One of the smaller houseboats of Chong Khneas.
A palatial two-storey stilt mansion in Lake Tonle Sap. — GRAHAM SIMMONSBy Graham Simmons
Malaysia Star
Chong Khneas, Lake Tonlé Sap, Cambodia
They are like immigrants anywhere. The mainly Vietnamese inhabitants of Chong Khneas, a unique floating village in Cambodia’s Lake Tonlé Sap, have to struggle just to survive. And their task is made more difficult by the extraordinary seasonal changes in one of Asia’s biggest lakes.
The area of Lake Tonlé Sap increases at least fourfold in the wet season, its depth rising by more than 8m. Then, during the dry season, the 1,100 families have to move several kilometres out towards the centre of the lake, taking with them all their amenities, including a floating school, fish processing factories, floating churches and mosques, and even a floating basketball court. This doesn’t exactly make life easy.
With Chong Kneas now seeing so many day-trippers, a few tour operators are offering trips to other floating villages.
The province of Kompong Chhnang has a couple of floating villages — Phoum Kandal and Chong Kos — not far from the town of Kompong Chhnang, while Pursat province boasts the biggest ethnic Vietnamese village of them all — Kompong Luong, complete with cafés, shops and even an ice-making plant.
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