Kampong Phluk

The next morning, we were finally able to sleep in a little. We took our time enjoying breakfast at the hotel. Then it was already time for today’s tour.

At around 9:00 a.m., we were picked up from the hotel by a minivan and were supposed to go to a nearby lake and a floating village.

But first, we stopped at a local market where all kinds of goods were offered. This was a market frequented by locals rather than tourists, and I must honestly say that not everything we saw there is suitable for European stomaches or eyes.

Raw meat was stored unrefrigerated in the sweltering heat, fertilized eggs were sold in large quantities, and the smell was not the most pleasant.

We liked the fruit and vegetable section much better. Everything looked very fresh. There were avocados that were twice the size of the ones we get at home, and we kept seeing colorful fruits like dragon fruit that we had never seen before. It was fascinating.

We then continued on to the village of Kampong Phluk, which during the dry season is a normal village where people move around with vehicles, while during the rainy season the village is flooded and people travel by boat. That’s why all the houses are on stilts.

Here we got a very good impression of everyday life in a Cambodian village. We even saw children currently learning in school.

People were cooking in their homes, resting in the shade beneath the houses, small children were playing together, and in between we kept seeing little shops selling all kinds of goods.

At the end of the village, we reached the shore of Tonle Sap Lake, which is especially known for its brown water.

There we boarded a boat that took us across the lake and through a few canals until we finally reached a crocodile farm in the middle of the lake.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t really that spectacular. The two crocodiles we saw were dozing and seemed more sedated than wild.

After about 30 minutes and a coffee, we left the farm again and returned to the village.

Around 2:00 p.m., we were back at our hotel, where we ordered some food by the pool and relaxed so we could head into town one last time later.