The Incredible Lifestyle at Lake Tonle Sap

I have been featuring lakes in New Zealand in my series of posts on lakes, and today my post is on a lake in Cambodia. It is certainly not like any lake I have featured. Tonle Sap is the largest fresh water lake in the whole of South East Asia. However, it is incredibly shallow for most of the year. I could hardly believe that the large expanse of water we were travelling on was only a meter deep. It is only during the monsoon season that the lake swells to more than 7 times its size! The lake then has a depth of 9 meters or more.

What is unusual about this lake is that it supports a floating village with homes, a school, and even a church.
Most of the people who live on the floating village are Vietnamese who have emigrated to Cambodia seeking a better life there. Three quarters of fish caught inland in Cambodia come from Lake Tonle Sap itself.

The school for the ethnic Vietnamese children.

There is a church behind this boathouse.

Two decidedly more up-market versions of boat houses compared to the previous one.

A fascinating image of a typical mode of transport for a child to get around the neighbourhood!

"Look what I found to play with!"

For Watery Wednesday, please click here and for Outdoor Wednesday, click here.

Angkor Wat

I had booked the flight for this trip months earlier, and I did not realize that April would be really hot in Siem Reap. And it was hot the first two days we were there. Fortunately it rained a little on the third and fourth day so it was tolerable. Better hot and humid in April and May than wet and muddy during the rainy season from June to October! So here we were, travelling back in time, drenched in sweat! But visiting Angkor Wat is worth the discomfort. There was a pervading sense of tranquility as we worked our way among the huge monuments. It felt to me like I was in the hallowed hallways of a place of learning. And no wonder, as we entered from the West, before we reached the temple, were the libraries on both sides of the path.

Angkor Wat is one of the ancient world's most magnificent work of architecture which has endured the test of time. It is a must-see if you are  in Cambodia. Angkor Wat meaning City Temple, is situated about 5 km from Siem Reap, and is the Cambodian Nation's most precious treasure. It is mind-boggling that it was built so long ago in the early 12th century! King Suryavaram built it to honour the Hindu God, Vishnu. I had expected to see just broken blocks but the buildings  look remarkably intact and inhabitable to me. The architecture is amazingly modern!








From Angkor, the Khmer Kings ruled over territories that covered Vietnam to China. All that remains today are about 100 temples made of stone. The palaces and other buildings had all decayed as they were wooden structures.






The temples are decorated with figures of guardian spirits (devatas or apsaras), bas reliefs as well as narrative scenes of episodes from the Hindu epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata..
















Towers shaped like lotus buds, a moat protecting the temple...Angkor Wat, the world's largest religious building.


UNESCO declared the Angkor Archaeological Park a World Heritage Site in 1992.

Footsteps nigh

Devata eyes spy on mortals

Leaves suspended in the breeze

For Weekend Reflections, Scenic Sunday, Haiku Heights and Haiku My Heart.