Experience Life in Local Cambodian Communities & Tonle Sap Lake Boat Ride

Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product

Stop At: Kompong Khleang, Siem Reap Cambodia

Today embark on an authentic rural Cambodia tour to learn about life in a typical village. Meet friendly locals and discover traditional village customs and cultures.

Start with an early morning visit to Ta Brak village. Like most villages in Asia, Ta Brak is busiest in the morning hours. Sit down with a local family and enjoy breakfast (take-away from the hotel) while observing the activities of the village.

Take an ox cart ride, a traditional countryside method of transporting people and goods. The 30 minute journey passes through the village on the way to the local market. Explore the colourful displays of vegetables, herbs and other locally-grown produce, and mingle with the shoppers who come every morning to buy the fresh ingredients.

Continue on foot through the village, providing ample opportunities to stop and chat with locals and to observe their activities. Depending on the time of year, they may be planting rice, weaving thatch coverings for their roofs, harvesting vegetables, or other similar tasks. For a truly immersive experience, lend a hand and join the locals in these activities!

Before leaving the village, partake in a special Buddhist tradition. Local monks will impart wishes of good luck and success in a solemn, age-old ceremony.

Continue the rural Cambodia tour out of town to Tonle Sap Lake. Stop en-route at Bakong Temple, the site of what was once the centre of the 9th century Khmer civilization. Next, head to the Tonlé Sap Lake, where you will have the opportunity to learn about life on the lake. Drive past expansive rice fields and through local villages where rice and fish can frequently be spotted drying alongside the road. Next, board a private wooden vessel for a boat trip along a canal that leads to the Tonle Sap Lake.

Cruise along the canal with houses on either side: depending on the time of your visit, the houses will either have immediate access to the water or stand perched on stilts high above the ground, a phenomena caused by the annual rising and receding waters of the Tonle Sap Lake, Southeast Asia’s largest lake. Pass by the boats and nets used by local fishermen, some of whom you may spot fishing in the waters through which the boat passes. As you near the lake, you will see floating houses that move location with the annual ebb and flow of the lake’s waters.

Along the way, gain a better understanding of the local lifestyle with lunch in a family house. This is a unique opportunity to gain first-hand experience of the way of life of the local people- sitting inside a stilted house while watching the boats pass outside.

Then it is time to say farewell to the host family and return by boat and car to Siem Reap.


Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes