September 2010

The girl in celestial serpent

is one of the most vivid memories of our stay in Cambodia: the tiny girl about 5 years (the age of Emilia), dressed in rags, floating in a basin to the surface of a lake to turbid waters, with a snake around his neck. In a boat a little farther, mother, two younger children, ensures that the girl puts on a show for tourists and asked for money to have their picture taken ... Sad ... We were visiting a floating village on Tonle Sap, the largest lake in central Cambodia. As we stayed relatively long in this country, so we are not thinking outside the box. We went to Phnom Penh, the capital and in Siem Reap, near Angkor temples , one of the most visited places in Asia. These are the richest cities of Cambodia, and we've seen more luxury cars than anywhere else in Asia. But we knew that apart from these places, the majority of the population lives in extreme poverty. I do not want to leave the country without seeing a little of that "true life, "even if I could throw a quick glance, to try to better understand Cambodia.

My girls saw poor children begging during this trip. We talked often. But they did not understand what this girl was doing there. "Why is it a snake?" It's to play it floats in there? "They asked me. No choice but to explain the sad reality.

With Emily and Marianne, I took a guide in Siem Reap to visit a floating village. As soon as you leave the city limits, you enter another world. The concrete buildings are replaced with flimsy thatched homes of boards or woven bamboo. On stilts, since the rainy season, the whole plain is covered with water and residents must travel by boat.

Before going further I should explain a phenomenon unique to product on the Tonle Sap

this name refers to both a river and a lake, the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia. The river connects the lake to the Mekong, the great river that crosses the country from north to south. In the dry season, the Tonle Sap River flows into the Mekong. But during the monsoon season when the Mekong is in flood, the river reverses its course and fills the lake. The area of the lake, which is about 2700 square km in the dry season (nearly three times the Lac Saint-Jean!) Can then reach 16 000 sq km to a depth of about nine meters.

In the villages of the region, houses

enthroned on piles several feet high in the dry season

then continue over the water in the rainy season. Other houses are floating, and the owners move in the season and needs.

The reverse current of the Tonle Sap acts as a valve s

Ureta restricting the risk of flooding downstream. When the lake overflowed into the forests and fields, he also created an ideal environment for fish reproduction, which makes the Tonle Sap one of the areas of freshwater fishing's most productive in the world.

By withdrawing, leaving the waters of nutrient rich sediment deposits da

ns region, making it a land suitable for agriculture for the rest of the year.

Source: http://keralaarticles.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/tonle-sap-lake-combodia-map. png So on this stretch of water that singular behavior we sailed. To reach the lake by boat, it must pass through a narrow muddy channel. We were at the end of the dry season, time of year when the water level is at its lowest. Traffic in the channel was disrupted by many boats stranded in shallow waters. We crossed a busy excavator to dig the channel, but apparently it was not sufficient to the task. The floating village is located about two kilometers from shore. The houses are arranged disorderly, and anchored to the bottom with long bamboo sticks. In the dry season, houses are grouped in village because residents can easily catch fish anywhere; as lake area is reduced, the fish population is denser and there is only put his line into the water to catch. In the rainy season, as the fish have more room to disperse into the lake, residents move their house to find the best spot to fish. floating gardens, installed on trellises, some adjacent cabins. There is a floating school, grocery stores, shops. Children play in boats or on their balcony, but it does not much room in which to run (as I had already noticed when visiting a village on stilts in Burma). And then, almost a crocodile farm visited by tourists, this little girl with the snake, whose sad eyes ... we continue long