Tuesday, November 19 Siem Reap

Tuesday, November 19 Siem Reap

We headed about 15 km out of town along the Siem Reap River.  During the wet season (ended last month), the road we traveled regularly floods, so the houses were built on stilts and there were areas where the road had been damaged.  Along the way, we noticed many small stores selling gasoline in repurposed liquor, soda and water bottles.  Before long, most of the land on either side of the road was covered with water and small boats were moored under houses.  This is a rice-growing area, but not at this time of year.  The houses were something to behold: up on stilts, with altars or shrines at their entrances, they were constructed of corrugated tin, bamboo, wood, singly, or in combination.  For the most part, straight walls and right angles weren't in evidence, but several times we'd see a pretty slap-dash affair that was somehow outfitted with a gorgeously varnished and carved set of double doors or shutters. 

Our destination was Tonle Sap ("Fresh-Water Lake"), the largest lake in Southeast Asia.  During the wet season, its surface area is three times its size at the end of the dry season.    We boarded a boat for a ride out to a floating village set amid a mangrove forest currently under water.  This particular village is populated by over 1100 Vietnamese families, who make their living fishing, rowing alongside tourists' boats to ask for money, and running restaurants that cater to tourists.  We visited a floating market that also contained watery pens for catfish farming and crocodile raising.  In addition to the  community school, there was a Catholic school extending over three adjacent boats and with uniformed students and an array of solar panels on its roof.

Back on land, we returned to Siem Reap and visited the workshops of a school dedicated to training young people in the traditional Khmer arts of wood and stone carving, lacquer painting, silk painting and silver plating.  The work was beautiful and it was so special to see the artisans creating it before our eyes.

After lunch, we had the afternoon free to wander around town.  We visited the Old Market to pick up a few more bargains and check out some unusual offerings in the food stalls.  

We stopped at a Buddhist monastery complex begun over 500 years ago near the market.  The gardens, monuments, stupas, and the temple were quite lovely and our visit there was a fine prelude to an early return to the hotel to cool off with cold ones and a swim.

We had dinner tonight in a private bamboo pavilion in a lovely restaurant garden.  Despite, or perhaps because of, the fact that the servers delivered a can of Off and placed a mosquito-repelling device under the table, we were not bothered at all.  Dinner was as outstanding as the setting.