23 March 2019
A visit to Siem Reap offers an opportunity to visit Tonle Sap, largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia and is the second most popular attraction in Siem Reap, after Angkor Wat.
Tonle Sap is a lake where its size varies greatly depending on the season. During the dry season, water from the lake drained via the Tonle Sap River to the Mekong River in the south and the lake becomes much smaller and very shallow.
However, in the rainy season (June to October), the huge amount of water in the Mekong River causes the Tonle Sap River to reverse its flow. This backflow, combined with the extra water coming from upstream, causes Tonle Sap lake to increase its size by up to five times its size in the dry season.
What is most interesting about Tonle Sap is not the lake itself, but the fascinating local communities and their floating villages.
There are actually several so-called floating villages located on and around the Tonle Sap Lake and they are all somewhat different.
Chong Khneas is the floating village nearest to Siem Reap. I was advised that this village is somewhat touristy as it is the one most visited by tourists.
I was deciding between Kampong Phluk and Kampong Khleang. Both are not actually floating villages as the houses are built on tall stilts.
I chose Kampong Khleang since it is furthest away (51 km from Siem Reap) and hence less touristy. It has the largest population of all the villages on Tonle Sap Lake and there is also an outer floating village that we could visit from Kampong Khleang.
We hired an air-conditioned van with driver for our day trip from Siem Reap to Tonle Sap and Kampong Khleang. We also planned to visit Beng Mealea, a Angkor temple ruin located around 68km northeast of Siem Reap, in the afternoon on the same day. We did not hire a guide for this trip.
Our journey from our hotel in Siem Reap to Kampong Khleang took about 1.5 hours along the well paved Highway 6. Since our visit was during the dry season, the stilt village is high and dry and we could access the village by road.
Approaching Kampong Khleang, we stopped briefly to purchase tickets (USD 20 per person) for our visit and boat ride from Kampong Khleang to see the floating village on Tonle Sap. The fees help to fund the local community and pay for the boat ride.
Our driver told us that the road we are travelling on would be covered by the lake during the wet season.
Kids in the centre of the village by the dusty road.
We arrived at what seems to the centre of the village with a small jetty next to a muddy stream. I did not know what to expect from the boat ride but I was already fascinated by the tall stilt houses that I could see from the jetty.
Boarding our boat at the jetty in the centre of Kampong Khleang.
There were not many other tourists around. We did not have to wait to get onto our little wooden boat, just right sized for our party of eight. This boat will bring us through the stilt village and onto the middle of Tonle Sap.
Our boatman was an elderly man who does not speak English. He pretty much left us alone while he concentrated on piloting the boat downstream. Only one other boat carrying tourists was in front of us.
Kampong Khleang.
From our boat, we could see rows of houses on both banks of the small and shallow muddy stream. We reckon that the water level would rise by many metres up to the floor level of the stilt houses towering above us. It was quite a sight and I was glad we came during the dry season to see this.
Kampong Khleang and the tall stilt houses during the dry season.
Every family in this village would need to have a boat. That would their primary mode of transport during the wet season when the entire village would be practically sitting on water.
The muddy stream that we were on is very shallow during the dry season. The boats were moving on a few feet of water and the propellers were almost hitting the riverbed. We saw another boat in front us with its propellers snagged by plastic bags, rubbish and debris from the stream.
The young boatman removing rubbish, plastic bags and debris from the propeller of his boat.
After a few days of temple exploration around Siem Reap, it felt good to sit back, relax and enjoy the views of rural Cambodia from the comfort of a moving boat for a change.
Loading supplies onto a boat, the primary means of transport for the villagers living on floating houses on Tonle Sap Lake.
Fish traps along the shallow river.
Close–up view of a fish trap. The types of fish found in Tonle Sap are mostly catfishes, based on a chart I saw at the jetty. These are bottom feeders that thrive in murky waters with low visibility.
House with satellite TV.
Abandoned boat overgrown with water hyacinth.
As we move away from the dense village of Kampong Khleang, we saw isolated wooden houses along the banks of the muddy stream leading into the Tonle Sap.
Here, the stilts were not as tall as those in Kampong Khleang, leading me to believe that these are probably temporary shelters for farmers and their families, growing crops on the fertile land around the lake during the dry season. During the wet season, the entire area would be flooded and the farmers would have to migrate inland or move to floating houses on the lake.
Man catching fish in the river.
I was actually surprised to see that the locals were using mechanised farming equipment to increase their productivity.
Farming equipment
Little birds sitting on the long arm of farming equipment probably used for spraying pesticides or fertilisers.
Villager pumping water from the stream into a portable water tank.
A floating provision store moored on the shore of the stream.
More small floating houses on boats.
Life by the shores of Tonle Sap.
Our boat soon moves into the great lake itself. Tonle Sap is the largest lake in South East Asia. In fact, it is actually more than twice the size of my home country, Singapore.
Leaving the shore behind us, it felt like we were in the middle of the sea.
A group of floating houses soon came into view, giving us another perspective of life on the Tonle Sap. Imagine living like nomads on a lake, moving your house to different parts of the great lake depending on the season and water level.
Floating village on Tonle Sap.
These folks are probably fisherman by trade.
Woman cleaning a fish on a boat.
Some houses are solar powered and even have satellite TV or communication equipment.
The small outhouse or toilet would discharge everything into the lake. Food for the fishes.
This is a floating schoolhouse.
I wonder what the kids do when not attending school.
After touring around the floating village for a while, we head back towards Kampong Khleang. Once more, we get to see local life along the shores of Tonle Sap. The children seem happy playing with their friends next to their wooden huts.
Young girl with her cat on the shores of the stream.
Another floating schoolhouse. This is a primary school for young kids.
The stream that our boat is moving on is very shallow and the propeller has to be near the surface to avoid hitting the river bed. This means that the propeller would throw up loads of muddy water when the boat is moving at higher speed. We got a bit worried when we saw a boat approaching us at high speed.
Boats generally slow down when passing close to one another. The boat slowed down just in time. We were not drenched in mocha coloured mud.
Our boat speeding along back towards Kampong Khleang.
View of the stream and the farming community on our way back to Kampong Khleang.
Approaching Kampong Khleang.
Friendly kids waving at us.
Fisherman unloading their catch at Kampong Khleang.
A Buddhist temple at Kampong Khleang, located on high ground.
We arrived back at Kampong Khleang at noon. Our visit to Kampong Kheang and the boat ride to see the floating village on Tonle Sap had taken about half a day. It was time well spent.
Everyone in our group was fascinated by what we saw and appreciate the difficult but yet simple life of the local people in rural Cambodia.
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