Our second day in Siem Reap involved a tour with Osmose eco-tours to a floating village. I love doing eco-tours, and this one is about seeing how the lake feeds an ecosystem of plants, animals and people.

The trip began on a boat like this.

Our captain.

The village where we launched was filled with motorbikes, loaded with fish from the mornings catch.

Bagged for transportation. The fish were so small – not sure how they skin them or are they eaten whole?

The boat had a very loud engine .. that made big waves.

As we took the 90 minute ride to the village, we saw many other boaters traveling the lake-ways.

Off in the distance, a fisherman setting his nets (the pictures are darker as I had the wrong filter with me – it was that bright out)

And a few eco-companions on the way.

We stopped near a large tree where the guide explained that the tree was 15-17m high with almost 10m of the tree currently under water. The water levels on the lake go up and down by 10m during the seasons. In the tree, we noticed a brightly colored snake having a sleep .. red means poisonous.

He never did peak his head out.

Traveling along the water the boat slowed as we entered the first of many floating villages.

Amazing to think that these homes move around with the water level .. and that they all have cell phone reception.

 

The village’s floating school.

Beside a few floating homes.

With the fishermen/women working on the day’s catch.

The boat picked up speed as we headed to the next village.