Tonle Sap

I have been fascinated by this lake since I first visited Cambodia five years ago. It was October, the end of the wet season and then the lake was at it's biggest and deepest. This visit sees it in the dry season when it's area has reduced from approx 16,000 sq km to between and 3,000 sq km.  So now it's about a fifth of the size it was a few months ago. The depth has dropped by 7 metres. The real phenomenon of this stretch of water which provides fish and irrigation to half the population of Cambodia is that it reverses it's flow twice a year.

So my photographs taken in October 2009 show rows and rows of houses, apparently "floating". No sign of roads or dry land just water as far as the eye could see.  Water lapping at the doors and entrances of homes and temples.  Everyone using boats of all shapes, sizes and descriptions to get about. Children were swimming between houses and to school.  As we travelled by boat there were clumps of greenery/foliage floating in the water. These turned out to be the tree tops of the almost completely submerged trees.  Cattle were housed in what looked like floating cages. These pens were built on the tops of small hills and used to house animals.

I do not have access to the pics from 5 years ago right now but my plan is to use some of them in the photo book I plan to make of this trip.

The main access road today the dry season

Piglets in a stall which was on stilts

Women preparing fish for smoking 

All skewered ready for drying 

The smoked fish....the finished product

Preparing to make fish cheese

The chopped fish is left to ferment in these giant terracotta containers

All hands on deck

Lotus fllower seed pods...we visited a workshop where women spun and wove the fibres of the stalks into fabric...but that's for another post 

A woman washing fish...we couldn't find out why!

These amazing gigs are used to transport goods about.

Cambodian pleasantries

Rice grass for sale as animal feed

Arriving at the jetty to take a boat. This is the scene I captured on my last visit when all of these stilts were completely submerged.

Ice delivery.  I've seen men cutting the ice with electric saws wearing their flip flops with not capped shoe nor any other protection in sight.

We then boarded our boat for a trip through the village and on out to the lake proper.  That's the subject of my next post.  Need to sleep now.