Tonle Sap

Paul and Trish braved the heat and humidity to attend this activity. It was a cruise on Tonle Sap Lake, visiting a local village and observing the way of life of these lake communities.

We have discovered that Cambodia is actually a very flat country shaped like a wicker basket. The mountains around the borders produce rivers that drain into Tonle Sap Lake, the largest natural lake in South East Asia. In the dry season the lake covers 2700 square kilometres and is one metre deep. In the wet season the lake spills into the surrounding forests covering 16000 square kilometres and is 9 meters deep. The lake supports 3 million people and provides 75% of Cambodia’s fresh water fish. The environment is unique and has been established as an eco tourism area. In 1997 UNESCO designated it a Biosphere Reserve due to its high biodiversity.

Our journey today saw us travel 52km from Siem Reap through the village Khchas, sampling their bamboo sticky rice treats, on to the area of Kampong Khleang where the villagers process and smoke the fish to preserve it. Deeper into the village a large Buddha blesses the fishermen as they leave the head waters to fish the lake.
The houses have been built up on stilts to cope with the influx of rainy season water.
When the floods arrive everything is moved up stairs. Kitchens, bedrooms, workshops, storage and school. Many villagers live in houses floating on the lake like large rafts. Everyone uses the classic Cambodian long drive, shallow draft boats to get around.

The Khnar Pou community live in a very rural setting. They provided a special occasion meal for lunch and showed us the traditional methods of making palm sugar and milling rice.Baca lagi