We had one last excursion before moving on to our final destination-Bangkok, Thailand. Our guide, Joe Top,  took us for a boat ride on the largest lake in SE Asia, Tonle Sap. It is the home of many Vietnam fisherman who settled in this area after the war in Vietnam. They have also created a waterside village from which they live their lives. We boarded a small boat with an ingenious steering system consisting of a very old auto steering wheel and a series of ropes, pulleys and old auto clutches to operate an archaic engine to “drive” the boat-a perfect example of human ingenuity. It seems to work!

A young boy about 10 joined his father and soon went around giving us all shoulder and back rubs using his fists, fingers and palms to slap, massage and knead for about 3-4 minutes each. Obviously we each had to give him a dollar for his efforts- a true entrepreneur in the making!

The fishing village appeared much poorer and less developed than the ones we saw at Inle Lake in Myanmar. This lake also rises 10-20 feet during the rainy season so the homes must be versatile enough to deal with that. Some were actually floating homes, resting on barrels. Others were on stilts to deal with the varying water levels. Our guide said some homes are stored in the woods until the lake rises, then are somehow dragged to the shoreline. There are 170 villages on the shores of this lake, where 80,000 people live. Unfortunately life is hard. The average life expectancy is 54, 12 percent of children die before the age of 5, 50 percent are malnourished, and the literacy rate is 46% (17% below the national average).

Once on the lake we were taken to a large floating structure where they were raising crocodiles for the skin and food. As we walked around we were first greeted by our guide, Joe,  holding a fairly large (6 foot) python for us to see. Needless to say we never got to close even though Joe assured us they were tame. Yeah! Then things got really dicey as a small, local naked boy about 2-3 years old began running around with a small python draped around his neck, eager to show his “pet” to the visitors. Luckily he seemed to focus his attention on some Chinese visitors who ran screaming and giggling trying to avoid him. We chose to watch from a distance. He eventually returned to the small boat where he joined his mother and older sister who also had a large python near her. I took some pictures, in return giving her a dollar for her willingness to allow me to do that without holding the snake! Another entrepreneur in the making. We all breathed a sigh of relief as she rowed away, obviously looking for another boat of tourists. We then focused on why we came – to see the crocodiles. I was amazed at their size. I expected them to be 2-3 feet long. These were more like 10 feet and there were about 20 of them in a penned-in area near the water. It takes about 5 years for them to reach maturity and be “harvested” for other uses.

Moving on we returned to the shore and spent about 10 minutes walking through the dirt street of the village to see how the people lived. It was depressing. The “homes” are mostly one room huts made of corrugated metal or wood. People sleep in hammocks surrounded by mosquito netting as mosquitoes are very prevalent here.  Some choose to sleep on the floor. There is no furniture that I could see. There was no evidence of bathroom facilities, the back of the home sufficed and sadly garbage and litter was simply thrown out the door. This was by far the poorest example of living we had seen since being here. Joe said the government is trying to get the people to practice better living standards but to no avail so far. Surprisingly the children do go to school so maybe there is hope for the future. Their lives revolve around working the nearby rice fields or fishing in the lake.

Before lunch we visited a local “trade school” where children are trained to become proficient in making local art and crafts , thus giving them a livelihood. There are classes in wood carving, sandstone carving, painting, jewelry making and lacquer.  Their products are sold in local stores. It seems to be a very successful program and we saw some talented works being produced.

Before boarding our plane we had another excellent lunch at the Asian Square in downtown Siem Reap. Although it was still Cambodian food we all agreed it had a different flavor. We all thought perhaps the earlier French occupancy brought a slightly different twist to their cooking.

Our flight left on time and we arrived in the “big” city of Bangkok. The airport is huge and we had a little difficulty finding our guide, but we ultimately did. It turned out the lady who met us was not our guide, she was simply there to take us to our hotel for the night. Our local tour guide would meet us the next morning to begin our tour of Bangkok. As it was about 8 PM the weather was not too bad but our guide told us it was supposed to be quite hot (over 90 degrees) the next day-great! None of us like hot weather. She told us that Bangkok has two seasons – hot and hotter!

Our small (80 rooms) “boutique” hotel (U Sukhumvit Bangkok) was located on a side street near the main drag of Bangkok. Gerry said it reminded him of a smaller version of a W hotel-modern and funky. I later learned it was only 4 years old. All we cared was that it had a well-functioning air conditioner, which it did!