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Siem Reap Cambodia

Angkor Wat, Floating Villages and Handicraft Village!

Siem Reap Cambodia is quite different to Phnom Pehn. You are easily able to walk around with restaurants, shops, and interesting gardens and buildings close by.

The river is lovely with bridges,each a different design, built by the Japanese and French. They had a lot of grass, and large spreading trees, for a cool, attractive appearance.

Obviously most of one's time is in Siem Reap Cambodia is spent seeing Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples. But the Floating Market and Handcraft Village are also really interesting and should not be missed.

The Floating Villages

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I found this fascinating and would recommend it as a very interesting trip. We went out on a boat to the merging confluence of the Tonle Sap Lake, and the Tonle Sap river, which backs up into the Mekong River.

In the wet season the water is pushed through from the Mekong increasing the size of the lake more than 5 times its size in the dry season.

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As you float along, you are passing quite literally, whole villages housed on boats. There was everything from the pigs in their sty, the local churches, schools, shops and an alligator farm.

We stopped here and saw the alligators contained in a huge enclosure in the bottom of the moored boat. You could sit at the cafe and have a drink or snack, before carrying on.

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The most amazing sight greeted us as we neared the open Lake – children sitting in small round aluminum or plastic basins, were frantically paddling ( just one paddle) toward us.

As it turned out they had been sent by their families we could see bouncing around in slightly larger vessels.

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Although apparently,most are Vietnamese Refugees now living in Siem Reap Cambodia. They were wanting Dolahhhs. We gave each some Cambodian notes and they quite literally refused to take them.

No doubt they did not want to incur the wrath of the family, waiting.Who no doubt instructed them to bring back American dollars.

The Hand Craft Village

This village has been set up for teens to be taken on as apprentices and trained in woodcarving, sandstone carving, screen printing, gilding, lacquering, and silk weaving.

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They attend for 7-8 months to learn the craft. Everything is hand made, but they do use templates to maintain a standard. Many of the carvers were actually blind, and it was intriguing watching them measure with their hands.

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It is not something we, in the western world would think blind people could achieve, but they did an amazing job.

Originally funded by the French Government, it is almost self funded now. The intricate, delicate carvings and silk clothes are all sold in their shop.

This village is a real testament to the outcome when people are helped in a positive way. The children are carefully selected, and winning a place is of course very competitive .

The Central Market

This was the most pleasant of all the markets we visited. Although the selection of goods was not as wide. Mostly clothes, silk bags,sun glasses, and other small goods.