Homestay on Tonlé Sap Lake

In Laos we heard from a German 81 year old single adventurous female traveller about her ‘homestay’ visit in a floating village on the south-west end of Tonlé Sap Lake.The village would be a slight detour on our route south from Battambang to Phnom Penh. Sounded interesting and different.

Descending from our bus at a town called Krakor, we hired a tuk-tuk that took us bumping over flat, rough land past what appeared to be squatter homes and half starved cows to a boat launch and local commercial area. 

Here we arranged a “homestay” ($6/night),  chosing among three pictures with happy faces of hosts and young visitors. Hard to distinquish differences. We chose the one that seemed to have two units tied together.

From HERE, Delux Villa, Battambang….to THERE, Chan Lang Guest house, Kompong Luong, on Tonlé Sap Lake.

Top: View of our homestay from the back, our room is with open window); Bottom: Our tuk-tuck delivers us to boat launch.

Trip out to the village took about 15 minutes, ca 2 km off shore.

Kompong Luong is actually not a village but an entire Vietnamese commune of 5 floating fishing villages in the south western end of Tonlé Sap Lake.It has everything a regular town would have: shops, gardens, repair garages, schools, temple…even a Catholic church. The fruit and vegetable vender could be seen paddling her boat in and around the homes. Our homestay was actually a dry goods store and also a meal take-out service.

Top and middle: View from my hammock. Bottom: the owner relaxing.

These villages move close to shore (2 km)  or further out on the lake (7km) depending on the season. They appear to be very mobile. In the morning one across the ‘street’ was gone and another was leaving.

Top: Young hired? help; middle: sunset from homestay; bottom: Barry in the dining room.

The owners spoke no English and a son who did came around only briefly. We were left to wonder about the two young boys who, although seemingly cheerful in each others company, were working the whole time we were there…doing food prep work mostly. Also, very sadly, the ‘whys’ of a short-leashed restrained monkey. Sad.

 To be honest, we did hold our breath a lot. Poverty, poor living conditions – we didn’t try but you could almost imagine being able to walk on the water.Yet kids were frolicking in it, and it was being used for absolutely everything (except drinking). 

The experience is not for the faint of heart yet it was enlightening and a once in a life-time experience. Hopefully .