Different world – floating villages on Tonle Sap lake…

You all know that most people come to Siem Reap to see the ruins of Angkor Empire. We, however, recommend staying around a little longer and seeing the “floating villages” on the Tonle Sap lake. It’s definitely one of the most unusual places we have ever seen. The whole village, the whole society, lives on the lake. In houses that sometimes have barrels or parts of boats (mainly in Chong Kneas) or poles (in Kompong Phluk) as foundations. That’s where they live, raise their children, go to school. Some houses are really simple and look quite makeshift and poor while others are astonishingly colourful. Even tough, I guess that none of us would be willing to live there 🙂

If you visit the village in the afternoon, you’ll see how the everyday life of the inhabitants looks like – someone’s working, someone’s washing his hair, others sleep in hammocks (most popular way to cope with the heat in Cambodia!), the kids play on the “porch” above the water or help their parents with their work, sail in the boats alone or with their mothers. The villages include shops, temples, schools and even police stations! I have to say that it was the most picturesque police station I have ever seen!! 🙂

The best way to get to the floating villages is to book a trip in one of local tourist agencies. There’s lots of them in Siem Reap, just walk in and book your trip – usually you can even go as soon as the next day. The trips are usually partially described in a brochure or on a poster. It’s not organised too well, and there might be some unpleasant surprises, but it’s still worth it! It’s around $20-30 for a trip. It’s worth bargaining (as everywhere else in Cambodia). We paid $45 for a trip to Kampong Phluk for two instead of $60.

Most tourist agencies offer trips to two villages: Chong Kneas and Kampong Phluk. Chong Kneas is much closer, a trip lasts about 3 hours with a tuk tuk drive included. Kampong Phluk is a 6-hour trip with a long tuk tuk ride and quite a long boat trip. But it’s Kampong Phluk that we recommend the most! Look why 🙂

We visited Chong Kneas first… The world out there is amazing. It’s so different than ours, that you begin to think about the existence. Poor houses with no extra facilities, naked children helping their parents or sailing through the lake. Life on a tiny surface, on the water, where every “going out” requires rowing and a boat. And most of all, the kids… A complete opposite of our thinking about the type of a car seat, flavour of the pudding, brand of the pram and the way the kid is laid to bed (a little bit right or maybe a little bit left), etc. You look around and start thinking what would people from Chong Kneas do, if they were to live in our world. And I’m sure that we wouldn’t have any chances in theirs. Being accustomed to all the gadgets that make our lives easier that we use every day. A great place not only to see different way of life, but also to think about all the “first world problems”…

Any disadvantages of Chong Kneas? You can sense the touristic approach. I mean, the life in the little houses seems pretty genuine with all the everyday items being present, and people working and generally living. We didn’t like the idea of encouraging tourists to buy something in a specific shop and give it to children at school. We actually wanted to buy something…

“Something” costs $5-10, and we already bought a $12 cane of milk for a lady with a kid yesterday. What can you buy in Chong Kneas? There’s not much for $5-10 in the shop but a kind man will persuade you that rice is what the kids need the most. It’s sold only in 50 kg bags. For $50! So it appears that a country that is one of the main rice exporters, sells 1 kg of rice for $1 dollar!! Is it only me, or is rice in Lidl in Poland cheaper than that? Or at least at a similar price? Next question: is the bag of rice actually going to the school or back to the shop, where another tourist will buy it for $50 again? We left the place immediately, paid a short visit to the school, where the kids cheered and greeted us but at the same time seemed quite bored with another pack of tourists. Some people criticise Chong Kneas for people (usually mother and children) approaching your boat and asking for a dollar or two here and there. We didn’t have such experiences (apart from the bag of rice situation) and nobody asked us for anything. Of course, they took us to the souvenir shop, but it was ok. They had a little pond with crocodiles called “the crocodile farm” which was the best part of the trip for Maks. Before he went to sleep in the evening, he told himself a fairy tale about “a little crocodile, whose name was Maks”.

Even though we had our doubts about Chong Kneas and didn’t like some things there, we decided to go to Kampong Phluk on the next day. Due to the situation in the Philippines (and the unsteady weather in Vietnam) we stayed a whole week in Siem Reap and therefore needed some attractions. The trip costs $10 more per person, but after some negotiations the price turns out to be pretty much the same even though it’s twice as long!

We leave the hotel at 1.30 pm and take a tuk tuk. We have some company this time – an old lady from Scotland (there’s lots of old couples in Cambodia. Almost like on the Canary Islands in January :)). The trip is quite long and boring and outside of the town we see storm clouds coming. I get a bit panicky and start asking Łukasz if it’s going to rain, when and where etc. as I don’t want to find myself in the middle of the lake in small boat with storm above me.  Fortunately the tuk tuk trip takes so long, that the sky clears up. We see some crocodiles on our way and also some wedding preparations. We even visit the couple and see how they prepare. We love this kind of stuff and the bride and groom where happy to pose for pictures for us! Then the boat and off we go!

Kampong Phluk is inhabited by approx. 3,000 people and it looks much better than Chong Kneas. It took us quite a while to get there and Maks wanted to get free after a few hours of sitting on my laps/in my hands but it’s still worth it. No suspicious stuff this time. No need to buy rice for children, no little ones playing with snakes. Even no visits to the school because the classes are in progress (we’ve seen it from the boat)… Same goes for the villages we passed on our way. It all looks quite genuine. There were also crocodiles – on our way, not in the village. Maks would happily spend the whole trip with them! Kampong Phluk is also amazing because of the colours. Some houses are grey and grim with stray roofs, but many are painted blue or green. They look amazing with a rainbow in the background. Seeing the sunset and getting back through the almost black lake was an amazing experience. Especially after knowing that the people there only use little candles or no light at all. How about you? Do you think you would make it there? 🙂

Then we went a little bit further, to the floating forest – a forest with trees growing out of the lake. We stopped at the restaurant and then took a little boat. Sitting in the middle of it was essential as the boat had a tendency to flip over. Seems easy, but a vigorous 2 year old surely made it difficult 😉 But we made it! A short break and a looong trip back home. But it was worth it! If you ever have to choose between Chong Kneas and Kampong Phluk – try the second option! It seems more authentic, there’s no begging for money, a place to relax in the forest and the looong trip through the lake is amazing. And the views are spectacular!

PS. Tomorrow we’re leaving Cambodia and saying GOOD MORNING WIETNAM! 🙂