a must :)

Err.. I didn't count how many photos i took for the entire Cambodia trip. But the whole trip (Cambodia + Vietnam) I took 2000+ photos :)

misti,
That time too busy snapping photo :P

Err... the first thing that come to my mind is.. We Malaysians are much more lucky than the Cambodians..

Angeles,
Very syiok, u should get one too. Then u can feel the syiokness.

Yeah, DSLR is even better. Wait till I get the zoom lens. But zoom lens mahal leh. See how..
Kkkkkk..

Chen said...

LB,
Wah.. How Can?
I only show less than 5% of the photos taken leh. U gotta go there to experience the remaining 95% of the photos. Hahahahaha

And I lup the Cambodian Bee Hoon. So chewy, so different :)

This freshwater has lotsa salt. Good to soak the newly bought shirt :P

Zeroimpact,
Yeah, and during my trip there, I saw few young boys playing basketball inside the floating basketball court and few school girls with their school uniforms playing by the lake.

Yeah, I saw a young girl with a huge snake hanging on her neck in the floating restaurant :)

Chen said...

May,
Talking about floating blog.. reminds me of the floating boat. Neh.. those paper boat we used to fold and made during childhood time, and watching it floating in the drain or lake etc.

*float*
*float*
*float*

Kkkkkkkkkkk...

Misti,
Why ah? Errr.. I dunno leh. I tak baca history woh, cos I malas. Might be Misti can do a search on internet and enlighten us here with the answer?

Terima kasih banyak banyak :)

Chen said...

Butt,
Those Cambodian kids are very tough, unlike our Malaysian kids.

kyh,
Hehehhe.. I even spotted the floating cemetery. Err.. not actually floating lah, but cemetery covered with the lake water..

There are several Cambodian kids selling bananas, canned drinks, postcards and souvenir over there throughout Siem Reap. These kids learn to earn money since young and their childhood is about earning money for surviving, and they can speak fluent English. And not forgetting those who begs for money. How irony comparing them with the pampered Malaysian kids or kids in other part of the world.

Doreen,
Refering to my reply to kyh, most Cambodian kids start earning money since young, even at the early age of 3 or 4 years old. Very kesian indeed. This children have no chance to enjoy their childhood, unlike the kids in other part of the world.

L B said...

ThrowYourStar!!! Another 95% more?!!!
*pengsan*

nyonyapenang said...

So sad lar...looking at those pictures. We are having it so good here and some of us are still complaining.

The little girl selling the bananas...she reminded me of those little ones in Lake Toba, Medan...I bought one small basket from one of them...so kesian them. And some were seen diving into the lake to retrieve coins thrown in by the tourists. Aww....it made me sick...those people. If they wanted to give money, why can't they just give it instead of making the kids dive into the cold water?

As for the structure which you dunno what it is, can it be a 'burial hut'?

Anonymous said...

why chen become chev? *faintz* explain! :P

looks like nothing much to see, but plenty of opportunities to do charity :(

buying something from them is fine but don't ever give money. will spoil those kids.

Chen said...

LB,
Throwing-More-YourStar.

Kkkkk.. Don't worry, I won't put up all those photos. Else I myself will be vomiting white bubbles too :P

nyonya,
And I presume that even though those kid sells the canned soft drink, they might not have the chance to taste those drink leh.

Ini dunia, semua pun ada. Not everyone has a compassionate heart. Indeed sickening to see such people.

Might be hoh? The burial hut. :)

slurp,
Err.. I have changed the profile name a month ago already liao leh. Why ah? I explained several times in the past liao :P To remain more anonymous. Hahahha

I won't say there are nothing much to see there. For an avid photographer, this is an interesting place. Well, it depends on what is one's interest :D

Wyn said...

awww...they very kesian hor...they only earned abit oni...not really enough to support the whole family...

and yet, the parents lahir many many kids...aih...=(

mistipurple said...

erm.. i haven't found the answer yet on why they're staying on water instead of land, but i found this instead. Water and Sanitary Program (WSP) and UNICEF on ceramic filter pilot projects for their water needs. :)
http://www.wsp.org/filez/pubs/926200724252_eap_cambodia_filter.pdf

mistipurple said...

http://www.wsp.org/filez/pubs/926200724252_eap_cambodia_filter.pdf

earlier not enough copied. donno why. :(

mistipurple said...

http://www.wsp.org/filez/pubs/926200724252_eap_
cambodia_filter.pdf

now become i spamming you. sorry.
this should do it. have to break it up, too long maybe.

