Surprisingly many Cambodian people live permanently on the water. In huts on stilts, on boats (of a fashion) and some in little more than nests, in which they perch on the riverbank like colourful birds. They fish at night and grow rice during the day (on land loaned by the water during the drier seasons).

Boats and rafts are a way of life and colourful commerce flows and floats a few inches above muddy waters. These ladies visit their neighbours, floating door to door traders. At every turn other boats are filled to the brim with anything from fruit and vegetables, to pots and pans, and sticks and stones.

As we passed, there were shouts of 'hello' from every nook, with beaming smiles, waving hands and friendly eyes. But this isn't tourism. There's no one waiting to take the tourist dollars in exchange for souvenirs and tat, it isn't even a tourist boat we're on. This is just life, in a floating village, that we passed by while on the boat to Battambang.

A scheduled 5 hour trip @ 7am start, for reasons no one knows, began at and took 8. Just wrong enough for the morning cloud to get burned clear, and make way for relentless afternoon heat. But, I got carried away, mesmerised, I got about a million shots (ok, perhaps 2), and without any sun cream, I also got very very burned. I've been showing signs of heat sickness, but after an hour soak in a cold bath and drinking almost as much (on my 6th litre of water as I type) I'm recovering ok, the light headedness has almost gone and I'm thinking clearer, just very sore indeed. So I'm posting this image because if I'm suffering, I can tell myself it's art!