I wanted to see Tonle Sap because it's one of the Things That May Interest Only Me. In the western world we think of the monsoon season in Southeast Asia as being roughly akin to hurricane season in the states. But it's not. We can go years without seeing a major hurricane. During the monsoon it rains every day.
To fully understand how much rain falls, look at Tonle Sap. The lake is connected to the Mekong by a short waterway called the Tonle Sap River. I'm sitting in an internet cafe on the riverfront in Phnom Penh and can actually see where the rivers join.
During the rainy season it rains so much that Tonle Sap becomes five times bigger. The reason for the massive increase in surface area is not what you might expect. The Mekong receives so much water that it forces the Tonle Sap River to change direction and flow back into the lake.
From the boat it just looks like a lake, of course. But what was interesting was navigating the narrow twists and turns of the Sanker, and seeing how the local people live in a way that you don't see in a tourist area like Siem Reap.
We went through a narrow channel with vegetatin so thick that at times we had to lean into the boat to keep from getting whacked by passing branches.
We passed through a series of floating villages. People build houses that float on the river. When the river rises, the houses don't flood. Buildings on the riverbank are built on stilts.
The river is low now, which slows down the boats. During the wet season the trip takes about five hours. It took us nine. At times we had to slow to almost a standstill to navigate the narrow channels.
But these were major metropolises compared to what we saw for the next several hours before we reached Battambang. We traveled for miles and miles through areas where people lived on the river bank in thatch huts, or sometimes just slept on the ground under tarps. These were probably the poorest communities I've ever seen with my own eyes.
And yet we were always greeted by throngs of children. During the day we saw them working on boats. This little girl got caught by surprise.
Late in the afternoon they were all in the river playing. They would wave and yell and splash. I am in perpetual amazement at the resiliency and strength of children. I've met so many kids who are literally dirt poor. No shoes, no toys, no electricity, etc. And yet kids everywhere love to laugh and play and wave at tourists. It's truly one of the joys of traveling.
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