Cambodia - Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Northern Thailand - page 444

WORTH A TRIP
FLOATING VILLAGES
Follow the Tonlé Sap River upstream (that's downstream in the wet season!) and eventually it be-
comes the Tonlé Sap Lake around Kompong Chhnang , some 50km north of Udong along NH5.
A short sail from Kompong Chhnang's river port, 2km northeast of the centre on the Tonlé Sap
River, leads to a couple of colourful floating villages: Phoum Kandal , an ethnic Vietnamese village
directly southeast of the boat dock; and the Khmer village of Chong Kos a bit further north. Much
less commercial than Chong Kneas near Siem Reap, they have all the amenities of a mainland village
- houses, machine-tool shops, vegetable vendors, a mosque, a petrol station - except that almost
everything floats. Hire motorless wooden paddle boats for US$10 per hour at the river port to take you
into the heart of these villages.
About 70km northwest of Kompong Chhnang on the NH5, the village of Krakor in Pursat Province
is the jumping-off point to another ethnic Vietnamese floating village, Kompong Luong . This village
shifts with the waters, moving further north as the Tonlé Sap recedes. You can spend the night with a
local family in a homestay (per night not incl boat ride US$6). From Krakor you need to travel 1km
to 6km east on a dirt road, depending on the season, to the tourist boat landing, where you can charter
a four-passenger wooden motorboat (US$9 per hour for one to three passengers) to explore the vil-
lage.
Krakor is about halfway between Phnom Penh and Battambang. Buses or share taxis on the Phnom
Penh-Pursat-Battambang run can drop you off in either Kompong Chhnang or Krakor, where local
transport awaits to whisk you to the waterfront.