I slept in a little bit today, for the first time in a while! I wasn't going as far outside the city, so I had a little more time this morning.
The plan today was to head out to the Floating Village, to see the conditions in which the fishermen and their families live, and volunteer at one of the floating schools.
I left the hotel and headed south along the river, towards the lake. I can't even put into words what I witnessed traveling down that muddy dirt road. Hopefully the pictures paint a good enough picture.
A few minutes into the boat ride, I began to see the rudimentary houseboats, that are literally moved to follow the fish, dependant on the time of year and water level. These are all open structures with only a couple walls, no windows or furniture inside, no kitchen, bathroom or rooms at all. They sleep in hammocks, bathe, drink, fish, and use the river as a bathroom.
They spend the majority of their lives with no real place to walk around or solid ground to live on - they take their row boats to floating market buildings, the school is a giant boat, etc. The area behind the homes is useless, as it's all water as well between the trees. Unusable marshland.
The nicer buildings have signs above the doorways touting what organization sponsored the construction.
We went all they way through the village to the mouth of the river which opens into the largest lake in Southeast Asia.
The brown water, my guide reassured me, is fairly clear when it's not rainy season. I find this slightly hard to believe though, with all that the water is used for and considering there are 170 different villages on the lake.
The trip back was nothing but a relentless pursuit of money, unfortunately. The guide went on and on about the poverty and how nice Americans are, how much money they give, and asked how much I was going to give. If I wanted to visit the school, I could buy a $50 bag of rice. Hmmmm
The schools, I was told, are all orphanages because so many parents die on the lake in fishing accidents. The number of schools/orphanages seemed exhorbitantly high for the size of the village, and I saw only a few children at each as we passed by, which raised a flag. Additionally, my guide had told me earlier that the men fish, and the women stay at home caring for the family, and clean and cure the fish when the men bring it back; so they may lose their fathers, but not their mothers. Some things weren't adding up here. I opted out of visiting the school at all.
I made it back to my hotel had a late lunch, and did a little research. Sure enough, and as unfortunate as it is, there is an elaborate money making scheme using children as bait when in fact, it looks like the children really don't see that money, nor are most of them orphans. It's truly sad, because it puts a sour taste in your mouth when you really do have a heart for helping. I've found in the past that the true test of whether or not an organization is legitimately charitable and not-for-profit, is to volunteer your time and not necessarily money (at least not right off the bat). If they welcome volunteers, not just wallets, then you've found yourself a good organization. So sad, but I've learned my lesson to do a little research before donating or attempting to volunteer. The last thing I want to do is put money in the hands of a corrupt government officials or support communism.
I had dinner on Pub Street for the third time. There is such a fantastic selection of restaurants on the strip, that I haven't had the desire to venture too far. Ran back to my hotel in the rain and made it an early night tonight, as I leave tomorrow for Singapore and have several things to get done before catching my tuk tuk to the airport.
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