The Floating Village of Cambodia

April 3, 2010
By CECILIA S. ANGELES
Manila Bulletin Publishing Corp. (Philippines)

Whether residents choose to dwell here, or they have no other choice but to live in this place, I am sure they still find life’s fufillment in this floating village. The community is complete with a department store, a Catholic church whose cross marker draws a contrast in the sky, a general market, a school, a basketball court, a barangay hall, fish and crocodile farms and others like a medical clinic or hospital or food stations and others which might have escaped my eyes. All these...floating. A concrete highway is alongside this floating village. There are vast unoccupied land areas that appear to extend up to the horizon, yet these people prefer to stay here. They have their own reasons. I saw a couple of foreign journalists recording scenes and people’s activities here.

The floating village, very unique in perspective, draws very many foreign tourists every day. Residents speak English, and foreign tourists understand them well despite errors in pronunciation, tenses, or agreement of subject and predicate. Majority of the Cambodians, even toktok drivers, (counterpart of our tricycle) sound to be efficient tour guides. They can identify places, markers, events and elaborate stories attached to them.

The floating village is a unique residential area. Children who are too small to paddle a banca use their hands to propel an aluminium basin which serves as their transportation. Even grown ups sell their ware in floating aluminium basins. Some bancas are converted into floating stores that go from house to house to sell many things. We can compare them to our sari-sari store.

You may wonder if basketballs do not go into the water during a hard bound or a miscalculated lay-up. Like the other open structures, the basketball court is caged with chicken wire. I said some prayers in the floating church. I also requested God to bless this unique residential village. There are peddlers on bancas including children who animate the snake movements coiled around their necks. They expect from tourists some tips for their art.

Aside from the tourism industry in this particular village, fishing is a good source of income and servings on the table. We passed by fishermen’s boats heavy with fish harvest. There were a few residents, some with their bigger children, who threw nets into the water.

I didn’t see plastic bags or wrappers or bottles floating in the river unlike our Pasig River. Along the highways, I saw a few plastic trash. Definitely less than what we have in this city. Does it mean that Cambodia can manage its trash better?

(Mrs Cecilia S. Angeles is a college professor and a regular lecturer at the FPPF Photography Workshop in Fort Santiago, Intramuros, Manila. Email: csa_palay@yahoo.com)