- No. #075, Road 06, Svay Dangkom, Siem Reap City.
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Not far from the ancient temples of Angkor, in the heart of Cambodia, lies the huge Tonle Sap lake, the largest in Southeast Asia. The Tonle Sap is connected to the Mekong by a short river also called Tonle Sap. During the rainy season, from May to October, the river reverses its flow into the lake causing it to expand to more than six or seven times its normal size of approximately 2,600 square kilometers. It becomes a vast inland sea.
Each year, millions of fish come to spawn in the seasonally flooded forest surrounding the lake, attracting myriad waterbirds. Villages along the shores live with the rhythm of the season and the floods. Prek Toal is one of the most attractive floating fishing villages on the Tonle Sap lake, with a school, hospital, restaurants, shop and even a pagoda. Just behind the Prek Toal village are flooded forests with bird sanctuaries. Every year, between December and March, thousands of birds come to fish and to breed here.
Kampong Khleang is situated on the northern lake-edge around 55 km east of Siem Reap town, more remote and less visitor than Kampong Pluk. Guests to Kampong Khleang amid the dry season are generally awestruck by the timberland of stilted houses ascending to 10 meters noticeable all around.
Visiting the Angkor National Museum was an eerie, surreal experience. For the first 45 minutes of our trip through the mammoth, 20,000-square-metre building, we didn’t spot another visitor. The museum opened in November 2007, and its freshly painted, shopping mall-like feel contrasts with the thousands-year-old artefacts contained within it.
Opening every evening at sunset the night market is a popular place to pick up a bargain. An area filled to the brim with stalls, handicrafts, fake watches and Cambodian souvenirs, this is the place to get some tacky keyrings.
Tours of Kompong Phluk are a bit pricier than the Chong Khneas tours, but they are well worth the difference. Kompong Phluk is a set of villages based on the floodplain of the Tonle Sap Lake, near Siem Reap. There are about 3,000 villagers, most of who live in stilted houses. The people depend largely on fishing and tourism for their incomes.
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