Cambodia: Kampong Pkluk Floating Village

After our long hot bike ride, our tour guide, Kamsan, picked us up directly in front of the Off Roads building.  We took a super long drive to the Kampong Pkluk Floating village.  It took a little less then 2 hours to get to the village.  He drove directly where the little boats are and we were able to get directly out of the car and onto a longboat.  I was so grateful because Little Monster had fallen asleep and I didn't have to carry him very far.  M&M was exhausted from the bike ride and was feeling little carsick, so she was grateful she didn't have to walk far also.  Kamsan really was an amazing tour guide.  He was always going above and beyond for us.  

When we first got on our longboat, I was a bit nervous.  The boat was very old and ropes were all over the inside.  The steering contraption had me in awe as I was able to see ropes tied to the steering wheel, go along both sides on the inside of the boat, then attach to the rudder.  As the driver turned right, the rope would pull and in turn pull the rudder left, causing the boat to turn right.  I suppose this is how all boats work, but not so elementary.  It was neat to see something so simple in action.

We had a little ways to go before we got to the floating village, so we learned a little history on the way.  We learned that the king ordered the people to move to this village to provide the fish and other river food.  We also learned that it wasn't until recently that the village got electricity. This particular village still holds its authenticity as a floating village.  The tourists are asked not to stop but to quietly pass through and observe only.

As we rode on the water through the village, we were able to behold these spectacular stilt homes with our own eyes.  It was something else to see an entire village up on these tall thin stilts.  Old rickety boats rested between the homes.  

The village has a church, a school, a courthouse and is home to about 3,000 residents.  There were babies, and children just right on the edge of a walkway, or even in boats and hammocks.  The elementary kids would jump in boats and drive themselves to the school.  The inner mom in me was just cringing at the repeated thought of a child falling and drowning.

We went all the way through the village and found ourselves on the Tonlé Sap Lake.  About this point on the longboat, Kevin and M&M started to get super motion sick, so we turned around and made our way back through the village. Kevin and M&M put their heads down, while the rest of us were able to take one last look at the enchanted village.

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We passed through mangrove trees and got out of the clear blue water, to the mucky brown water of the channel.  We passed by all the longboats tying to get a hired job from all the tourists. And made our way back to the dock.  It was another fun day in Cambodia, seeing things our children will never see in the United States.  Its also a good opportunity to be ever more grateful for all our blessings.