The floating villages at Tonle Sap Lake have become something of an interest for tourists visiting Siem Reap. The fascination with people who live in floating houses, travel to floating schools and eat at floating restaurants is quite an attraction for the many visitors that come to Cambodia.
As well as the floating villages, there are also stilted villages along the banks of Tonle Sap Lake, where houses and buildings rest on tall, thin stilts that keep the occupants dry during the wet season, with giant ladders to reach the lower levels during the dry season.
Floating Villages
Several communities of people are living on the Tonle Sap Lake. There are four main villages that are accessible from Siem Reap and a variety of ways to get there. The villages: Chong Kneas, Mechrey, Kampong Phluk and Kampong Khleang are described in detail below.
Chong Kneas
Chong Kneas is the closest village to access from Siem Reap, approx. 16 km. Consisting of stilted houses and also floating houses, which are regularly moved around according to water levels. Chong Kneas is also the boat terminal for Battambang and Phnom Penh.
Chong Kneas is largely set up to serve Korean tourists, as such there are numerous Korean restaurants. It is also a common place for rice scams. The boat tours are not owned by the local community and the people living here see hardly any of the vast amounts of tourist money coming in.
In short, unless you’re planning to travel by boat to Battambang or Phnom Penh, there’s probably not much else here of interest.
Kampong Phluk
Kampong Phluk, which literally means “harbour of the tusks”, is actually 3 villages, with mainly stilted houses, that line the main entrance to the Tonle Sap Lake from this area. It’s just over 30km from Siem Reap and can be easily managed in a half day trip. The community sustain themselves mainly on catching fish and shrimp, but also harvest some land crops during the dry season.
The road trip and also the river trip are relatively short compared to some of the other villages. A private company will ferry you through the village to the lake as that is the main destination. There aren’t any activities that tourists normally can do in Kampong Phluk as this is a working village and most of the people are focused on their own industry, quite separate to the tourism industry buzzing past their doors.
Literally going right past the houses of the locals can be interesting to view another way of life, but it can feel quite invasive as well, especially knowing these residents aren’t either involved in or receiving any benefit from the industry. However, nearby there are small boats that can take you around the mangroves, or flooded forest, which is a more authentic experience. There are also a few floating restaurants and stopping here also supports some of the local tourism industry.
