Prek Toal - Cambodia (4)

Up the Sangkae River, we stopped at a floating shop house and this girl became my unpremeditated model for a few photos! Here is the first shot when she came paddling back home.

Prek Toal - Cambodia (3)

End of day at the secondary school. Most kids return home by paddle boats. Some, living too far, are having their canoes pulled in lines by small motorboats.

Prek Toal - Cambodia (2)

There are two schools in the village of Prek Toal, both are floating buildings. Here is a group of school girls paddling to their lessons.

Prek Toal - Cambodia (1)

Larger and wealthier families might possess a few rafts attached together. On the main one would be the living, dining and sleeping area. Floating beside this main structure, would be a raft kitchen, a semi-floating live fish enclosure with live chicken in cages located on top of the enclosure (droppings feed the fishes…), possibly a raft garden and a semi-submerged raft serving as a crocodile cage.

The Floating Village of Prek Toal - Cambodia

Located along the Sangkae River, the village of Prek Toal is comprised mostly of floating houses, with a few community facilities such as the temple, telecom towers and the head quarter of the Prek Toal Bird Sanctuary, that are anchored on sand banks.

Excursion on the Tonle Sap Lake - Cambodia

The next leg of this journey to Cambodia brought us on the Tonlé Sap Lake where we visited the floating village of Prek Toal with an overnight home stay on a raft house and followed with an excursion to the the Prek Toal Bird Sanctuary.

The Tonlé Sap Lake is the centre piece of a very particular ecosystem, as it retains water from the Mekong River during the monsoon season and releases it back to the Mekong during the dry season. In the process, the lake swells its footprint to 5 times its normal size. As the level of the water varies by about 9 meters, communities living by the lake have chosen to build their houses either on 10 meters bamboo stilts or as rafts floating on the lake. The yearly flooding creates an environment that brings nutrients to the water and promotes fish life.

Cambodians depend on fish for approximately 70 percents of their protein. So intertwined are the Cambodians and their fish that the country's currency, the riel, is named after the small silver carp that is the staple of many diets here.

Merry Christmas!

Wishing a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you!

Beatocello - A thought before the glitters of Christmas

When visiting Siem Reap, I strongly recommend attending the concert of Beatocello at the Jayavarman VII Children’s hospital. Concerts are held every Saturday evening by Dr Beat Richner in support of the Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospitals. Entrance is free but donations are welcome. Dr Beat Richner in turn plays cello and describes the work of the children hospitals in the country, with a short film (in French with English subtitles) to illustrate their activities.

Dr Beat Richner was first sent to Cambodia in 1974 by the Red Cross to work at the Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospital in Phnom Penh. His mission was curtailed as the Khmer Rouge invaded the country. In 1991, he was requested by the new government to rebuild and manage the hospital, which had been destroyed during the civil war. He accepted the job and since, it has been a success story. There are now 4 Kantha Bopha hospitals in Cambodia where all children till 18 year of age are treated free of charge as well as one maternity ward for HIV positive mothers. From 1993 until 2008 the Kantha Bopha hospitals treated 8,2 mio outpatients, 650'000 inpatients and did 90'000 chirurgical operations. It is estimated that 550'000 children would not have survived without those hospitals. In the process, 2’600 Cambodian have been trained as doctors and nurses. All staff from cleaner to doctor receive a decent salary for the country to avoid the corruption that is rampant in the government hospitals (additional under the table payments are requested by doctors to secure treatment as base salaries are mediocre - in a country where the average population is just too poor to afford any treatments, the result is that farmers used to sell all their assets, being ox, land, to have their children treated, to return to total absolute poverty with no mean of subsistence).

The yearly operational costs of the Kantha Bopha hospitals amount to USD 24mio. Currently, USD 2mio per annum are contributed by the Cambodian government, USD 2.5 mio by the Swiss government and the balance by private donations.

I salute the work of Dr Richner, a great man.

For more information on Kantha Bopha, click on the following link: http://www.beat-richner.ch/Assets/richner_present.html

Phimeanakas - the Celestial Temple

Built towards the end of the 10th century by Rajendravarman, the Phimeanakas is a temple mountain, symbolizing Mt Meru, the Olympe of Hinduism.

Water Buffalo - the Work Horse of Cambodia!

In Cambodia, oxen and water buffaloes are important working animals, used singly or in teams to pull wheeled vehicles or plough. Buffaloes are stronger than oxen but require regular bath and longer rest time. Oxen have therefore a higher value to the farmers.

Srah Srang - Sunrise at the Royal Bath

A great location to watch the sunrise from, Srah Srang was originally built in the 10th century and remodeled in the 12th century by Jayavarman VII. It served as the access to the bathing pool for the royal family and was decorated with lions and nagas. A wooden temple used to be located in the middle of the reservoir. A low platform can still be seen but the original construction did not stand time.