Five Hours Baking On The Tonle Sap, Cambodia 10th Feb 2006

In the distance is the confluence of the Tonle Sap, the Mekong and the Tonle Bassac. I am by the Tonle Sap. The Mekong runs from the left, and the Tonle Bassac to the right. Tonle means river in Khmer, as one can deduce from the names of the rivers.

The four of us, before moving out, and still a healthy shade of wholesome brown.

Late morning on the Tonle Sap. Before it got hotter.

Enthusiastic Cambodian kids on the river. Everytime a large craft (usually a ferry laden with tourists) passes, I see these boatfolk jump to their oars in order to set the bow perpendicularly to the direction the larger vessel takes. More often than not, their adroit and experienced arms make short work of this manoeuvre, and are free once again to wave to any passing ferries.

Tourists lounging at the top of the ferry. We encountered here a young lady, who was probably not much older than us, or could even be our age, travelling on her own. That takes some courage. Enough to put our herd of four to shame, in any case.

Best to sit here for the scenery. Good tanning spot, with, I stress, the right and proper precaution. Otherwise, it adds a rosy hue to the skin, and gives it a nice warm glow, literally.

Birds trailing in the wake of our ferry, on the Tonle Sap Lake. Hangers-on who feast on the pickings (constituted by very unlucky small fish in the way of our craft) churned out by the motor of the ferry.

The floating villages on the Tonle Sap lake, closer to the Siem Reap side. The true riverfolk. I'm most comfortable on terra firma, and however buoyant it makes me, a life on water isn't for me.