Siem Reap, Cambodia - Tonle Sap and the floating villages

 

Welcome to Tonle Sap

 

If you look at a map to Cambodia, you would see a relatively large body of water towards the west of the country. This is Tonlé Sap, the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia designated as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. A tour of this lake and the floating villages located on it is one of the things to do in Siem Reap besides temples.

 

You have the option of accessing Tonle Sap via Chong Khneas, Kompong Phluk or Kompong Khleang. The latter two are further away from Seam Reap and consequently receive less tourists. Chong Khneas is the nearest (15km away), but the crux of the problem of Chong Khneas is the scams and rip-offs, ranging from exorbitant boat fare and being forced to "donate" to a school for orphans. On the latter, the modus operandi is that the boat driver would take you to a grocery store to buy stuff to donate to the school. I'm all for spreading love and joy to children in need but not when the bag or rice you are supposed to buy cost USD50 and certainly not when you know that only a fraction of the money you part with goes to the children.

 

So, against our travelling norm, we booked a private "Authentic Tonle Sap" tour through Smart Tour Travel. The Tonle Sap tour price that we booked was USD120 for us 2 adults (free for kids under a certain age) for the tour which started at 8am. Probably still expensive but at least we knew that that was the max we would pay and the rate included transportation by car from and back to our hotel, private guide, lunch at a decent Khmer restaurant and the boat trip itself. Further, the tour started at Chong Khneas and ended at Kompong Phluk so we got to see both floating villages. 



1) GECKO Environment Centre

We had a brief stop here while on the way in the car from Siem Reap to Chong Khneas. The centre has displays and information on the ecology and biodiversity of the lake area as well as the lives of poeple living in the floating villages.

 

Front entrance of GECKO Environment Centre

Playing with the displays with a couple of Cambodian kids

 

2) Chong Khneas Floating Village

At the jetty, our tour guide sorted our tickets for the boat so that saved us from all the hassle. We boarded a long-tail fishing boat that could fit at least 10 people. There were lifejackets on the boat but all were adult-sized. So remember to bring your own if you are travellng with kids. We always bring Snufkin's own child-sized lifejacket when we have boat tours in our itineraries.

The floating village was a village in every sense, with sundry shops, petrol station, schools and of course the village houses. You see women rowing their boats, probably to get their provisions for the day. I was told that the villagers there were mostly Vietnamese. But Vietnamese or Khmer, it was obvious that these were very poor people and I am not sure whether they appreciated having tourists with their expensive gadgets peering into their impoverished houses on a daily basis.
 

Grocery shopping on the Tonle Sap

Floating school

3) Crocodile and Fish Farm

We stopped at a Crocodile and Fish Farm, which was nothing if not a tourist trap. There was a small crocodile pit and a smaller enclosure for catfish where you can purchase fish food and keep the young ones entertained for 5 seconds. Apart from that, there was a souvenir shop, a restaurant and a viewing deck on the upper level.

 

This was also where we were approached by beggars - a small girl with a snake wrapped around her neck; a woman with a face full of sorrow, her small child in a cradle at the stern of her decrepit boat.

 



 A mere prop used by the beggar? I still gave some money



We then made our way across the great lake towards Kompong Phluk. It was quite a long journey, probably more than an hour. Only then I could sense how big the lake was - at some parts I could barely see land. I had a good time chilling on the bow of the boat and Snufkin even joined me for a couple of minutes (the water was very still, Snufkin had his lifejacket on and I was assured that there was no crocodile!)

 

Boating across the Great Lake

 

4) Flooded forest of Kompong Phluk

This was my absolute favourite part of the tour. We were dropped off at a small floating restaurant and from there boarded a paddle boat rowed by a Cambodian woman who brought along her little girl.

 

The boat navigated through the narrow waterways of the flooded mangrove forest. It was serene and tranquil. The trunks and boughs of the trees reflected clearly on the still water, rippled only by the movement of the boat. We saw only two other boats; for most of the time it was quiet, save for the splashes of the oar. Snufkin enjoyed himself tremendously - he even gave one of his Hotwheels cars that he brought to the girl who, by the way, had one of the saddest faces I've seen in a child.

 

I would do this tour again just for this boat ride.

 

Rowing through the flooded forest

Flowers plucked by our rower - I had no idea what she said when she gave it to us

5) Kompong Phluk floating village

We saw more of authentic village life here than in Chong Khneas. The houses soared high on stilts and many had boats parked at their doorsteps. The villagers were going through their daily lives - the men sorting out their catch in the fishing nets, the women washing dishes, doing their laundry and the kids splashing in the water. Their lives literally and figuratively centred around the lake.


Houses on tall stilts

Police station

School run Kompong Phluk style

Snufkin fell asleep on my lap as our boat drove through the village. And he stayed asleep as we docked at the "jetty", transferred from the boat to the waiting car, had lunch at the Khmer restaurant and all the way to the hotel. All in all 1.5 hours of sleep.

I would recommend a trip to the floating villages if you plan around the potential scams, include the boat trip to the flooded forest and do not mind feeling like a one dollar dispensing machine.

Kompong Phluk "jetty"