Tonle Sap Lake

We spent our last full day in Cambodia on Tonle Sap Lake. It is a huge lake in the middle of the country (to give you perspective, to go from one end to the other by boat would take six hours). The lake is connected to the Mekong River, and is vital to the economy of Cambodia. In fact, UNESCO declared it a biosphere in 1997.

The lake is unique for two reasons. First, its flow changes twice a year. Second, the portion that forms Tonle Sap expands and shrinks in a dramatic way depending on the rainy and dry seasons. To give you an example, during the dry season, the lake is about one meter deep and covers 2,700 sq. km. During the rainy season, that depth changes to nine meters and the coverage expands to 16,000 sq. km.

Because of it's proximity and connection to the Mekong River, when the water reverses its flow in the rainy season, the sediment and and rich soil of the Mekong drain into the lake. As a result, it is a productive inland fishery and provides Cambodia with 75% of it's fish catch, and 60% of the protein for the Cambodian people. Directly and indirectly, the lake supports the lives of over 3 million people.

One of the most amazing thing about the lake is the people who call it home. An entire group of people call the lake their home, living on floating houses that they move around depending on the water level and time of year. Most draw their living from tourism or fishing. The backgrounds of the people living here include ethnic Siamese, Vietnamese, and Cambodians.

We signed up for a tour with a company called Tara Boats. What impressed me was their goal of promoting sustainable tourism, while at the same time preserving the life of the people that live there.

We were picked up by our guide at the hotel and he drove us out to Chong Khneas. We stopped at the GECKO Center, which is a little floating building that promotes the environment and shows visitors the importance of the fragile ecosystem that these people call home.

We then proceeded to a small boat that would take us thru the floating village, with a stop at a fish and alligator farm. It was amazing to get a peek into the life of the group of people that live on the lake.

While it is poverty by our standards, you got a sense that the people living here really were happy with their lives. What I found interesting was that everyone had a television. They used car batteries to power their electrical appliances, and our guide explained that once a week, they take their batteries to various floating shops where they are recharged for about 50 cents. The charge lasts about a week and then they repeat the process. Water boats head thru the village several times a day so folks can buy fresh drinking water. We saw everything from floating Catholic churches to schools and even a floating basketball court.

We docked at a retired riverboat called The Tara. It was actually used during the Vietnam War to help Vietnamese escape into Cambodia (and many of those who fled now call this lake their home). It now serves as a floating restaurant.

When we docked there, Marty was having a bit of a meltdown because their second camera had apparently broke, leaving them with no way to take pictures. Later, I would load the film and everything was fine (the real issue appeared to be Stu's improper loading of the film). We had lunch on the boat, but then it was my turn for a meltdown because there were all these bees everywhere and they scared me. I drank some Lao Beer, which was pretty good and did my best to avoid the bees.

There was a little bookshelf at one end of the boat, and I actually read an interesting pamphlet from the UN about the war crimes trials for the former Khmer Rouge leaders. During the era of the regime, Pol Pot and his leaders murdered over three million Cambodians. Only now, 30 years later, are the surviving leaders being brought to justice. The whole process is very much controlled by the UN.

We boarded the smaller boat and headed back to town after lunch. Our guide drove us back to our hotel, just in time for the afternoon rain storm. I spent part of the afternoon packing and gathering all of my stuff together . We were leaving rather early in the morning so I wanted to make sure I had everything in order.

We were pretty pooped so we had an early dinner before turning in.