A Floating Village

Got off the highway for a bumpy and dusty diversion down this dirt way, heading to the floating village on the Tonle Sap lake.

The floating village in the background. Due to land rights issues, some people opt out by living on boats in the lake, a "floating village." Floating police stations, floating restaurants. The surrounding area was absolutely trashed: plastic bags, bottles, broken toys, dying plant material. The water around the boats was gray and brown, both a toilet and the children's swimming pool. The life expectancy in floating villages is 60 years old. This place was so appallingly filthy it made the rest of Cambodia look like tidy civilization (astonishing).

We were as curious about the village as these boys were of us.