But while the image itself is not the problem, the system in place that allows the image is often harmful – even deadly – to the animal.

The most egregious case of this was the recent shutdown of the “tiger temple” (actually Wat Pha Luang ta Bua Yanasampanno) in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, where investigators charged 22 people with animal trafficking, and found a slew of dead or mistreated animals, most of them rare or endangered, and some of which were preserved for… well, no one’s sure what, but it’s probably not good.

But, as is often the case in Asia, phone calls were made, and the facility will re-open at a new location this year – although reportedly with more oversight.

The only good thing to come out of this is all the publicity. Recently, stories about animal abuses on social media and blogs have helped spread the word to the point where awareness is higher than ever before – but it’s still very easy to find yourself in a dodgy situation, even if you never planned it to turn out that way.

Still, you may wonder how feeding a baby tiger some milk can hurt. The answer is: it doesn’t. It’s what goes on behind the scenes that’s the problem. There have been many reports – none of them substantiated, but it’s not hard to believe – that the tigers are drugged to keep them docile. And it doesn’t stop there – YouTube has a slew of heartbreaking videos that show humans restraining, hitting, and beating baby elephants to ‘break’ them to be more passive for tourists. The orangutan climbing on your shoulder didn’t leave his home of his own free will – someone captured him, sold him, and went back to capture more, depleting the habitat of its wildlife and forcing the animal into a pretty rotten life.

Practices like this are part of a large-scale pattern that’s causing great harm to animal populations around Asia. As travelers, it’s our responsibility to understand the dangers and do our part to not merely avoid the harmful practice, but actively work to make things better.

But hey, we’re not robots – we love animals, and we understand that it’s not everyday you can play with elephants, feed apes, or help rehabilitate injured or abandoned creatures of all sizes. So while there are plenty of dodgy zoos, farms, and animal centers, there are also many that put the best interests of the animal ahead of making a buck.

Smiling Albino puts a lot of work into finding ethical animal experiences for our guests to enjoy, should that be something they’d like to experience. For instance, non-riding elephant experiences at the Anantara Golden Triangle, Elephant Nature Park, Elephant Valley or Boon Lott’s provide a safe, enjoyable experience that both benefits the animals and provides our guests with a great story to take home with them.

Animal tourism is a controversial issue, but as always, we’re here to answer any questions you might have. If you really want an animal experience to be a part of your Smiling Albino trip, we can make it happen, and in a way that benefits you and the animals. Everybody (and every animal) wins!

The post Animal Tourism first appeared on Smiling Albino.

We’ve had 15 years to explore and discover the mystical countries of the East and guide many guests into our world, now we share our insight with our online community. When you finally make your epic trip across the ocean remember to pack this list of destinations. And without further adieu. . .

Treasure #5 – Mahabharata Range, Nepal

Picture for a moment following an ancient footpath with unspoilt nature on both sides. In front of you is an amazing landscape of the Mahabharata range.

On one side you pass lovely, lowly villages with terraced fields and forests on the other in the horizon is a spectacular silhouette of the majestic Himalayas.

Treasure #4 – Tonle Sap Lake, Cambodia

Reach the lake by a comfortable private car or a slower, healthier cycling trip through quaint villages, rice fields and temples.

Tonle Sap Lake is Southeast Asia’s largest lake, and a must see when you wish to escape from temple-overload.

Board a charming boat for an interesting look at floating villages where locals literally live right on the lake, relying on it for everything.

Treasure #3 – Marble Mountains, Vietnam

As you travel, by the means you find worthy, from Ho Chi Minh to Hue in the north you pass quaint villages, fantastic white sandy beaches, endless green rice paddies, over three mountain passes, and psychological the boundary between the north and south Vietnam. On the journey you pass the Marble Mountains, there are 5 in total each with a name of the five elements. These mountains are littered with numerous caves and tunnels as well as Buddhist sanctuaries. Nearby is the spectacular Hai Van Pass overlooking Danang’s coastline and the tele-famous sites around China Beach.

Treasure #2 – Shan State, Myanmar

In the northern Shan State of Myanmar out the town of Hsipaw, are the fascinating Shan and Palaung villages. With the natural beauty, historic stupas and cottage-industry factories, this region is still a rare unspoiled gem. Learn more about the Shan culture or the history of Hsipaw as you walk through panoramic scenes of paddy fields, small creeks and smiling families. Don’t miss the unique wooden monastery as well as some small home industries like cheroot (cigar) rolling, bamboo weaving “factories”, among others. Here you discover genuine, simple village life.

