Floating Village

For our last day of vacation we traveled to the countryside to visit a floating village.

We traveled to the floating village of Chong Khneas.

There are many floating villages on the Great lake of Tonle Sap. The Tonlé Sap is a combined lake and river system of huge importance to Cambodia. It is the largest freshwater lake in South East Asia. Chong Khneas is the Floating village that most visitors see. There are well over 5000 people living in over 1300 houseboats. While Tourism is bringing in extra income; fishing is the lifeblood of the lake communities. The Fishing industry is one of the most important in Cambodia. Over 2 million people live on or around the lake. It is big business as fishing earns millions of dollars.

For more pictures, see:

http://www.peaceofangkorweb.com/TonleSap.htm

Most of the locals live on house boats and most services- including police, health, school, religion, retail (see below) and Karaoke- are all provided on the water.

Local "traveling salesman."


Although finishing is the main occupation, crocodile farms appear to do well.



On our way back from the village, we stopped at the Cambodian Land Mine Museum.

Three decades of war in Cambodia have left scars in many forms throughout the country.
Unfortunately, one of the most lasting legacies of the conflicts continues to claim new victims daily. Land mines, laid by the Khmer Rouge, the Heng Samrin and Hun Sen regimes, the Vietnamese, the KPNLF, and the Sihanoukists litter the countryside. In most cases, even the soldiers who planted the mines did not record where they were placed. Now, Cambodia has the one of the highest rates of physical disability of any country in the world. While census data for Cambodia is sketchy, it is generally accepted that more than 40,000 Cambodians have suffered amputations as a result of mine injuries since 1979. That represents an average of nearly forty victims a week for a period of twenty years. The Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) estimates that there may be as many as four to six million mines and unexploded ordinances in Cambodia.

History of Land Mine museum:

http://www.cambodialandminemuseum.org/history.html

Many of the different land mines recovered by Aki Ra, Former Khmer Rouge Soldier, who founded the museum and now works as a de-miner.


Also see:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week647/cover.html