Battambang by boat

We suspected that cramped conditions would be the order of the day when the minibus (9 seats) that collected us was loaded with 15 people. It is not unusual to see 20 Cambodians packed into a Nissan van but for Europeans it's tight. The half hour ride to the boat reminded us that we had been at the posh end of Siem Reap where the park is kept clean, this was like Phnom Penh revisited.
The boat had 54 fiberglass seats and we were fortunate to have two, there were an additional 25 bodies or so on the roof with the luggage.

We crossed Tonle Sap lake to the mouth of the Sangker River which has no banks, just floating lilies and reeds. The people live in wood and corrugated huts which float on large bamboo rafts. The shops, schools and government buildings all float and most have a tv antenna. Birdlife was plentiful and the river people have many ingenious ways to trap fish.

Occasionally we would collect more passengers and their boxes and bags, delivered by skiff and usually sculled very proficiently by a child.
As we progressed further up river population increased and we eventually stopped at a floating restaurant where everyone could have a pee (into the river, behind a screen) and something to eat (no, thanks). Tinned almonds have never tasted so good! The raft was tilting seriously to the 'loo' side as 75 odd passengers disembarked.
The next phase of the journey was totally unexpected, suddenly we left the open river to take (presumably) a shortcut down a narrow channel cut through the brush. There was no warning as we crashed a 10 foot wide boat down a 9 foot wide channel and branches were smacking us in the face. Within minutes we were all huddling in the gangway or laying down as the massive diesel engine churned through the undergrowth. This went on for probably 20 minutes until we encountered a fishing vessel coming the other way, big boat won as the poor chap was forced off into the bushes and we carried on.
After meandering through very shallow wetlands the river banks appeared, quite depressing to see miles of ramshackle dwellings and the people swimming in a filthy river fishing for the smallest fish.

Who knows what they think of a boatload of foreigners invading their privacy through a huge Nikon lens clicking 20 frames a minute but all the children wave and smile while the adults try to stop their boats from being bashed by the surge of our massive wake. A bit tedious at the end but all told a fascinating day and an insight into a way of life you would never see by road.