Boats and Horses

Our second day in Siem Reap was just as busy as our first. After having breakfast on one of the hotel's swinging/floating tables, we had Smarty pick us up again and drive us to a floating village! Along the way, as we left the busyness of Siem Reap, we were able to see how a lot of the locals lived and worked on a regular basis. We saw food vendors, moped vendors, and lots of families piled high on one moped going about their everyday lives.

As we got further away from the city, the area turned more rural and the recent flooding was more prominent with fields and roads now underwater. We saw a herds of animals, groups of children riding their bikes to school, and several different types of houses and huts.
















 


We finally arrived at a village to take a boat out to the floating village. Getting our own private boat and driver, we made the hour long ride out to the floating village. The driver even let Travers drive for awhile, probably happy to take a break.



















Arriving at the floating village, it is pretty much what you would expect when you think of a floating village. Several buildings, mostly homes, all on stilts and water everywhere. It was amazing to see the inventive ways the villagers would get from one place to another, and how they would store some of their chickens hanging beneath the house in cages, or to have a floating herb and vegetable garden next to their home. 




























We stopped off at a dock where we enjoyed some coffee before hopping onto a tiny boat, sitting only inches above the water, that reminded me of the log rides at Disneyland, while a woman rowed us through the nearby 'woods', giving us an even closer look at some of the culture and nature surrounding us.



















We eventually decided it was time to head back, so we caught our last few glimpses of the floating village, and got back on our regular boat for the ride back to where Smarty parked his tuktuk.  The drive back was much of the same, and we stopped in town for lunch before going back to the hotel for a bit.

That afternoon, we had plans to go horseback riding so we only rested for an hour, before having Smarty drive us to the ranch. We arrived at The Happy Ranch Horse Farm, met our horses and went on our way! It was just Travers, me and the guide so we were able to get a nice private tour of the area.  Our guide took us through some beautiful rice paddies, past several small villages, and stopped just at the right time to see the sun set.What an adventure!

That evening, we went to a restaurant called Haven, which is known for helping disadvantaged young adults. The majority of the restaurant's staff started out as orphans and at age 18 expected to get jobs but had no training. Haven takes these people in, giving them training in either waiting tables or being in the kitchen and gives them a fair wage as well. It was great to be able to support this cause as well as the circus the evening before, and it didn't hurt that the food was delicious!  We finished a great meal, then walked to pub street for one last drink and to take in the Siem Reap culture.

The next day, we had another breakfast on the floating tables at the hotel, before Smarty picked us up again but this time, to take us to the airport.  It was great to meet Smarty and really have a local we could trust and that was looking out for our best interests throughout our visit to Siem Reap. If you ever go there, I highly recommend trying to hire him for at least a day to take you around.  Once at the airport, we said our goodbyes to Smarty, and got on a plane for a final destination of this Southeast Asia trip: Bangkok!