Day 5 – Fisherman’s Lunch and Visiting the Countryside

The boat excursion to the floating houses was fascinating.  I wish we had been able to see one close up but even from a distance you could get an idea of how the people lived.  Before we took the boat ride, I was walking back from the bathroom and noticed that the sole was coming off my sandals.  They are the kind of all purpose sandals that you can wear in the water.  I finally had to take off the whole sole as I couldn’t walk with it flapping on the ground.  I hoped to get it fixed soon. As we walked back toward the car, a little boy started following us.  He wanted us to give him money.  Everything I read before the trip says not to give money or anything to the children as it just encourages them to continue begging.  I must say he was persistent and even stood by the car until the engine started.  We actually didn’t have too many problems with children or people asking for money.  It is better to give to  local legal organizations if you want to donate money or goods.  There are quite a few scams going on so you need to be aware.

Our lunch was in a home of a local fisherman.  The house was on the narrow village road.  The inside was basically two rooms – living area and kitchen and a small back work room.  A child and woman were watching TV when we walked in.  The food was already on the table.  There was a cold vegetable dish, small fish cakes, rice, a baked fish, jackfruit.  I took a few photos –

Rice was present at every meal. Cambodia is known for its rice.  We saw many rice fields where ever we traveled.  I only saw white rice and don’t think they ever prepare brown rice.  I ate the vegetables, fish cakes, rice and jackfruit.  The baked fish was filled with bones.  I had a few bites but there were just too many bones to enjoy it. The man who served us was very nice.  He also offered to fix my shoe.  He put glue on the sole and heated it up and then stuck it together.  I think the guide paid him less than a dollar.  That shoe held up well, but then the other shoe fell apart. I threw them away after that. Guess I need to invest in a better pair of all purpose sandals.  I had those sandals since 1999 when I lived in Australia.

We returned back to the hotel for a short rest and change of clothes.  I had spots of mud on everything and on my camera and camera bag.  Hand wipes worked well to clean off my equipment.  Dave and the guide came to pick us up in the afternoon.  We were going for a ride into the countryside.  For some reason they thought we would enjoy a water buffalo ride in a cart.  They hadn’t really told us what we were going to do.  Just as we arrived at the place to take the ride, it started to rain.  The guide tried to persuade us to go ahead anyways, but Shawn and I said no – mainly because we didn’t want to get our cameras wet.  We saw the cart and water buffalo ready to be hooked up and took a few photos.   In a few minutes, it really started to rain and there was no way we were leaving the car.  It kept raining for quite a while.  We had to finally tell Dave we wanted to leave as it wasn’t going to stop raining.  We weren’t that disappointed as I couldn’t see how riding in a cart would be a lot of fun.

On the way back to the hotel we went via the Angkor Wat route and saw tons of monkeys along the road.  We stopped to take some photos. The baby monkeys were so cute.  I didn’t get many good shots.  When I stepped out, one looked like he was going to jump into the car so I was a bit nervous to take any close shots.  Shawn got out and took quite a few photos.

We were glad to get back early as we had to pack for our 2-day visit to Battambang – an old French colonial town – three hours away west of Siem Reap.