Floating Villages tour 1Day - Siem Reap

We will pick you up at your hotel at 6:00 am and drive 15 km from Siem Reap to the boat docks of Chong Khneas. We will go aboard a local boat for a lovely ride onto the Tonle Sap through the floating village of Chong Khneas. The Tonle Sap is the biggest lake of Southeast Asia, supporting which is perhaps the world’s largest and richest inland fisheries. It swells to ten times its normal size during the wet season. Chong Khneas consists of some permanents buildings but is a largely floating settlement. The majority of the population, which is composed for a great part of Vietnamese people, live in houseboats. Most of the time, you can recognise the Vietnamese habitation because of their bright colours. We will pass along the floating houses, school, sport hall, even pigs farm and stop at the Gecko Environment Centre which offers information about the ecology and the rich biodiversity of the lake area. 
Then we will continue our boat trip to the village of Kompong Khleang, about 35 km east of Siem Reap. Kompong Khleang is quite remote and so very few touristed. With over 20,000 inhabitants, it is one of the largest communities in the Tonle Sap. During the dry season, the thatch dwellings rise to 10 meters into the air, held up by impressively high bamboo stilts. In the wet season, the waters rise to within one or two meters of the buildings. Like in Kompong Phluk, the economy of the village is largely based in fishing and you will be able to observe the fishermen at work on the lake, drying their catch or preparing smoke fish. At Noon, we will enjoy a nice lunch from fresh local fish, shrimps and vegetables prepared by the local women.
After lunch, we will board again for a 2 hour trip to the fishermen’s village of Kompong Phluk. Kompong Phluk is not a floating village but a village on stilts and in spite of fishing is often the privilege of the Vietnamese minority, the inhabitants of Kompong Phluk are almost exclusively of Khmer origin. The villagers frequently move from house to another house. During the rainy season, they live in the house on stilts and move to small huts near the waterfront during the dry season. 
We will visit the village, the pagoda on the only butte (the only building which is not on stilts) and see the activities of the villagers before doing a traditional boat cruise. Small canoes, paddle by villagers, will take you deep into the dense flooded forest. The trees of this forest are perfectly adapted to their unusual existence as they are completely submerged a part of the year. 
Later in the afternoon, we will take our boat for the return journey and we will arrive at Siem Reap in the evening. End tonle sap lake excursion day trip.

Price of Tour Includes:

• Entrance fees and sightseeing tours by boat
• Transfer to & from the docks by tuktuk, pick-up truck or van
• An experienced English-speaking local guide
• Lunch at Kompong Khleang
• 1 liter of drinking water per person

NOT Included in Tour Price:

• Personal travel insurance (compulsory!)
• Other Meals
• Expenditure of a personal nature
• Drinks & tips