Phnom Penh River Cruise

Floating homes on the Tonle Sap River, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

During my visit to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, I treated myself to a two hour river cruise down the Tonle Sap River to where it joins the Mekong River. For AU$15.00 I had the whole boat to myself (along with the young operator and his family), and as the short video below shows, I tried to capture aspects of everyday river life as seen on, and along these two great river systems.

The most notable aspect of life along the rivers are the hundreds of ramshackle homes built along the water line, and especially on the rivers themselves. As dirty and muddy as the water of these rivers may be, the water is used for washing clothing, bathing, cooking and cleaning. From my direct observation, the homes do not have sewage systems of any description, unless you regard human waste falling directly into these rivers as a 'sewage system'.

Never the less, these shacks and floating towns are home to thousands of Cambodians. Indeed, I was amazed to see whole floating villages during another cruise I undertook on Tonle Sap Lake. I have extensive footage of that outing as well, and will add it to this blog soon.

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