Monkey Attack in Cambodia!

The last couple of days have been full of activity and discovery, mostly good, with a little adventure thrown in ...

We toured the Angkor Wat ruins near Siem Reap Cambodia - a place we visited during our Round the World trip earlier this year.  This time we brought our son, Lewis and his wife Ruby to enjoy this as the last stop on our Asian travel quest.

The amazing thing about these ruins is that they  always reveal something new.  Part of the strength of this place is that it's so vast - it covers miles and miles of jungle and has so much to see.  You could probably spend a month here and still find different sights to see and views that are unique.  We weren't disappointed this time either, as we wandered around the numerous locations, and I have included some pictures, but they never really convey the eye-popping experience.

 

Warning!  Monkey Attack Ahead! 

On the way back to the town after a day of viewing, hiking, and climbing around the ruins, we were heading down a stretch of road that had a bunch of monkeys.  People were stopping to look and take photos and "interact" with the monkeys.   

Only ... well ... have you ever been around monkeys?  They are not sweet little docile cute, teddy-bear-like critters - they are ill-tempered, vile, aggressive, disease ridden little beasts with a bad attitude.

We found this out all too soon.  As we stopped for a picture, some monkeys came over to us looking for food.  I thought our Tuk-Tuk driver was suggesting that I give them something to eat, so I tossed them some almonds that I had in my pocket.  My fellow travelers ...ahem, shall we say ... became upset with me - "never feed wild animals!  you idiot!"

So the monkeys got more aggressive, and got closer to the Tuk-Tuk, and then climbed on board.  This alarmed Ruby and she swatted one big money with her scarf - "shoo, get outta here!"  But ... the monkey didn't move ... so she smacked him with a guide book.

This really pissed off the monkey.  He flew into a rage ... and attacked Lewis!  Fangs were flying, and claws were out and he jumped on Lewis's back and started making mad monkey screeching noises and swinging some blows at Lewis - who was taken by surprise and yelled "What the ... ?" and jumped up and started fighting back.

The monkey (a vicious little bastard) threw a few more blows and tried to bite Lewis, then snarled one more time and jumped off the vehicle and we shouted to the driver - "let's get out of here!!!"  

People were still pretty amped up after the incident.  Lewis was kinda shook up and puzzled why the monkey attacked him ("I didn't even do anything!?!?).  I got yelled at some more about feeding them, and we sped off and everyone was yelling at each other and laughing and we were lucky to escape with our lives HA! HA! HA!

Unexpected Travel Gem Discovered   

We were heading in another direction for a slight change of pace from the Angkor Wat ruins, with the destination of a "floating village" - not sure what that meant.  We were trusting our TukTuk driver to take us to this place that he recommended.  We had the same driver all week and he was a good guy.  I nicknamed him "Carlos". 

So we drove off the beaten path, way out into the country side.  It started off raining hard but eventually let up, resulting in steamy tropical humid heat.  We went a long ways, in a direction not a lot of travelers go.

We drove along a canal for a while and then Carlos stopped and we got into a boat.  It was a pretty good sized boat, but driven by a little kid, like eight years old.  His big brother was there too.  Off we went in the canal into a broad swampy wetlands, it looked like it was flooded.  

We were pleasantly surprised after half an hour to come to a village that was basically built on the water.  It was a fishing village, and the structures were amazing.  They stick logs in the bottom of the water and go up four stories high or more.  It was a whole town built up in the air, like schools, churches, temples, shops, and even a small restaurant.  

This is not a place that a lot of westerners ever go to.  We felt like real explorers.  Then we stopped at a small shop and we got into even smaller boats, like canoes, rowed by ladies.  They took us out into a forest that was submerged in water, even more amazing, and so remote.  

Then after that, we got back in the big boat and went further, until we emerged into a giant lake!  This whole village exists so the fishermen and their families can fish the lake.  It's really out there a long way from anywhere.  And it's a huge lake, we couldn't see the other side, it turns out to be Tonle Sap - which is over 75 miles long, depending on the rains and flooding!

This was one of those rather thrilling moments in travel where you end up someone that you didn't even know existed and it's magnificent.  What a treat it was to go there.