Treasure #1  – Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation, Thailand

A classic Thai experience is a day as a ‘mahout’ or elephant handler. During the course you work alongside a professional elephant trainer and learn about these magical creatures.

Responsibilities include retrieving the elephants from the jungle, assisting with feeding, cleaning, bathing and learning how to drive an elephant via native verbal and physical commands.

Part of your payment is donated to support the foundations work to rescue elephants, so you can come and play with a free conscious!

See more unsuspecting treasure spots from Smiling Albino.

The post 5 Unsuspecting Treasures in Asia first appeared on Smiling Albino.

The Tonle Sap provides numerous opportunities for visitors to travel to one of the stilted or floating villages of Cambodia and experience the vibrant communities and diverse animals that inhabit the great Cambodian lake.  Either via day trips to flooded forests and floating villages from Siem Reap, Kompong Chhnang, and Pursat or while traveling between Siem Reap and either Phnom Penh or Batdambang aboard a ferry or luxury riverboat, even a glimpse of a Cambodian floating village is an experience to remember.

Tonle Sap as the Beating Heart of Cambodian Life: The Tonle Sap Lake is connected to the Tonle Sap River, which meets the Basaac and Mekong Rivers at the chaktomuk or “four-faces” in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.  Each year the spring snowmelt in the Himalaya Mountains flows into the Mekong River and the surging water causes the Tonle Sap River to change its course, flowing backwards into the Tonle Sap Lake.

Gradually, the Tonle Sap Lake fills with this nutrient rich water and swells nearly fivefold: its waters rising from a dry season low of 3-6 feet to nearly 35 feet deep!  As the waters of the lake continue to rise, Cambodian communities living in stilted villages such as Kompong Phluk move higher and higher up their uniquely designed homes to stay above the water line, while those living in floating homes, including Chong Kneas and Kompong Luong, simply relocate according to the seasonal ebb and flow.

The monsoon rains cause the lake to fill and spill over onto the surrounding flood plains, engulfing the forests and supporting a thriving underwater ecosystem, which is the mainstay of the local economy.  As the heavy monsoon rain feeds even more water into the Tonle Sap the lake continues to swell until around November, when replete with water, the lake overpowers the Mekong and the water flows back towards Phnom Penh, into the Mekong and Basaac Rivers, and finally out to sea.

As this cycle is so vital to the livelihoods of many Cambodians, the nation celebrates the reversal of the river with a grand water festival, the Bonn Om Tuk, during which people from all over Cambodia converge in Phnom Penh for exciting boat races!

Visiting Communities on The Tonle Sap:  The best opportunities for visitors to experience life on the Tonle Sap are via day trips, primarily from Siem Reap, which can include both the stilted and floating villages of Chong Kneas, Kompong Phluk and Mechrey villages, and the Prek Toal Biosphere Reserve.

Visitors to Pursat and Kompong Chhnang may also visit floating villages on those parts of the lake, particularly Kompong Luong, which is located near Pursat on the southern shore of the Tonle Sap. In addition to birding, these trips provide an opportunity to see the unique villages that are home to diverse populations of Khmer, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Cham ethnic groups.

Kompong Phluk:  The floating village and flooded forest of Kompong Phluk sit at the edge of Tonle Sap Lake near the mouth of the Roluos River, not far from the temple town of Roluos, eight miles southeast of Siem Reap.

There are several villages that make up this fishing community of around 3,000, who relocate their homes seasonally as the water levels of the lake alternatively swell and recede with the annual monsoon.  A number of villagers live in stilted houses near the coast, while others live in floating houses, some of which have in-board motors.

In the dry season there is an island with a temple, school, market area, and areas for drying and smoking the daily catch.  During the dry winter months, when the waters of the lake are lowest, temporary thatched bamboo and wood buildings are constructed on the banks and it is possible to walk under the stilted houses.

When the rains come, the waters of Tonle Sap rise, flooding the entire village.  While the floating houses and shops can move closer to or farther from shore as the lake alternatively swells and recedes, the stilted houses allow the villagers to stay in place while the lake rises upwards of 30 feet.  As the water rises, the villagers move their houses up successive levels of the stilts in order to stay above the high water line.

During the wet season, the boats come out and everyone gets around by paddling from house to house, to market, or even to restaurants, churches, and wedding platforms.  Vast mangrove forests surround the entire village, offering incredibly scenic locations for boat excursions along the flooded tree line.

As one of the most convenient locations from Siem Reap, Kompong Phluk is a great experience for most visitors, even if tourism has become nearly as important as traditional forms of income.

