Tonle Sap, Cambodia

Still submerged after recent flooding

We organised a trip through Beyond Unique Escapes to Tonle Sap, an enormous lake in the middle of Cambodia which is larger than the island of Singapore!  This lake is home to many floating villages, where families live on homes built on bamboo rafts, or stilt homes or boats.  The lake increases in depth by 9m or so every wet season, and the villages just 'go with the flow'.  About a month before we arrived in Siem reap all the outlying areas were over a metre under water from flooding, and many of these homes (on 9m stilts) were totally covered.  We could see all the water still covering the area when we flew into Siem Reap.  This flood has devastated the recent crops of rice, and affected the livelihood of many Cambodians.

The road out to to Tonle Sap is an interesting one - I'm sure it is pretty adventurous (make that incredibly bumpy) at the best of times, but the floods had totally washed away the road in many areas, potholes were huge, and they were full of red, muddy water.


Tonle Sap is the lifeblood of Cambodia, with vast amounts of fish and marine life.  The average Cambodian eats 55kg per year of fish, and the other staple is rice, most of which is produced locally.  The lake is also home to a number of crocodiles, which are farmed and made into belts, bags etc. 

Our guide, Kim, also took us to the local market, which offered an interesting variety of goods and foodsstuffs.  Unfortunately, none of us felt too adventurous, and didn't try the barbecued snakes, small chickens and deep-fried frogs on offer.

Shrimp cakes and tamarind seeds

Snake complete with eggs

Deep-fried frogs

On the way back we visited a highly-coloured, very ornate Buddhist temple, and Kim (our guide) explained more about the Buddhist philosophy - he, too, had served a year as a young monk.  Kim was an excellent guide, and gave us a good insight into the lives of Cambodians, and shared some of his personal history with us - it was a really interesting trip.