Although we had to get up early we actually were woken up a bit earlier than we had planned. We heard off in the distance some music and chanting. We found this hotel and also the hotel in Hoi An were apparently not built with much sound proofing insulation. Of course they are located in the tropics so insulation probably wasn't much of a concern. Our tour manager Ray told us at breakfast that it was a funeral ceremony. We had our last breakfast here and checked out to head to the country side to take our Buffalo Cart ride. As we made our way the scenery slowly changed to more rural. Soon enough we had arrived. We were led over to the Buffalo Carts. They were lined up and waiting for us. It was 2 people to a cart. We climbed in and actually had to sit back to back facing front and back in the carts. I was apparently interesting to this Buffalo They both started licking the bottom of my shoes As soon as we were all aboard our carts we were off. It was a slow pace and kind of bumpy as we were on dirt roads. Ah getting underway, slow and steady Ah the happy couple on their Buffalo Cart ride It was a very calm ride just sitting there and looking off to the country sides at the scenery. I was facing the back so I had a great view of the 2 Buffalo's pulling the cart behind us. We saw farmers working their fields and of course lots of rice on the side of the road drying out. Harvested rice drying alongside the road in front of some kind of shop. Notice the clothes hanging All of the animals we saw again were all very skinny. That seems to be the running theme in Cambodia, skinny animals. Even the Buffalo's pulling our carts were just a little thin in the skin. The local expression was that we were riding in a Cambodian Lexus. The driver behind me looking very serious in his Cambodian Lexus Some local children greeting us as we rolled on by We saw many houses built on stilts for the rainy season We rounded this corner and moved onto a paved road The rest of our group bringing up the rear We passed this temple on our ride After about an hour or so our ride came to an end. We all climbed down off of our carts. After a little stretching and some OOH's and AH's we all got back on board our bus to head to Tonle lake to go and visit the Floating city. We had about an hour and a half ride and Sopay told us a little about their culture. I was very surprised to learn that children are not taught in school about the Khmer Rouge. The government seems to want to erase it from their history. We saw these little boys playing next to our rest stop Our guide Sopay peeled back and opened up this Lotus flower Soon enough we arrived at the make shift docks to get on our boat. The boats were small and narrow with very loud and powerful outboard motors. The motors had very long stems so that they can easily lift the propeller out of the water in shallow areas. We rode for about 20 minutes in a narrow channel that emptied into the lake. You can't help notice how brown the water is. No EPA anywhere to be found. A boat speeding by us in the opposite direction As soon as we got into the main part of the lake we started seeing very make shift floating houses, at least by our standards. We saw a church, a school that had an open area for the kids to play in, many houses or shops or maybe one in the other. We saw people washing clothes right in the lake, people cleaning fish and preparing it for either sale or lunch. We saw so many floating buildings but it seemed like a close community. Their version of a convenience store Another shop of some kind This is the place to come for Sunday Mass This is their school And this is the school's playground They even had something like a street sign A fish processing house We saw a number of houses with antenna's for television or internet reception Another place for processing freshly caught fish Daily life on the Tonle Lake We made our way back to the dock and got off to board our bus and drive to the airport for our flight to Thailand. We said goodbye to Sopay at the airport and proceeded to check in for our flights. We had to fly to Bangkok and then on to Chiang Mai. It was a long afternoon but after completing both flights we headed to what turned out to be our favorite hotel of the trip, The Four Seasons Chiang Mai. Our very spacious room at the Four Seasons Hotel was amazing Our Huge bathroom We had a wonderful dinner at this restaurant on the grounds There was this beautiful and comfortable lounge Their beautiful pool all lit up Next time we Visit the Chiangdao Elephant Training Center
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