On our journey from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, we were given the option to visit the Kompong Khleang Floating Village on the shores of freshwater lake Tonlé Sap. We all voted in favour of visiting and to visit on the way to Siem Reap, rather than coming back to it another day.
After a 3.5hr journey, which did include a stop to the insect village where children chase tourists with giant tarantulas, we stopped at Prey Pros River Roadside Station. A mini-mart and lakeside restaurant we took the chance to enjoy lunch at.
After lunch we turned off the highway onto an unsealed brown dirt road. Already quite bumpy for most, on the bus it was much worse. As we neared the Kompong Khleang village area, we took the opportunity to walk to the village for a closer look. This stage the village was linear, along the dirt road and comprised of wooden and some metal homes, most on stilts, high above the road. It was pretty quiet, some folks working away and a few kids hanging out. The drizzle must have put a dampener on most moods.
The bus took us further down the road and dropped us off near to a monastery next to the water. We boarded a boat and followed the river south. Because the water levels were lower, at the beginning of our journey we saw mainly houses on stilts, raised about the road way with boats tied up almost 3 storeys below the houses. Even though the water level seemed low, it was still raining and completely overcast, so all my photos were getting terribly overexposed with white skies (hence the black and white selection, a great way to save a badly exposed photo).
Once we cleared the main village area and neared the lake however, the road that ran alongside the river was no more and the house became dedicated floating homes, without any stilts. Further south we also saw villagers working and travelling on the water.
On the return journey we managed to see the monastery that we didn't really notice on the way out on the water. We climbed aboard the bus and continued our journey toward Siem Reap.
