In 2004, self and her sister-in-law, Ying, took a trip to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat. We stayed in a house ($10/day for a room, including meals) and hired a driver.
The monument was crawling with tourists. One morning, desperate, self and Ying awoke at 4 a.m. and had the driver bring us to the temples. Across the giant causeway, which was barely light, we saw at least a hundred photographers, cameras pointed at the horizon, waiting for the first rays of the sun to appear. It was very dispiriting.
The thing self remembers most from the trip is not the temples. It was Tonle Sap Lake. Self and Ying hired a boat and threaded our way through the floating villages.
In 2008, Ying passed away in Tel Aviv. Self saw her for the last time a couple of months before. Her eyes were so sad.
Self’s story, “The Peacock,” is about that trip to Cambodia. She’s never been able to get it published, but she keeps trying.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
Kanlaon 
2 responses to “Tonle Sap Lake, Cambodia: “The Heart of the World””
Oh, so sorry about your friend–I was in Siem Reap 3 days in 2006.
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Ying was my sister-in-law. She was Thai. She was an old soul, maybe she had attained bodhisattva status in an earlier life.
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