On the third day in Siem Reap, temple fatigue set. We spent the day prepping for travel to Ho Chi Minh not planning to do anything else in the city.

I had to end my time in Siem Reap on a good note so I inquired about a tour of the floating village in Kompong Pluk. It’s called the floating village because in the rainy season the water levels raise so high that the house look like there sitting on water – there actually on really tall stilts and support beams.

I had nothing else going that afternoon so it seemed like a great way to get away from the hostel and the try to beat my temple fatigue. I ran a few errands, bought bus tickets for our night sleeper bus and bought a pineapple smoothie for lunch. Thirty minutes later, I was in a minivan leaving town for the rural lands of Siem Reap.

On my taxi ride from the airport a few days earlier, my driver told me one of the good attractions of Siem Reap was the floating village. I asked how for that was from guest house. He said far. I like being able to do activities near  my living accommodations. I glad I didn’t try to walk to this place. The drive was definitely an hour on bumping back roads where skinny cows walked along the should of the road and vehicles had to share a very narrow lane.

During the ride our tour guide said we’d be getting a free massage and by that she meant when we got off the asphalt the rocky dirt road made the seats in our minivan rumble like Sharper Image vibrating loungers. It was a new twist on modern technology.

We reached a dock that where our tour boat was ported. Oh it was this cool sixteen seated motor powered skiff that belonged in Apocalypse Now. With the assistance of our guide giving us a hand, we had climbed from the muddy banks onto the bow made of unfinished, coarse wood planks. Our captain a teenaged fellow with a woven straw hat and and his first mate a boy around 10 years old with a fuzzy hairdo. We shoved off and cruised down the river leading to the village.

My group and I were immediately fascinated with the little surroundings. As we entered the village we passed three elevated buildings that served for the community essentials: a police station, a local government office and a school building. These structures were buildt with materials that gave them a modern appearance.

The majority of the homes in the village they were crafted crafted by hand with assembled sheet metal for the roofs and siding. The  steps and stilts were made from bamboo and wood. The homes in this village had to be incredible string to endure the rainy season and they were made with very straight forward mostly natural materials.

Our captain docked the boat and our tour guide walked us through the village. We got a closer look at the houses and met the villagers. Many of them were children on a day off from school. Thursday was typically their free day since the village teachers were in Siem Reap working at a training school. I guess it was like an in service. We did get to see a class session of children learning how to count in English.

The adults in the village were working. Either creating nets for fishing, repairing their boat motors and doing construction on their homes. They were also a few ladies selling us little paperback puzzle books and unsharpened pencils to give to the children. Work was everywhere.

During a tour of one of the homes, we got to see the layout of a typical house. With a large set of bamboo stairs leading to the front main room. The back had the kitchen and cooking area. Our guide talked about some of the native Khmer dishes one was a fish butter that was often made to last for a long time past the rainy season and another dish called Amok that is often served with fish. Amok is expensive to make for the average village family and is viewed a a luxury meal.

The kitchen that we toured was about fairly small space with a place to create a fire and cook pots over. The floors were bamboo and slatted in a way where you could see down to the earth below. We were about 25 to 30 feet above the ground. The bamboo seemed to give at every step, but the guide ensured is we were ok. As encouragement she mentioned that children run around with no problem! God bless bamboo.

Back in our boat, we headed to the floating market. The market in this time looked more like a hub for a few groups of tourist to eat, but I’m guessing it typically is a center for commerce among the villagers. On the center floating hub, I took an offer to go on a separate tour to the forest water the  was about a meter high up the trees. It was a nice jaunt.

The tour guide later told me that the woman paddle my canoe was a single woman in the village and the other rowers were teasing her that we should marry. If I had understood this and spoke Cambodian, I would have made that boat ride our first date. Maybe a little awkward to have my date do all the rowing, but I’d row on the second date.

We got back on our boat just in time to see the sunset. It was a moment of serenity sitting with a group of cool people and enjoying nature’s Netflix. Of course once the sunsets it gets dark and chilly so we made our way back through the village snaking along the twists in the river.

We returning to home base after the bumping ride along the dirt road leading away from the village. I’d felt like the slump I’d experienced in Cambodia had totally been offset just in viewing the sunset. I closed my night with dinner at a restaurant across the street from my hostel.

Inspired by the tour of the kitchen, I order fish Amok. That dish singlehanded redeemed my three days in Cambodia . This bowl of Amok was so badass I ordered a second. The owner who took my second order looked at me as though a Norwal horn jutted from my forehead. I guess no one has ever gone amuck with Amok in Siem Reap. ZIIING!