Guest experience: "Wonderful and extensive exposure to country Cambodia"

Review on TripAdvisor, March 11, 2017, name: BarryH474

A 0500 start from Siem Reap, then a/c vehicle trip of 50 minutes to the dock. While still dark we had the opportunity to see the local workers also heading off for the beginning of the day, very interesting. 

From the dock and in a rising dawn we headed out onto Tonle Sap for a glorious trip to the floating village. Lots of early morning fishing and business activity. 

The floating village was a busy and happy place with a very vibrant waterway. 

The young children waving at the novelty of tourists passing. Elder children dressed in crisp whites and paddling themselves to school. Mr. Hoksan, the business owner is a local and was our guide from start to finish. With him we blended into the village which was a bit unusual as I did not see another tourist all day. l enjoyed this part of the trip immensely.

Tranferred to a smaller boat, but still 8.5 metres long, and off to the RAMSAR bird sanctuary. 

Again a waterway full of interesting activities and sights. The sanctuary was my wife's part of the trip. We were informed the water was down a bit and there was no flooded forest but there was plenty of birds about, ably spotted by either Mr Hoksan, the boatman or the deck hand. 

My wife was absolutely delighted with the quantity and variety of bird life. And as she was delighted, then so was I.

After a couple of hours in the bird sanctuary, back to the village for a genuine local lunch in Mr Hoksan home. He even made the effort to bring his Dad in to say hello. Then we headed back to Siem Reap, different boatman and a different route which further added to the trip, arriving at our hotel at about 1400.

This would be the most interesting, complex and best value for money trip we have ever been on!

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