250 km in length and 100 km wide, Tonle Sap Lake is a spot in Siem Reap that is worth visiting. The lake is home to both humans and fish. Here are more interesting things about 4 main floating villages on the lake giving you more reason for a visit here.
Chong Khneas
This is the floating village that is situated closest to Siem Reap. A whole village worth of people has actually built their small houses, schools, and shops on the river. It is a village that attracts a good number of tourists on small tours of the place which include getting a meal, stopping by the souvenir shop and a visit to Gecko Environment Centre.
Kampong Phulk
This is not really a floating village all year long. Instead, the houses are built on stilts where the depth of the lake is quite shallow. Nonetheless, during s high tide the village appears to be afloat due to the stilts being completely submerged in the water. Moreover, one can take a boat ride through the forest that is flooded. Kampong Phulk is not much visited by tourists.
Kampong Khleang
This village is quite remote with an outer village that floats and an inner village on stilts. It is a bit far from Siem Reap taking 2 hours if travelling by boat from Phnom Krong boat landing. Kampong Khleang has the largest population from all four villages. Not many tourists visit this village.
The best time to visit
During the dry season, the lake becomes quite shallow and huge boats can be seen in shallow waters. The floating villages move more towards the centre of the lake. Even the jungles surrounding the area dries up and the bird sanctuaries can’t be reached. The wet season, however, is promising as the water in the lake fills up making the villages easier to access with an amazing ecosystem to observe. Stay at Anantara Angkor Resort or any other luxury hotels Siem Reap between June to October if you plan on visiting.
Intrigued by history, art and food, Lavinia Woolf is a writer who is passionate about the extraordinary and writes of the exhilarating and enchanting. Google+
