Prek Toal Floating Village and Bird Sanctuary

Another really interesting weekend.  On Saturday I went to the Khmer Ceramic Centre and had a go at turning a small pot on a foot-driven wheel!  Really hard work, so then I made a little elephant!

Foot driven wheel

Should have thought to cut my nails first!

Then I cycled back to town and visited the Angkor Museum - which was a little expensive at 12$ + 3$ for the audio headset BUT it was really good and I wished I'd been there before visiting the temples - oh well, I'll just have to have another trip to Angkor Wat to see what I missed the first time.

Sunday was a long day!  Picked up at 6am and driven for 45mins in a minibus to a man-made canal where we picked up a boat and were taken to the Prek Toal floating village.  About 5000 people live in this village and there are about 170 villages (smaller) on Tonle Sap lake!  We were then transferred to a smaller boat and continued along the winding waterways to the Bird Sanctuary to see all the pelicans, egrets, oriental darters, painted storks, cormorants....  so many and very impressive.  

Cormorants perched

Pelicans and egrets

No fishing or bird hunting is allowed here, so the birds are really thriving

Back to the village for lunch on a little floating restaurant (set up by OSMOSE - see website : http://osmosetonlesap.net/www/english/ecovisites.php) then into little boats paddled along by a few women and kids to visit their village!  I was very ill-at-ease to be taking photos of their houses and life-style as I felt like an intruder but the guide assured me that they didn't mind and were now getting used to making money from the tourists - nonetheless, as much as I love taking photos, this wasn't easy and I didn't feel good about it.

I wonder if she can swim yet?

All the little children waved at us!

This little girl even blew us a kiss.

View from the observation tower on the Environment building (which isn't floating!)

Little girl helping her mum by paddling at the rear.

Small fish paste industry, the women were cutting off the fish heads.

You learn to walk and then swim!  Little boy holding his little brother.

Fish traps.

Great day out.  We got back to the minibus by about 4pm and enjoyed the air conditioning for an hour as it had been really hot out on the water.  Once away from the lake flood zone, the coconut trees and paddy fields of rice once again dominate the horizon and we came across a farmer herding his ducks!

Lotus flowers, rice fields, coconuts!

Herding ducks.