Tonle Sap Floating Villages

The Tonle Sap is the largest freshwater lake in South-East Asia, and it behaves like no other: in the rainy season the Mekong backs up and the lake swells to several times its dry-season size. The villages around its edge have adapted, with houses raised high on stilts or floating on the water.

From Siem Reap, a half-day trip takes you to a village such as Kampong Phluk, where you travel by boat past stilt houses, schools and pagodas, and switch to a small canoe to paddle through the flooded forest when the water is high. Then head out onto the open lake to watch the sun go down.

The water level changes the experience completely: from about August to November the villages are surrounded by water, while in the dry months the stilts stand tall above the mud. Bring a hat and insect repellent. It makes a calm contrast to a day of temples.