Khmer adventures

We're at the end of our first full day in Cambodia, and I'm still in shock at how different everything is. It was only 4 years ago that I was here, but I feel like I'm in a different country. The airport is brand new, and the old airport is now only used for domestic flights. The roads are all paved from the airport to Siem Reap (NOT the case 4 years ago), and the city itself has grown 40% (yes, 40%!) since 2004. New hotels, tons of people; it's insane. I was looking forward to the drive from the airport down the red, dusty roads full of motorcycles. But instead it was a lot of big cars (the many motorcycles, tuk tuks and bicycles are still thankfully in use) on a new paved road.

However, we've had some amazing adventures today and did get out of the city altogether. In the morning we went to two of the oldest Angkor Wat temples east of the city. Then we drove to a village where the road is no longer paved, let alone driveable. So we hopped on the back of motorcycles for the most fun ride I've ever had. My driver was probably 16 or 17, and pencil-thin. I felt like an Amazon, holding on to his tiny waist as we bumped and wove our way down this very long, washed-out, dirt road. We passed through villages with houses on stilts - they create a shady area under the house for a place to eat or just relax. It was like being in another era completely - no electricity (they do have generators), no running water, and no cars. We rode and rode and rode, and then the village gave way to rice fields. Big, beautiful rice fields with vibrant shades of green. The rice was planted about a month ago, and will grow to 3 or 4 months before it gets harvested. The new growth is really such a lovely shade of green.

At the end of the long dirt road was a canal with a boat waiting for us. We slowly motored down the the winding canal, and then through the most amazing place I've ever seen. A fishing village with stilt houses waaaay above the ground - the stilts probably 30 meters high. The canal feeds into the lake (Tonle Sap) which rises several meters every year when the Mekong River surges. So the houses sit way up high to withstand the change in water level. The water level is at its lowest in February, so these houses just tower above the ground. These people have lived like this for centuries. My travel companion snapped away, taking photos of children, mothers, men with fishing nets. It was almost unreal - like a movie set. We finally reached the lake and it took about an hour to cross, before reaching a floating village on the north shore where houses on pontoons rise and fall with the level of the lake. The largest fresh water lake in SE Asia, Tonle Sap accounts for 40% of Cambodia's employment, fishing being their #1 industry.

Now, this is the real deal; the real Cambodia. Rural, lovely, friendly, and beautiful.