Travel Matters: Some options for celebrating Mother's Day with travel [to a floating village in Cambodia]

Betty Gross

Cambodia's Lake Tonlé Sap is the site of a floating village that is home to Cambodian and Vietnamese people. During the rainy season, floating homes are kept close to shore; in dry times, they float more freely.

Published: Saturday, May 5, 2012

WISH YOU WERE HERE

Wonder on water in Southeast Asia

By Betty Gross of Austin

Lake Tonlé Sap in Cambodia was the last stop on my two-week tour of Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. This lake is the site of a floating village that is home to Cambodian and Vietnamese people.

The villages have floating schools, gymnasiums and temples. In the rainy season, the floating homes are pulled close to shore, and in the dry season they float out to accommodate the changing water levels.

We stayed in the town of Siem Reap, Cambodia, for three days visiting the beautiful ruins of Angkor Wat .

This is commonly known as the location for the filming of "Raiders of the Lost Ark." Sites included Ta Prohm , a temple that has merged with the surrounding jungle where serpentine tree roots entwine the rubble of the temple walls.

Before leaving for the boat tour, we stayed for several days in Luang Prabang, Laos, which is a World Heritage site since it has many buildings left from the days of French Colonial occupation.

Another part of this tour was a three-day boat trip down the Mekong River. We visited Laotian villages and were treated to a Baci friendship ceremony. We also boarded long boats and traveled on a tributary of the Mekong in order to see the Pak Ou cave or "Cave of a Thousand Buddhas," a limestone cave where many people have left small Buddha statues over many years.

My journey began in Bangkok before November's flooding. This is such a modern industrial city with more sites than we could possibly see in two days.

Angkor Wat, Lake Tonlé Sap and the Mekong River were high points on a trip that was filled with wonder and beauty.

Betty Gross is a transplanted Yankee who has lived in Austin since 1980.

Wish You Were Here runs the first Sunday of every month. E-mail a 300-word account of your trip and a high-resolution image to handers@statesman.com.