Ton le Sap.

First, housekeeping:

Before I continue with Tonle Sap Lake, let me address the rather worrying, yet somewhat mirthful problems that some of the people who stumbled upon Leen Nation.

Problem 1. “Cara berpakaian wanita gemuk” – Seriously, how did you get online if you don’t even know how to pakai baju? It’s the same for everyone darling, gemuk mahupun kurus.

Problem 2: “Wanita Kuat Sex” – I’m sure there are tons out there but this aint the place to scrounge for them, yo.

Problem 3: “Ciri-ciri lelaki jujur” – There is none.

Now, thanks for dropping by, I hope you will come by more often.

Onwards.

TonLe Sap means Large Fresh Water River or Great Lake. It is indeed a great in size - it is the largest freshwater lake in our region. It ranges from 2,700 to 16,000 square km depending on the season and is a support system to at least 3 million people of Cambodia and source of 75% of Cambodia’s fish. It is also home to many Vietnamese and Cham people having their home in boats in various floating villages on the lake. We went to the nearest one from Siem Reap – about 30 minutes of Paul’s driving to the jetty, Chong Khneas.

I was actually contemplating to do Kampung Phluk instead of Chong Khneas. The good people of Lonely Planet and some other traveller website stipulated that Kampung Phluk is a much better destination, seeing that it does not really cater to the tourists – more “natural” if you can call it that. However Kampung Phluk is slightly pricier than this one (by only a small margin, as we found out much, much later) and further than Siem Reap so we thought we’d give that a miss.

Paul’s driving is rather peculiar – if you can call it that. He honks at any other vehicle blocking his way (carriages, tuk-tuks, other taxis, aeroplanes). It was rather fortunate that the roads were not big enough for you to do a Speedy Gonzales so we still have our larger intestines and bowels intact. Some of us might have lost a few kidney stones though.

What I noticed during the half hour or so driving from our guest house to the Tonle Sap was there obvious disparity between the well to do and the core poor people of Cambodia. It is funny – not in the ha-ha way, that a huge bungalow and a shack made out of leaves (roof and walls) that actual people live in are only separated by a very narrow road. It’s like a grimmer dimension of Hartamas/Segambut; KLCC/Kampung Bahru; KLCC/the setinggan garden that was deciphered in that movie starring Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones teehehe.

But yeah.

When we got there we were welcomed by kids and youths alike. They crowded the taxi and started to shove a camera and other cheap souvenirs to our faces. One actually ran to capture my photo. Woo. I felt like a million dollars and/or a superstar (Supasta!! – OK who remembered that movie? Hehehe).

We got onto a boat and we were brought to a nice leisurely journey of about two hours thereabouts. It’s really amazing to see a complete ecosystem (eh, is this the right word? Memandai je aku nih. Hiks) going on that lake. We saw a school (with a basketball court no less!), hospital, churches all floating serenely on the lake. I even saw an electrical item repair shop boat thing. We have boats that can barely fit two adults, yet we saw kids playing at the edge of the boat. I cannot begin to even imagine having to sleep, rest, cook, eat, shat in a tiny space as that. I wonder where they sleep/eat/cook/shat? I wonder how the parents would consummate their relationship if their babies/children sleep just next to the parents? What if the mom is the noisy type? What if the child is a light sleeper? If someone has diarrhoea, would it be tough for the family, especially during meal/cooking times?

We were told that the lake is populated by mainly two camps - the Vietnamese and the Chams of Cambodia (my memory is hazy on this subject, please correct me if I am wrong). From our conversations with Paul, he wasn't too pleased about having to share his lake and his resources with the Vietnamese, especially since that some parts of the lake are being monopolised by them in terms of space/living area, school, business etc. He said there would be two types of schools on the lake - one that caters for the Cambodian kids and the other for the Vietnamese.

I am truly blessed to be born and bred and (too well) fed here yo *thumps chest and sings some patriotic song*.

Paul again decided to do a dirty on us and take us to a “floating restaurant” which also camouflages as a souvenir shop. We browsed and looked around but nothing catches our fancy. After all, we had barely reached Siem Reap some hours back – we would want to sort out our finances first; you know, allocation of guesthouse moneys, meals, souvenirs, moneyboys…that sorta thing.

Yes, we’re cheapskates. We have yet to be able to find a rich Sugar Mummy for El Sunshine’s brother therefore all financial matters must be dealt delicately now.

(Note to self: To quickly find El Sunshine’s brother a rich SM before our next trip to anywhere).

While at the floating restaurant, a few boat people came over to our side; wanting to peddle some wares of sorts. One or two were selling bananas, using their toddlers as candy to tug our charitable hearts. As an incentive/additional selling point, they wrapped a water snake around the toddler’s neck.

Terus cancel mau beli itu pisang occay.

Like a snake, WTF ??

*Curls into fetal position and cry*

I ignored their pitiful faces (Pure Girl thought it was orchestrated but it was sad nonetheless) and their woeful cries of “Won dollaaaaaa, pleaaaaseeee, won dolllaaaaaaaaaa”.

One dollar or not, I am not going anywhere near the blasted snakes. *Curls toes and fight huge urge to bath self in Clorox*

Geliiiiiii.

We spied a crocodile “farm” at the side of the floating resto. Hardly a farm, just some encasement of lazy crocodiles (or alligators?) resting on top of each other. Methinks there would be enough for I don’t know, 20 tote bags?
OK OK bad joke.

Oh, did I tell you? Our room in Angkor Village also overlooks a crocodile “farm”? Yeah, cool innit? I mean, I could have a disagreement with either Pure Girl, El Sunshine and the Brother and I can just nonchalantly toss them out without a care.

Not that I would, of course.

But it’s an option, heh heh.

PS: Was googling about Tonle Sap and found out that a bunch of Singaporean dragon boat racers perished in Tonle Sap about two weeks thereabouts after we went there. Scary that. Condolences to their family and loved ones.

Additional Photos:

Boat People. School. Church. In that order.


Tried to post some other photos up but the stewpit connection is playing hide and seek with me. Grr. Givap gua.

Next: What we actually came for, Angkor Wat.