Fishing village on stilts (note TV antenna)
Our first full day of touring began with a boat trip on Tonle Sap Lake. Here were several fishing villages built over the water, totally about 10,000 people. Even out here in what were often shacks built on stilts over the water, people had TVs powered by car batteries, and the entire area had cell phone coverage. We also met up with the Vietnamese boat people who move their boat village up and down the lake. Here we experienced closely the flooding we had seen from the air yesterday. One lone road extends out into the flooded lake, while trees and bushes pop out of the water.
In the afternoon, we visited the National Angkor Museum which explained the ancient Khmer culture. We learned about many of the Hindu gods and saw carving of the these gods. Angkor Wat was built celebrating many of the Hindu stories around the creation of the world and the start of the Khmer kingdom. Later the king and most of the kingdom became Buddhist and Angkor Wat became a Buddhist temple.
Our guide, Chantha, also told us his personal story. He was separated from his family during the Genocide years 1976-1979 of the Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot. His brother, 2 sisters and father were all killed. As a 7 year old he learned how to pick rice and lived in various boys camps. During these years, any child over 5 years old was separated from their parents and they went from camp to camp, moving about every 6 months. Later, Chantha joined the army where he did get both military training and an education. He eventually found his mother and an uncle still living and went on to become a hotel manager, and then in 1992, one of the first Cambodian tour guides.
We also visited the war museum, which was little more than a field filled with rusty tanks, mortars, and guns. This was also a day of Cambodian meals from a treat of sticky rice, beans and coconut barbecued in bamboo to a main meal with banana flower salad and fish and chicken main dishes
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