An unexpted journey to Tonlé Sap Lake

by Lucas Pavin (Brazil)

Making a local connection Cambodia

Whenever I think about Cambodia, an image of someone smiling pops up in my head. Siem Reap is worlwide famous for the astonishing Angkor Wat temple complex, world heritage built by the Khmer civilization a millennia ago. It's surroundings also house the greatest lake in the country, the Tonlé Sap. After my one day trip to this place, I got completely convicted that the people that give more are the people who have the less. It all started when I met John, a young local man about my age, at the hostel I was staying. He woke me up early in the morning inviting me for a visit to his friend at the lake, which I promptly accepted. We made the about seventeen kilometers trip from the hostel to one of the shores in his probably third hand motorbike, through a bumpy and dusty road. My buttocks could barely fit in the place designated to them and I had to watch out not to burn my leg on the sideway of the bike where the engine was located. When there was a downhill, our feet would help the poor old breaks that couldn’t handle it’s function no more. The first stop was in this blockhouse by the lake's shore, which is around six square meters and where John's friend - nicknamed Kiki - and other 11 people of the same family live with almost no furniture but some hammocks, a wooden stove, some random and scattered housing utensils and a television, clearly the main entertainment and leisure of the family. Their toilet and the bathroom, as one could presume before entering the place, is the lake itself, and also their source of drinking water. While waiting for the boat to get ready, I was offered tea and rice while playing with the kids (all naked) and trying to teach them some words and expressions in English. From there we headed by boat to Kiki's brother house deep down in a floating village in the heart of the lake. The journey was very pleasant, sailing through dark blue, calm and deep waters; the lake is very wide – one cannot see it’s boundaries – and it’s amazing sceneries composed by big trees standing in the middle of the water, several islands full of green vegetation and the birds flying over our heads reminded me of my bevoled Amazon rainforest, making me feel homesick for a little bit, after being a long time on the road. Before we got to the place, I've learned that other curious fishermen gathered around to meet the foreigner who was spending the day with Kiki, as John told me. As a way of demonstrating our appreciation for their hospitality, John and I shared some beers and cigarettes to give to the guys, as well as some fresh fish to be cooked for everyone. Kiki's brother house was bigger and had more furniture, and only three people lived there (his wife and grandson) and it had a separated toilet in the back part and a small wood cage for the breeding of alligators, sold to restaurants as part of the family's income. When the food was ready I told John to tell them that I was vegan and therefore wouldn’t eat the fish, which he quickly translated. All of the locals started to laugh at the situation. As I didn’t understand why they were laughing, John explained me that was the first time they saw somebody refusing food or choosing what to eat, because they all eat whatever comes in the net or what they manage to acquire. Tonlé Sap taught me an extremely humble and fascinating lesson, changing many personal perspectives and points of view, especially on how to appreciate even more the small things in life and value our most basic necessities. In a extremely poor country which was devastated by one of the most cruel genocides in History, it’s people proove that happiness is a state of spirit and a true lifes