Deliciously Me

Satisfied with our morning breakfast, we moved to our first destination – the lake of Tonle Sap. It was a jolly 20-30 minutes ride. But at that moment, I seriously didn’t have a clue on where we were heading to despite knowing the whole trip itinerary way before going Cambodia. Probably brain was still sleeping. Haha.

Our tour guide, Siya (or Ya) is a friendly person. He broke the ice by introducing himself and brief us his country, the history and the culture. He’s a soft spoken guy, so accompanied with the noise coming from the van’s engine, those sitting at the back of the van couldn’t hear anything at all. Probably should install a mic in the van then everyone can hear loud and clear.

We passed by this kampung area where we could see a bright arch on top of a hill from afar. As we moved closer, I could see the stairs leading up to the temple on top. I noticed that there is a small gazebo at the middle of the hill. Before asking out what’s that, Ya explained that is a temple where the villagers especially the fishermen go there to pray for safety and well-being as well as big catches from the river.

As he explained that, our van suddenly pulled a stop at a toll like area. Ya got off the van and our eyes curiously followed him. We wondered what was happening as there are people with guns. It was after Ya came back we know that he had to declare him and us to the officers there before granted permissions to get in the area.

Mr. van driver then drove along the river bank and I could see many houses on stilts. And floating houses too.

We saw make shift tents on the land, and Ya told us that someone is getting married later that day. And I begin to wonder is January 2009 the month where the people felt like getting married? Cause we witnessed 2 there! Haha.

Our driver stopped at the ‘parking lots’ near the ports. We got off the van and Ya led us to down the river bank where we could see whole rows of  long boats parked there!

Walking to the boats is not an easy task. We were taunted with souvenir sellers and stalked by a girl holding a slr! Unsure why she took pictures of us, I just shielded my face and looked at other place when she pointed the camera at my direction. As van parked at higher ground, we had to walk down the stone-y slope, before climbing up to the boat.

Our boat is beautifully decorated!!! There are 10 wooden chairs with seat cushions for us to sit and red cloth hanging on the side of the boat.

As I took my seat, I was afraid that I would fall into the river and got eaten by the catfish, so I hold on to the beam that secured the roof to the boat tightly when the boat started moving.

Luckily, the ride is steady enough that I learned to take my hand off the beam and started shooting.

Our boat came to a fork and we took the one on the left. There’s nothing much to shoot except for bushes, trees and boats that passed us by. It was windy as our boat was moving at maximum speed (I guess) and caused the waves threatening to wash our pants and shoes when the faster boat passed by us.

At the end of the route, we came to an open sea!

It was then dawn to us that it isn’t a sea that we’re looking at. But the lake of TONLE SAP – largest lake in South East Asia.

The boat took a left turn and we soon reached and stopped at this blue floating house. There were few boats parked in front of this house, so I guess this place is sort of pit-stop for this cruise.

We had to get off our boat, and it was kinda scary when we got off the boat one by one. Luckily there is people at the platform to assist me out of the boat. If ask me got off by myself, I’m pretty sure I’ll remain on the boat. Haha!

After all of us got off the boat, Ya led us to the catfish farm and the crocodile farm which is situated at the side of the blue house.

Seeing the crocodiles bersantai-ing down there, Aaron decided to throw in his Crocs to unite with the ones down there. Haha!

We then decided to walk into the blue house, to see what else to see. There’s a man, with a covered pail beside him. As we walked nearer, he then opened up the cover to reveal the ‘treasure’. It is a python. I IMMEDIATELY WALKED AWAY FROM THAT PAIL AS I’M OPHIDIOPHOBIA!!!

The man took out the python and offered to put around our neck. William offered his.

Slowly one by one offering theirs.

Except for me and B. Haha!

The snake was pretty aggressive when by the time it got to May’s neck. And it started hissing when it landed on Emily’s neck. Emily posed gracefully for the camera, and immediately yelled for help after that.

