Continuing to Battambang

Our destination is Battambang, the second largest city in Cambodia, and we decide to take a boat ride, which is described as charming and lasts for 7 hours. We are picked up directly at the hotel and taken to the pier in a minibus with 25 other tourists, where we board our boat (one hour later than planned), which has seen better days. The ride is truly impressive and adventurous, but 7 hours is also a long time....

First, we drive along the northern shore of the Tonle Sap Lake, then we go upstream through more or less wide sections. The floating villages that we pass through are very exciting. Our boat not only transports tourists but also locals who come shopping with their bags and baggage. The people live on the river and from the river, as fishermen and apparently crocodile breeders. Some houses look really proper and cozy, but many are just made of tarps or corrugated iron and house the poorest of the poor. What is inconceivable to us is the way garbage is handled. There seems to be no disposal. All waste ends up on the ground and ultimately in the river. Our German discussion about the ban on cotton swabs seems completely absurd to us in light of these conditions.

At the moment, it is dry season, so the boat is constantly having problems with sandbanks the further we go. At one point, the passengers even have to get off and walk 2 km. Only five young men stay on board and repeatedly help to push the boat free. Michael is happy for the first time not to belong to the young men anymore.

This is truly an adventurous journey.