The Floating Village

With Pokin still out of commission, my bud and I decided to go on a real adventure. We told our Tuk Tuk driver we wanted to visit Kompong Phluk, a ‘floating village’ on the largest lake near Siem Reap. It’s a town that consists of stilt houses that are completely under water for part of the year, and boats that float on the lake and avoid many laws.

Our Tuk Tuk driver failed to mention that it was over an hour away, and that was with him putting the petal to the metal on a highway where we would be passed by trucks and cars at full speed. I have to admit, it was a bit nerve wracking. I guess I asked for an adventure!

We drove past the villages, and ended up hopping on a boat to check everything out.

It was a little scary to know that entire generations were living entirely on little boats like these, completely surviving off of fishing for food in the lake. One of the boats is a school, another is a doctor, this is how life is for many people.

On our way back the Tuk Tuk started kicking up a lot of dust, so Nicholas put on a mask. He didn’t bring one for me, so I promptly made him give me his.

Also, there were cows.

The chaos that is Angkor Wat

The next morning Pokin decided we needed to get sunrise photos of Angkor Wat. Terrible idea, thought I. Who wants to wake up that early and fight crowds of tourists just for a nice photo? Pokin does. And that means we have to as well. Ulgh.

Out into the darkness we step, our Tuk Tuk driver taking us all the way to the temple entrance. Immediately upon exiting the Tuk Tuk, we hear the sounds of tumbling accompanied by Pokin yelling “ow!”. Serves her right, I think to myself as Nicholas works to get her up. Turns out she’s twisted her ankle something fierce. I may not have wanted to get up this early, but I hope this doesn’t put a damper on my temple adventuring.

Pokin hobbled into the crowds to setup her camera and get some photos. This was what spraining her ankle was for.

The thing they didn’t tell me was that 1/4th the population of Earth was also going to be trying to get sunrise photos. I may be a popular bear, but I’m not a fan of crowds this big. Just look at how ridiculous we all look with all the other tourists.

After the morning photos, Pokin realized her ankle might be in much worse shape than she thought as it started swelling pretty bad. Nicholas took her back to the hotel to rest it off and then the two of us buds headed out to explore more temples on our own.

These places are pretty cool. It does feel right out of a video game.

The thing about Angkor Wat is that it’s just one temple out of many as part of a complex. This is actually one of the largest religious temple sites in the world, and many famous photos are not just of Angkor wat. The namesake of the area is the biggest temple complex, representing classic Khmer architecture. Lots to explore and see!

Cambodia Temple Adventures

Next stop for us was over to Cambodia.  The idea was that if we were going to test out recording 3d images with our bot, we may as well test it out somewhere interesting.  Like ruined temples.   I liked playing Tomb Raider, so the prospect of checking out temples resonated well with me.

Nothing says ruined temples like the temples around Siem Reap with its overgrown tree roots, so off we went.

We spent the day exploring temples and lakes, and one of my favorite things was having a Tuk Tuk driver take us everywhere. These feel like they shouldn’t be legal. Here’s a video of me enjoying a ride down the road at full Tuk speed.

I was all worn out by the end. Good day!