Anonymous said...

Wah.... so many pictures! Next time I want to go anywhere but kenot go, just ask you to go can already. As good as going there with all the photos you took!! hahahaha...

The water there very dirty looking, hor? Do they actually use the river water for cleaning and cooking ah?

Jun said...

floating primary school eh? hmm... if wanna ponteng class just jump off the corridor/window into the lake and swim away! *hehehe* how convenient...

day-dreamer said...

Nice.

It's amazing those local won't get seasick hor? Hehe.

Furkids in Hong Kong™ said...

Thank you so much for the tour.

Seeing those kids and the mother reminds me of our practice of buying our grocery only from the oldest market people in the wet market near our home. To be honest, the vegetables and fruit they sell are not as nice as those from a larger stall, or the mega supermarkets, but we're happy to know that we've somewhat made the old person's life just that little bit better, we hope.

mistipurple said...

furkids in hong kong made a nice comment. yes, sometimes we buy from those we think will really need that bit of sale. it makes a difference to them. :)

Chen said...

wynn,
Yeah, although they are poor, but they never practise family planning. Most families will have more than 5 kids. Why wanna have so many kids when the parents are unable to take care of them? Aiyh.. :(

misti,
Misti so rajin. A pat on the back.

Hehehhe, Actually hoh, the link is complete leh, just that u can't see it from here. I mean u can't see it but it is there (sounds like talking about spirit, huh? LOL).

But if u highlight and copy the link, u will be able to get the whole complete link :D

Huh? 44 pages altogether? o.O
I will read the summary first :D

Cocka Doodle said...

Thanks for the Cambodian postcard with the Penang postage stamp!
Cheat one! LOL

Chen said...

kat,
Hahahha, lidat also can? :D
And yeah, I can visit Dubai virtually by visiting your's and Kenny's Blog.

Yeah, the water is similar as the muddy lake or river water we have in Malaysia. The "teh tarik" or "milo susu" water. Misti showed an article on Water and Sanitary Program (WSP) and UNICEF on ceramic filter pilot projects for the Cambodian's water needs.

jun,
Hahahhaha, The education system there is not strict. Parents in fact can bribe the examiners in order to get good results for their kids. And certificate can be bought with money.

In fact hoh, when we passed by the school, I saw few school girls in uniform playing outside, not far away from the school. Dunno whether they are playing truant or not :P

Chen said...

day dreamer,
Kkkk.. I'm more amazed they don't get sick nor diarrhoea looking at the sanitation level :P

furkids,
That's very noble of you. Keep up the good work :) Yeah, it can made a difference to them, especially those old folks without family support.

misti,
This reminds me of your otak-otak and koyok post. Keep up the good work :)

cocka,
Hahaha, cos i don't have time to search for the post office in Cambodia :P

narrowband said...

It sure was heart-wrenching to see those children right? They're so poor...... and we can't do much... If we buy from one child, many others will flock to you.

Anonymous said...

hi. hope u don't mind if i show one of ur photos in this post on my blog. is that ok with u?

Mediviron UOA Clinic said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

oops.. have to delete the comment above because the link to my own blog is on my username. trying to keep low profile since i personally know some of ur readers.
paranoid me!

Anonymous said...

nope, it's actually the photo of the skinny guy which i'm interested in.
my mistake

Chen said...

narrowband,
Yeah, we can't do much. There are too many of them.

chen,
Sure, no problem. Go ahead :)

Hehehe, it's alright. I never put up any personal photo of myself or my family up here cos i'm paranoid too.