The Floating Villages of Tonle Sap

Chong Khneas

While they’re a far cry from Angkor Wat, the floating villages of Tonle Sap are certainly a nice change of scenery for anyone visiting Siem Reap. When the temple overload sets in, they are good for breaking the monotony (of one of the awesomest sights this world has to see). The villages can be enjoyable, but you really do have to be extra attentive for the many scams abounding here. We went twice: once to Chong Khneas, and then once to Mechrey to wash that bad taste out of our mouths. My hope is that through our experiences, you’ll get it right the first time and enjoy yourselves.

Taken for a ride in Chong Khneas

Here’s the narrative. While getting our toes chomped on by fish at one of the many $1 massage joints in town, we met another couple in town also looking to head down to the lake. We decided to team up in efforts to cut down on costs by sharing a tuk-tuk and boat. Asking at our guest house, we were told that a boat should cost $14 no matter how many people ride with a $3 per person tax. It all sounded so simple, but things didn’t go quite as planned.

We met up with the other couple in the morning and were taken for a ride by their driver, both literally and figuratively. He told us the rate was $10, which sounded cheap compared to the $15 that a ride to the temples normally costs. What I should have realized is that while bargaining a price down is good, if the price sounds too cheap to begin with, it probably won’t wind up being cheap for you at all. This is true anywhere, not just in Cambodia.

So we set out for the 30-minute ride down to the lake, and the driver pulls into Chong Khneas. I had already heard the rumors about this place being a tourist trap chock full of scams. I wearily went to the ticket counter to confirm my suspicions. Sure enough, they were asking $15 per person, not by the boat. I tried telling the tuk-tuk driver we wanted to go to the next town down, Kompong Phluk, but he just snickered, saying it was 30 km away. Being a willing participant in this little game, he wasn’t very helpful; this is where he makes up for his cheap fare, after all. We were already there and wanted to make the most of things, so we got them down to $12 and pressed on.

The town itself felt a little off as well—later, I was told by several locals that Chong Khneas has been overrun by Vietnamese immigrants. Cambodians don’t seem to have a very high image of Vietnamese, and I guess historically that’s understandable enough. I should have guessed by the Viet script on the side of the school. For now though, all you need to know is that the people in the town are pushy and cold.

On the way out, our driver asked if we wanted to stop by the aforementioned school. I had already heard this one too, so we decided against it. Apparently, the deal is that they take you to the school and have the teachers beg you for donations to pay for “school supplies” at way inflated prices. (Read an example experience here.) Who knows how much of that finds its way to the kids, but I’m guessing not much, if any. No thanks.

So back to port we go, feeling a bit underwhelmed. Back on land, I stumbled upon a few houses across the street that made for some of the best pictures I got that day. We took our photos and got back in the tuk-tuk to ride back into town. Being around lunchtime, the couple offered to show us a cafe they had found on Trip Advisor, so we tagged along to see how it was. We weren’t hungry yet, but made a mental note of the place as it did look good. And thus begins the second part of the story.

Chong Kneas pic o' the day (taken from dry land)

A more pleasant Tonle Sap experience

The La Bourlangarie Cafe owner, Davann

The La Bourlangarie Cafe is run by one Davann, a former French language tour guide of some 6 years. Davann serves up some tasty bread—tasty enough, in fact, to supply a goodly number of other shops in town with their baguettes. They have a great panini and also offer order-made sandwiches with your choice of bread, dressing and toppings.

When we came back to the cafe the next day, we had a little talk with Davann after our meal. He seemed like one of the nicest Cambodians we had come in contact with to this point and genuinely interested in us having a good time in his town. My kind of guy! I decided to ask him where he would suggest going on our last day in town—we were planning on just renting some bicycles and riding around. He suggested the lake, and we told him our experiences.

His words of advice on the villages were as follows:

1. Don’t go to Chong Khneas. Just don’t. Komplong Phluk or Mechrey are more genuine and avoid all the scams. 
2. The tuk-tuk should cost around $15 to any of the villages. If a driver tells you $10, he’s getting commission from the boat people to make up the difference (and then some).
3. Do your negotiations in town. The driver should be the one negotiating the boat ticket price for you, so don't let him just drop you off and leave you to the wolves. Once you get in the tuk-tuk, there’s no turning back and you’re stuck with what you get!

The next day, we decided to take Davann’s route—it took us for quite the ride. He promised us that we’d see few if any foreigners all day, and he was right. It was a little longer that we expected, but certainly enjoyable.

Lounging at the West Baray

First, we rode about 20 km west of town to the West Baray. Here, there’s a little resort thing going on in a village, set up with a bunch of hammocks in an extended hut alongside a lake. You just sit there on the ground or in your hammock as kids bring around dishes for you to pick stuff from. Like the rest of the day, it was one of those situations where no one spoke much English, but you got the impression that they were good hosts that genuinely wanted to help. We got some fruit and a drink, and I had a cricket just for shits and giggles. This place was designed for relaxing; it looks like the kind of place local Cambodians come on a day off just to laze about.

After our lunch, we decided we still had enough in the tanks to set out south for Mechrey. Mechrey is a little village on Tonle Sap that can only be accessed by dirt roads. This place is out there—the road doesn’t even show up on Google Maps, so GPS wasn’t much help. It’s basically a straight shot south from the Baray though, and Davann wrote directions and even a simple “Which way to Mechrey” in Khmer for us to show people if we got lost.

The road to Mechrey itself was a beautiful jaunt through the Cambodian countryside. Gone were the pushy salesmen of the city and temples—all that remained was lush green all around and a bunch of smiles at the two foreigners who were obviously lost to be trodding so far from Siem Reap on bicycle. This was definitely one of those days where the journey there was half the adventure.

A good hour or so down the dirt road, we finally arrived. We hadn’t actually planned on riding the boat again after Chong Khneas, but this was actually what we had expected the first time around so we acquiesced. Sure enough, $3 per person, plus $14 for the boat. I just so happened to only have $16 in my pocket—they let it slide, and we were off.

I don’t know how much of it was because of the lack of Vietnamese influence, but this place definitely felt much different than Chong Khneas. The people were friendlier, and some actually seemed genuinely excited to see us there. We didn’t feel like we were being targeted or even pressured at all. There were no scams in sight, just village people going about their daily lives. On water.

This was certainly a much more enjoyable experience, both on the lake and getting there, but it certainly wasn't easy. Round trip, I calculated that we rode for about 50 km! It took us about an hour to get to the Baray and another hour from there to Mechrey. The return trip was another 2 hours. You might enjoy the trip more on a tuk-tuk, but then you wouldn't get to take it slow on the ride through the village.

So the moral of the story is, if you’re in Siem Reap and want to see a floating village, do so at Mechrey, or even better, Kompong Phluk. If your driver won’t take you to either one, he’s either scamming you or just lazy. Don’t get taken for a ride, and be sure to decide everything before you step foot onto a tuk-tuk.

Oh, and do make La Bourlangerie Cafe one of your first stops in town! I sincerely wish we would have met Davann much earlier in our trip as he seems to be full of good will and good ideas.

For more pictures of the floating villages, check out my Flickr page in a couple days (UPDATE: Mechrey pictures and Chong Khneas pictures up!). While you’re there, also have a look at some pictures of Angkor Wat and Cambodian food.