The Funan Canals




Racing up the Canal

 


Angkor Borei



Phom Ba Temple




Looking East towards Vietnam

  Given that we had the afternoon off, Seven of us took a boat ride on the Funan Canals. These were built in the 1880's to reach the impoverished village of Angkor Borei. We had two boats. Since there were only 7 of us the boat driver wanted to take a lady and her bags of shopping including a few live ducks. Lisa, our leader who wasn't coming with us told them to take only our group. The lady left and off we went full speed ahead. Then, we took a slight detour to pick up - guess who - the lady and her ducks. The ducks were flapping around at Margaret Walton's feet.  We passed many boats of various shapes and sizes as well as shacks built on the canal berms. We figure the people in the shacks are there temporarily to work the rice paddies and also to fish. There were also large boats carrying empty water kicks and recyclable material. Our first stop after about 35 minutes was an archeological museum at the village of Angkor Borei. The approach to the village was a twisty narrow channel with lush vegetation on either side. The approach and the village itself reminded me of the scene in Apocolypse Now when they arrive at the surreal village. There was all manner of decrepit boats and sampan's with people bathing in the water. The duck lady left us here. The Museum was small and we were off again to the temple of Phnom Da. There we climbed up many stairs to the temple on the mountain. There is a chunk out of the side of the Temple that was from a bomb during a battle between Vietnm forces and the Khemer Rouge. Most of Cambodia is flat so it was strange to see this moderately high mountain in the middle of all this flood prone flat land. From the top we apparently could see Vietnam about six kms away. The trip back was fun as the sun was setting and we arrived at Takeo at 6:00 pm just as it got dark.  We all agreed that the 2-1/2 hr cruise was well worth  the $10 (each) we paid. Posted by Dave

Canal Houses