Life in a Floating Village

In a country where fish is the staple source of protein and land is more expensive than many can afford, it makes sense for some people to live in villages that are built to float on waterways. During the rainy season, floating villages move close to land to avoid storms; in the dry season, villages move toward the center of a waterway. This way of life has been practiced for hundreds of years on the Tonle Sap Lake that we visited.

With Phat’s guidance, we rented a boat. Our boat “captain” seemed nice.

However, we weren’t really sure about the boat's sea-worthiness…

Luckily, life jackets lined to roof of the boat, so we knew we’d have some options if we capsized!

Here's a brief tour of the village...

A general store:
House boats:
A pig pen:
A church:


We stopped at a floating restaurant and gift shop where we saw crocodiles (not sure why the place had them):

And met a little girl who was thrilled to show us her snake (especially those who ran in fear of it)!

The little girl looked very ornery and when a couple of village boys started harassing her, she quickly whacked them over the heads with a painting that was for sale. She was a character…and I have no doubt that she’s capable of fending for herself!

And, our favorite part was seeing lots of people going about their everyday lives:

We saw several people rowing themselves around in tubs. I suppose it's a life-on-water version of riding a bike around the neighborhood:

There were many people fishing...using a variety of methods:

And, others taking a trip away from the water:

We got to shore safely and, even though it's clear that people can survive in a floating village, we all felt fortunate that we get to live on land (or, in our case, a high-rise).