This is a remote village on stilts with a thriving fishing community living on the Tonle Sap lake.
How to get there:
Take a Tuk Tuk from Siem Reap and then hire a boat when at Chong Khneas
Travel partners:
George and Helen
What I experienced here
Kampomg Phluck is a Cambodian village set on a flood plains along the Tonle Sap Lake near Siem Reap. The houses are constructed on 9 metre stilts to provide protection during the wet season floods. The villagers are Khymer and live by fishing in the lake. There is a school for young children w, which can be visited to bring school materials. The village is surrounded by a flooded forest, with tree tops emerging juts above the water line.
We took a tuk tuk from the centre of Siem Reap to Chong Khneas about 4 km from the village. We then had to mount motor bikes, as the road got too rough for the tuk tuk. Helen and I rode pillion with the tuk tuk driver and another local Cambodian to reach the edge of the lake. We then took a small motor boat through the flooded forest to the village. We stopped to give the school children some exercise books and pencils.
Fishing is a major source of food for the lakeside Cambodian residents. Cambodia gets a lot of rain in the higher mountains and the rivers swell during the wet season causing a lot of flooding. The Cambodians have adapted and have constructed houses that sit on stilts. The flood plains also allow a thriving agricultural community to exist on the flood lands
When we took the tuk tuk we thought we could get all the way to the boats with it, so we were very worried when we had to dismount and ride pillion. We were in the hands of our bike riders in the middle of nowhere in Cambodia. I was a little concerned and Helen was very worried but it all worked out fine.
I was amazed and impressed at how resourceful the Cambodians are in their environment. They seem very content, whether it is living on the river or working the fields, they seem very productive.