Living in a water world

By Penny Watson

In the jungle and farmland surrounding the Cambodian city of Siem Reap, the famous Angkor temples punctuate the landscape. Remains of the ancient Khmer empire, these magnificent edifices, numbering more than 1,000, vary in scale, design and state of repair.

Tourists descend on the complexes particularly during the dry season, starting in October. But for an escape from the Angkor audience, you can take an easy side trip to the nearby floating village of Kompong Phluk. We traveled only 25 kilometers via motorbike, boat and tuk-tuk, a type of motorized rickshaw, to leave the busy tourist hub far behind. Our wooden longboat slipped through the narrow waterways, past ravaged banks battered by the wet season. As we stared in awe at this strange landscape, our guide explained how Kompong Phluk came to be.

The result is nature's own anomaly — a sunken mangrove forest, home to a curious species that survives almost completely submerged in water, and Kompong Phluk, a floating stilt village, ebbing and flowing with the coming and going of the seasons.

We pulled up beside a crude-looking jetty servicing a row of stilt houses 8 or 9 meters above us. The jetty led to a strip of dry road running up the middle of the village. In the worst of the wet season we would have been treading water, but at the start of the dry season we had the advantage of being able to explore on foot.

We climbed a bamboo ladder to the abode of a wiry old man, who was happy to receive guests for the customary exchange of a small tip. His hut was made of ad hoc bamboo scaffolding and sheets of rusted, corrugated iron. Inside, barely-there walls made of overlapping palm leaves separated three small living areas, home to a family of six, maybe seven.

We continued our walk to the pagoda, one of Kompong Phluk's few concrete buildings, where two smiling monks were biding their time, smoking and talking. Come the flooding waters, this small patch is the only dry land in the village, the only constant in an environment where water dictates a way of life.

Getting there and around: Bangkok Airways (www.bangkokair.com) and Vietnam Airlines (www.vietnamair.com.vn) fly to Siem Reap from Bangkok and Saigon, respectively. To get to Kompong Phluk, find a tuk-tuk-driving guide in Siem Reap. He will negotiate cheaper fares and establish the best route to the village depending on whether you travel in the wet season (April to September) or the dry season (October to March). It will cost $40-$75 for two people, including tips.

Most visitors stay in Siem Reap. Jasmine Lodge (www.jasminelodge.com) goes the extra mile with clean fan rooms and a free rooftop pool table by the restaurant. Hidden down the back streets, Red Lodge (www.redlodge angkor.com) is a modern villa with free bicycles. Khmer, Thai, Indian, Vietnamese, Japanese and Western eateries abound in town.

Richard I'Anson / Lonely Planet Images After rainy season, Tonle Sap Lake rises, creating floating markets and villages in Cambodia. One floating village, Kompong Phluk, is just 25 kilometers from the bustling city of Siem Reap.
Living in a water world