Chong Kneas: Chong Kneas is a large stilted and floating village along the edge of the Tonle Sap where boats from Batdambang and Phnom Penh dock following the voyage across the lake to Siem Reap and the Angkor temples.  While Chong Kneas is the most convenient Tonle Sap community to visit from Siem Reap, it is also the most heavily visited by tourists and thus the least ‘authentic’ of the villages on the lake.

Chong Kneas is home to around 6,000 Khmer, Cham and Vietnamese, who live in either houseboats or wood and bamboo stilted homes. Due to dramatic variations in the lake’s water levels over the seasons, the floating homes are moved regularly to new moorings and the living quarters on some of the stilted homes are relocated up successive levels to stay above the high water mark.

Almost all the villagers live by fishing, and all village life happens on the water. The lively market, police station, two schools, fish and crocodile farms, the fishermen’s temple, and a Catholic church are all only accessible by boat. An environmental sustainability project called the GECKO Environmental Education Centre allows visitors to learn about the communities and ecology of the lake and helps the local population deal with infrastructure problems such as sewage, refuse, and lack of clean drinking water.  GECKO has a floating office within the village, which you are more likely to visit if your trip is arranged directly with the organization.

Mechrey Village: Mechrey Village, which is located just 6km from the Prek Toal Biosphere in the northwest ‘corner’ of the lake, offers visitors the opportunity to explore land-based villages upon ox or buffalo drawn carts and floating villages and flooded forests in small boats.  Mechrey is one of the newest Tonle Sap communities to open itself up to tourism and the experience for visitors is likely to be more authentic and less crowded than visits to the established and more popular sites, such as Chong Kneas and Kompong Phluk.

Kompong Luong Floating Village: Kompong Luong is a fascinating floating village that is almost entirely self-sustaining. There is everything from markets to schools and ice factories there, all kept afloat and ferried around the community by busy fleets of long tail boats.  One of the most charming ‘buildings’ in the village is a wonderful floating Christian church built by Japanese missionaries.

Kompong Luong is located on the southern shore of Tonle Sap, just outside the charming town of Pursat; since its off the beaten track tourists visit infrequently, which is a shame because the area is a marvel and the locals could do with some tourist dollars.

Prek Toal Biosphere: Prek Toal Biosphere is one of the three designated protected biosphere reserves on the Tonle Sap Lake. Situated in the northwest corner of the lake, between Siem Reap and Batdambang, Prek Toal is the easiest protected area to visit and is particularly popular with those who love birds.

The establishment of the Prek Toal bird sanctuary has added a wonderful dimension to a floating village visit, even for those who aren’t ornithologists or amateur birders.   A wide variety of rare birds, including storks, pelicans, ibises, cormorants, and darters gather in a relatively small area, especially during the dry season months (December to April), when visitors are practically guaranteed to see something special.  Other species inhabiting the coastal region of the preserve include otters, slow Loris, and flying fox.

A permit from the World Conservation Society (WCS) is required to visit Prek Toal, though it is easily arranged through a local birding or ecotourism outfit in Siem Reap.  Other tour operators will offer to take you into Prek Toal (without permission), but it is best to visit with organizations such as the Sam Veasna Center or Osmose, both of which have knowledgeable birding guides and connections with the WCS and local villagers.  Visiting the area with the proper permission ensures that your visit doesn’t adversely impact either the environment or the community and it is possible to combine a birding trip with a home-stay opportunity in the floating village!

Want to know more about Stilted and Floating Villages in Cambodia? Check out our Video of Kompong Phluk Floating Village and our Photo Gallery of Floating Village life in Kompong Phluk, Cambodia, which were taken in the dry season months.

Best Time to Visit Kompong Phluk: Both the rainy and dry seasons have their own unique qualities, but the rainy season from June to October is when the villages are most scenic.

Best Time to Visit Chong Kneas: Both the rainy and dry seasons have their own unique qualities, but the rainy season from June to October is when the villages are most scenic.

Best Time to Visit Mechrey Village: Both the rainy and dry seasons have their own unique qualities, but the rainy season from June to October is when the villages are most scenic.

Best Time to Visit Kompong Luong: Kompong Luong Floating Village is best visited during the dry season months (November-May) when road conditions are best.

Best Time to Visit Prek Toal: Prek Toal Biosphere is best visited early in the morning (followed by an overnight stay if possible), particularly during the winter, dry season (December to April) when there are the greatest number of birds in the sanctuary.

Listen to Smiling Albino co-founder Scott Coates and National Geographic guidebook writer Trevor Ranges talk about floating villages in Cambodia.

Check out some of our photos from a visit to Kampong Pluk Floating Village.

The post Life on the Tonle Sap Lake: Stilted and Floating Villages of Cambodia first appeared on Smiling Albino.