The man took back the snake and put it in the plastic pail before telling us, “1 dollah”.

We felt like being robbed at that time. Shockingly, we gave him a dollar bill – wondering is this part of the gimmick to earn few bucks easily by putting snake around visitors’ necks. -.-!!!

Connected to the blue boathouse, is another boathouse displaying fishes in aquariums. Nothing much to see as the catfishes are still in form of baby, not the gigantic ones. So, I walked over to the window and I saw 2 kiddos waving and paddling towards me. Seeing their cute expression, I took few pictures of them.

And then both of them started crying “miss… one dollah…”

I remembered what Wenyan told me bout the kids in Cambodia who begs for money. It was kinda turn-off for me, as those children supposed to attend school rather than begging for money. So, I walked away. The rest heard the cries, and walked to where I stood earlier and started talking pictures of them, as they posed for them again before crying the same thing. However some of them heard the kids saying, “sweet… sweet…” instead of one dollar.

I was taking picture of the surrounding when I suddenly heard the kids crying for their mum. Instantly, all of them walked away from the window. We hopped back to the blue boathouse and went up to the dock area. The view from the dock is magnificent!

It was windy yet sunny. We could barely open up our eyes. Yet we decided that’s the place to take awesome group photo. Haha!

After group shots, we went back to our boat and left the blue boathouse.

We saw a boathouse decorated with Korean flags. I guess quite a lot of Koreans visit Cambodia yearly, thus the existance of the boathouse. Or probably a Korean migrated there and opened up a boathouse for the Korean to visit them? If so, will a Malaysian move over there to built a boathouse decorated with Malaysian flags for Malaysians to visit? Don’t think so hor? Hahaha!

While passing the Korean boathouse, we saw a boat quickly paddled to a bigger boat with arm stretch out.

Then I realised the lady from the big boat was giving something to the local. I wonder what’s that.

Few minutes later, we heard kids’ voices and laughters. We searched for the source of the noise. It’s a floating school. Kids as young as 5 were seen paddling to and away from the school. Seeing that was really an eye-opener as I never seen a floating school with my own eyes before.

As we moved away from the school, I realised that it was a Vietnamese School! It made me feel that Vietnam is just a river away – which is true but wrong to use for the location I was at. Tonle Sap Lake is in the heart of Cambodia, so Vietnam is not near – unless you follow the lake and river heading South, you’ll reach the border of Vietnam in probably like a day or two.

15 minutes later, we found ourselves surrounded by swampy area on both sides of the river. Then we saw 2-3 boats parked at the bank on the left. They carried something from their boat to the land. Ya told us that someone had passed away, and their body will be burried there after prayers. I got goosebumps upon hearing that@.@

Then a fast speed boat passing us. Aaron who sat in front of me, was taking picture of the boat. This Korean lady in pink felt it’s nice to pose, therefore flashed a big sunshine smile with a peace sign to him. Little did she knows that everyone in our boat was armed with DSLR, quickly aimed our lens at her upon seeing her pose.

I guess she was shocked and paiseh that she couldn’t stop laughing and turned her head away. So, imho, Aaron is the one who has a nice purrfect picture of the lady! *claps*

Our boat reached the bank soon and we started walking up to our van. Then the girl with the slr started walking towards us with plates in her hands.

I saw my face and but I walked by as the picture on the plate didn’t show that it’s me. I wore cap and was looking at other direction, so it may look like me, but it’s not me. Bleks. The plate isn’t cheap though. But I didn’t bother remembering the price. Haha! The girls followed us to our van, but we just walked to our van without stopping and they still stood there when we closed the van door. It was only after our van moved away, the  ladies cabut.

It was a fun and eye-opener cruise with lots lessons learnt! I learnt to appreciate my life more and be total, TOTALLY grateful for what I had. So, to those ungrateful brats out there, get your pigu to Cambodia and you’ll stop whining and start to be thankful for everything you have right now.

coming next : an artistic place with full of talented people.