Chow’s series was made over 16 days in the peak of the wet season. The Singaporean photographer travelled on a “tiny boat” with a driver and translator who helped him access the floating villages, of which there are a total of 170. They spent all of their days on the lake, with no escape from the unforgiving heat of the sun. Most nights were spent on the boat too, or sleeping “wherever people let us sleep”. “I would say it’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done,” says Chow. “But I actually got very comfortable after six or seven days, sleeping on a wooden floor with a mattress and mosquito net, eating rice and tiny fish everyday – breakfast, lunch and dinner.”
If life on the lake is so tough, then why do people stay? By embedding himself in the community, Chow was finally able to understand. “During sunset – and I saw some crazy sunsets – you sit on the lake, singing karaoke, and it’s like the best feeling ever,” he smiles. These families have built homes, shrines, and communities on the water; leaving that behind is easier said than done. “Everyone I met was so happy,” says Chow. “They live simple lives. They go out, they fish… They sing karaoke, sometimes they get drunk. They live a chilled out life on the water, and that’s what they’ve been doing for generations.”
Chow was keen to portray the beauty of the Tonlé Sap. When he finally got to the middle of the lake, it was like being in “a 360 degree projection” – like the middle of the ocean, except the water was completely still. “It’s like being on glass,” he says. “Sometimes you can see tiny little boats floating on the horizon, like spaceships. It’s something that no photograph can replicate.”
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