It’s sunrise in a rural floating village in Cambodia and there is a chill to the air that is beginning to wear off with as the sun gets higher in the sky. I’m perched on a low resting chair on the deck watching the village begin to stir. I’ve never been to a place like this before, where the whole village is built and morphed around the rising and falling tides. I am in Kompong Khleang, 50 km from Siem Reap and almost 300km from Phnom Penh. Every house is built on stilts, metres high, and a portion of the community live full time on houseboats tied to one another to move in unison as the river rises and falls. Downriver about 4 kilometres is a giant golden statue of Buddha standing tall against the skyline. The town messages boom over the speakers and music plays to wake the village soon. But for now, it’s quiet except for the hum of boat motors on the waters below. I could sit like this morning after morning.
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