After two days in Phnom Penh, we began making our way to Siem Reap to explore its famous ancient ruins. Though it’d take us only less than an hour to get there by plane, my friend V suggested that we take the speedboat down Tonle Sap to get a glimpse of Cambodian river life. For only $USD20, the idea sounded to us like a good deal. I’d forgotten how much I dislike riding on waters for long hours. The thought of how refreshing the air in the countryside must be early in the morning made me go, “Why not?”
We woke up at dawn to make our way to the port at Sisowath Quay. None of us were morning people so we spent the entire ride to the wharfs all heavy-eyed. We reached the place just in time to catch the morning light. Phnom Penh may not have a panaromic high-rise view like we do at home but the views were nonetheless amazing. We sat on the dock, taking in the beautiful sunrise and the glistening light that reflects off the water’s surface. The sparse landscape of Phnom Penh was just as hypnotizing in all that light.
Behind us, clusters of other tourists began boarding and arranging their backpacks on the boat’s roof. The boat began making its way down the lake by 7 ’o clock sharp. We made our way inside and found that the boat was surprisingly vacant. We took our seats and watched our boat passing by the fringes of Phnom Penh through the orange-tinted glass windows (seeing the world that way was like experiencing an old 8mm footage). We bid goodbye to the city and witnessed how the changes from bricked, modern buildings to abodes on stilts to nothing but mountains enveloping the entire backdrop.
After an hour of doing so, our thoughts turned back to those tourists we saw earlier. Wherever could they be? Could we have imagined them all along? Our curiosity got us out of the boat and we found them were sitting right on top of the boat’s roof. They were watching the countryside go by in living color, no less! We’d certainly missed the whole action all along. Feeling silly, we made our way through the crowd and tucked ourselves in between the rest at the frontal bow to catch up.
The boat slowly passed by the lowland forests filled with mangrove trees that covered the shoreline for miles on end. Bit by bit, we began to see life at the waters. More wooden houses sat on stilts at the banks and fascinatingly, we caught a glimpse of one or two dwellings that floated near the middle of the lake. The fishermen were already out on their boats with their nets ready for the day’s catch. Some of the boats carried freshwater goods to sell right there on the lake itself. It seemed like a mini wet market of sorts.
Naked children laughed as they splash into the waters for a cool, morning swim. They waved in all excitement as they saw our boat passing by. We smiled and waved back at them. Once in a while, we’d see a Buddhist temple nestled in between the trees with the looming mountains behind. Many of these water villages of Cambodia still hold on strongly to their centuries-old traditions. They successfully preserved their cultures throughout many generations, sheltering themselves against the modern world. Much like the essence of Buddhist philosophy, life here is stripped down to the basics.
Tonle Sap is known as the Great Lake, after all, for a good reason. Its open water is as vast as the salty ocean and it was incredible to witness such an enormous volume of water sustaining life in this region. All those hours of enjoying the wonderfully crisp breeze against our cheeks was worth it. It was great to switch off from our usual lives and let nature overtake us. There could be no better way to look up to a path of sky with clouds, drift off into peaceful daydreams and just exist in the moment.
