Our big bus rolled along the main highway and stopped in a small town. In this small town only a handful of locals got on and off, and Jo and I were the only westerners to get off. A few other travellers on the bus looked on at us as if to say "why are you getting off here?!" This is because Pursat is a tiny place and with little to do there or go there for. The reason we were going there was for one reason solely; the biggest floating village on the Tonle Sap lake. As we had no idea where we were or any map, we got a tuk-tuk to take us the couple of hundred metres to a guesthouse, where we resumed our roles of Jo going to check out the room and I stay put, laden with bags. She came back out of the corridor laughing, so I knew it wasn't good. She reported that it was ok for one night, but a touch small. It was a prison cell with pink curtains. It just fitted a bed with enough room to open the door. She was right though, it'd do for the night, especially at about a pound each.
We abandoned the bags and looked for a tuk-tuk to take us to the floating village. One guy wouldn't budge on his price, but continued to follow us up the road to the bus ticket office (we were getting out of this place as soon as we could!). We then found someone to take us at the right price, and after a quick purchase of bus ticket to Bangkok for the next morning, we set off on the hour journey, of which, it rained for 45 mins. Luckily, it stopped and brightened up when we arrived. The place isn't really a tourist hotspot, with very poor families littering the road up to the lake, although all very happy people, with lots of kids playing and screaming "HELLO" and waving like lunatics at the white people.
We got a boat to take us on an hour ride around the 'village' which is actually the size of a small town. There were buildings floating on bamboo or proper boat hulls, containing everything from small shops, to ironmongers, to petrol stations. Was really surreal to see, especially the latter, which for some odd reason doubled as an animal sanctuary, with lots of chickens and dogs running about amongst the petrol pumps. We went right out onto the lake, and anchored up was a big modern looking yacht very similar to the boat that took us around the islands in Fiji. It turned out this was the hospital ship, and came past once every week and spent its entire time circling all of the floating villages on this vast lake. Tethered to it was a much smaller boat which was the pharmacy.
When we were done, we got back in our tuk-tuk and headed back, in the evening sunshine. We then went in search of food. We found a little local place almost opposite where we were staying where no-one spoke English either, and had a really good meal of fried rice and spicy fried beef with ice-tea (this is just a cold teapot in the middle of the table and they bring you a glass of ice, I have to remember to try it with cold stewed tea at home!). We went for a wander to see if there was a town or centre to this little place straddling the main highway between Battambang and the capital and found a few more streets, one or 2 tiny hotels and a couple of shops and a market, but nothing too built up. Eventually, we made our way back to our cell, found a movie in English on the little tv and dozed off.
The next morning we got up early for our bus, showered with a bucket of cold water and went back to breakfast at the place we ate at the night before. Then it was onto the bus and onwards to Bangkok, via Battambang! Our penultimate country of the trip complete in no time at all! We'd done a lot and seen everything we could and Cambodia had to offer, but we were still sad to leave, and knew that if we stayed longer in Cambodia we'd just be dragging it out in a vain attempt to deny the inevitability of finishing our trip and going home.
We got a boat to take us on an hour ride around the 'village' which is actually the size of a small town. There were buildings floating on bamboo or proper boat hulls, containing everything from small shops, to ironmongers, to petrol stations. Was really surreal to see, especially the latter, which for some odd reason doubled as an animal sanctuary, with lots of chickens and dogs running about amongst the petrol pumps. We went right out onto the lake, and anchored up was a big modern looking yacht very similar to the boat that took us around the islands in Fiji. It turned out this was the hospital ship, and came past once every week and spent its entire time circling all of the floating villages on this vast lake. Tethered to it was a much smaller boat which was the pharmacy.
When we were done, we got back in our tuk-tuk and headed back, in the evening sunshine. We then went in search of food. We found a little local place almost opposite where we were staying where no-one spoke English either, and had a really good meal of fried rice and spicy fried beef with ice-tea (this is just a cold teapot in the middle of the table and they bring you a glass of ice, I have to remember to try it with cold stewed tea at home!). We went for a wander to see if there was a town or centre to this little place straddling the main highway between Battambang and the capital and found a few more streets, one or 2 tiny hotels and a couple of shops and a market, but nothing too built up. Eventually, we made our way back to our cell, found a movie in English on the little tv and dozed off.
The next morning we got up early for our bus, showered with a bucket of cold water and went back to breakfast at the place we ate at the night before. Then it was onto the bus and onwards to Bangkok, via Battambang! Our penultimate country of the trip complete in no time at all! We'd done a lot and seen everything we could and Cambodia had to offer, but we were still sad to leave, and knew that if we stayed longer in Cambodia we'd just be dragging it out in a vain attempt to deny the inevitability of finishing our trip and going home.
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