Our expert Kompong Phluk and lake guide will meet you at your hotel just before the tour start time,we proceed via road to the Kompong Phluk river where our traditional long tail motor boat will be waiting for us, we travel by air conditioned car or mini vans as the road is very dusty, we than proceed via the river into the township of Kompong Phluk,a stilted and floating village time seems to have forgotten as we cruise into the actual village we will see the local fishermen go about their daily tasks. we will dock at the Monks Training school and also from here there is a huge Pergola,worthy of an inspection as its beautifully designed though out, after we have visited the first town(stilted villages) we proceed into the flooded forest,where its very quite,we have the locals row us through this magically part of the tour,if the water levels allow,or maybe a stroll in the low water levels,either way,its a magical place to visit, after which we cruise out onto the great lake.itself
Posted By : TheColonel67
When we planned to go to Siem Reap, we were sure that it would be very hot and that the water level of Tonle-Sap lake was expected to be very low. Nevertheless we decided to book this half-day trip with Khmer Detours through GetYourGuide. We were picked up at our hotel quite on time (End of Khmer New Year ;)), had a good diver, AC minivan and enough cooled drinking water and wet towels for the trip. The minivan had a capacity of 10 passengers but we were only 4 (my wife and a very sympathetic elderly couple from the USA with Indian origin). So it was a very harmonic group and we talked a lot. The highlight, besides the village and Tonle-Sap, was our guide Vanna. He knew that it was not easy to explain the participants that the water-level is so low, that we would board much closer to the lake and so on. He did such a great job that we didn't mind anything (which was crystal clear to us anyway). So he explained us a lot about the region, the lake, fauna and flora, the River-people and about Cambodian history. I thought we would have been well prepared for our trip to Cambodia but Vanna taught us so much more. There was not a single boring minute. We first went over a real local market (not the ones you know from Phnom Penh or like the Old Market in Siem Reap). He explained us the different fruits, how vegetables were prepared for the different Khmer dishes and many more details. No question was unanswered because his English was excellent. We carried on to the boat landing. He chose the first one possible to get a maximum endurance on the boat. Perfect! On this 'canoe' (that's how Vanna called it; for me more like an Indonesian 'sampan'-type) we followed the canals and saw the 'floating village' (yes, maybe in rain-season but not in dry-season!) from below. All the houses on stalks, 10 to 12m high poles made the houses kind of hovering over the former river-bed. Very impressive! We took a lot of astonishing fotos. Than the landscape opened up and we saw the huge lake Tonle-Sap. With good speed and a nice breeze, we reached one of the floating restaurants and bought some refreshments there. It also serves as a crocodile 'breeding station' for leather and meat. That was sadly spoken not European style but we had seen that before on our Mekong-Delta trip south of Saigon where it also had been part of the tour-program. So we ignored the animals and the leather shop and the restaurant and had a nice chat with the US-couple on the upper deck, relaxing in some hammocks. From there we headed back to the canal and carried on by foot through the village. This walk and the impressions we gathered were very authentic, especially with the explanations of Vanna, our guide. Last stop was the little temple, where we learned alot about Buddhism and the Khmer New Year customs. On the way back with our minivan, Vanna offered to buy us some fruit but we weren't hungry. We wre dropped at our hotel right in time. We knew what we had to expect and therefore there was nothing at all to complain about.
All in all it was a great and interesting trip, very authentic and we were blessed with such a great guide. Som akun, Vanna!
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Posted On : 2019-04-25 03:04:17 
Posted By : Mark G
Nice Tour Guide but not a very exciting day. Needed to put in half a day before heading back to SG on business. Took us to a local market and then on to the floating village. Everything was fine until I boarded a small boat piloted by an old lady. She took me off to the middle of nowhere to see some monkey's which she was then looking paid for. Another couple I was on the tour with end up being taken round to some old ladies home where they were told how difficult life was. Didn't appreciate this part of the trip but if you can live with the guilt and don't mind saying no it puts in a morning.
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Posted On : 2018-09-09 04:06:52
Posted By : David O
Rip off. Not a floating village. ..it's on stilts and in the dry season, most of the year, it's just a thousand boats on a muddy river. They will also stop you half way through the canoe part of the trip and try and humiliate you into buying overpriced goods from another boat. Then to a floating over priced restaurant for lunch. It's expensive and boring.
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Posted On : 2018-02-06 04:51:56
Posted By : Mariko S
We booked the tour 2 days before, and we really enjoyed the experience. The guide was friendly and amazingly knowledgeable. We learnt a lot about the local area where people live closely to the lake as well as history etc. If you are a bit bored with sightseeing Angkor Wat, this tour is the one you should go for!
Posted By : Jeff_J
At very hot day. Very natural and educational to mingle with the local people. Very courteous tour guide.
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