Final project visit of the trip…to the Kompong Kleang community at the edge of the Tonle Sap Lake. It was my first visit to this extraordinary place where the water level varies seasonally from zero to over 20 feet. Houses are built on stilts, in September and October access is only by boat and families exist on the proceeds of fishing and dependent services such as fish smoking and making prahoc (fish sauce).
The Catholic Church runs a small centre here with a 30-strong kindergarten on five days a week and over 80 primary age children who come on Saturdays for Khmer class, singing, dancing and rice soup. All of them are Buddhist – their parents send them because the teaching is good, the standard above average and the children are happy.
Support Cambodia are hoping to do a project here in the near future.
On the way back to Siem Reap, we were taken to lunch in a local market. This is as near as a visitor gets to the kind of food the locals eat. I passed on the iced tea made with unboiled water but sampled the “not very hot” spicy stew which in practice actually blew your head off. It’s all relative I suppose!
You can keep up to date with Katie and Maria’s visit to Cambodia right here on this website or on our Facebook page.
