Tuesday, Oct 11 - Kampong - Chnang, Koh Chen

One of our first sights today was a ferry making it's way up the river. There was a car on it but mostly it seemed to be just people heading wherever they were going.

Our first shore excursion of the cruise was a boat ride out to Kampong-Chhnang, another floating village, population of about 5,000.  

The village included a Christian Church, a Buddhist Temple, a number of stores and gas stations (for the boats)...

and “entertainment” pavilions.  

All floating of course, as the building are built on top of rafts.  The first boat in a row ties up to the shore, then the other boats tie up to it and each other.  There were “store boats” that made the rounds through the village bringing breakfast, groceries and other goods. 

 There were plenty of children waving to us as we went by.

We also saw one of the houses being towed to a new location.  Houses are built on rafts and they will be moved by towing many times a year to follow the river level

It started to rain just as we were returning to the cruise boat.  Didn’t get too wet.  Shortly after returning to the ship it pulled up anchor and headed out on the river again. 

To fill the time we listened to a detailed explanation of the geography of Cambodia.  One of the most interesting aspects of the country is the Tonle Sap River and Lake system.  This waterway has the unique distinction of changing direction of flow twice a year.  During the monsoon seasons the Mekong River, into which the Tonle Sap River flows, becomes so high that the water is forced back up the Tonle Sap, making it flow backwards.  During the dry season the Mekong loses a lot of its volume and drops lower than the lake and the Tonle Sap returns to its normal flow into the Mekong.

The other interesting facts about the lake are its size.  During the dry season the lake is about 1,000 square miles and averages about 6 feet deep.  During the height of the monsoon season the size increases five or six times to about 6,000 square miles and averages 45 feet deep.  Consequently almost all of the buildings in the area are on very tall stilts. The other reasons for this are to help cool the houses by allowing air to circulate underneath the house, a cool place to sit or lounge in a hammock, and a place to store things.  

And as we cruised the river it seemed like it had no banks…the waters just went on and on.

After the geography lesson we received a very humorous lesson on all the various uses to which the Cambodians put their scarves.  The scarves come in 3 sizes and the medium and large ones are used for head covers and as various clothing types. 

Late this afternoon we docked at Koh Chen (Chinese Island) took a walk through the village...

visited a temple...

and the local school.  

The children sang some songs (the Cambodian version of Old MacDonald and If you’re Happy Clap Your Hands.  Then we were strong armed into singing for them…after we all drew a blank we settled on Row Row Row Your Boat.  Then we conversed with some of the children to help them practice English.

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Watch the children sing
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The village is known for crafting items in copper and silver, the only village in Cambodia that makes these items.  So we stopped for a demonstration at a local silver smith.  Besides the silver showroom we were also greeted by many vendors in the street trying to sell up their silver items. 

After dinner there was a showing of the biography of Pol Pot, the despot who was largely responsible for the mass killings of Cambodians during the 1980’s.