The Floating Village of Chong Kneas

We were sitting on the tuk-tuk, riding through the village – over bumps in the road, past dilapidated houses, old rickety bridges, chickens and children running across the dusty gravel roads and big palm trees throwing its shadow over the skies above us. It was hot and humid. We arrived at the edge of the mighty Tonle Sap Lake – the Lake is so big, it looks like the ocean.

As we were driving past in this old boat, just Louis and myself, we experienced poverty at its worst.

The Tonle Sap lake is the largest in Southeast Asia, providing fish proteins and irrigation waters for almost half the population of Cambodia. The lake is linked to the Mekong at Phnom Penh by a 100 km long channel, also known as the Tonle Sap. From May to October (wet season) the level of the Mekong rises, backing up the Tonle Sap river and causing it to flow northwest into the Tonle Sap river and causing it to flow into the Tonle Sap Lake. During this period, the lake swells from 2 500 sq km to 13 000 sq km. During October, as the water level of the Mekong begins to fall, the Tonle Sap river reverses its flow, draining the waters of the lake back into the Mekong.

This extraordinary process makes the Tonle Sap lake one of the world’s richest sources of freshwater fish. Experts believe fish migrations from the Tonle Sap lake help to restock fisheries as far north as China. The fishing industry supports about one million people in Cambodia.

Old boats and floating structures were everywhere in this floating village. Children were running around on the broken decks – blotches of oil were everywhere in the water. Families were living here and just about every house (boat) had a small TV inside. These were all Vietnamese or Cambodian people, with dark dark hair and light skin. We were riding on, and on, and on in this vast lake. The engine of our boat was noisy. It was hot but we kept going through this spread out floating village. I looked into the dark eyes of these small children , and would sometimes see the wisdom of many struggles and lifetimes lived …………. In these small little bodies. These riverboat people had a struggle for survival every day and the Lake was their best friend.

After more than an hour, when there were no more floating houses or structures on the water, we were turning back and heading for the land. This whole excursion cost us ten dollar!!! We got back into our little tuk-tuk and left for the hotel.

Return from Floating Village to Home Page