Kampong Phluk – The floating village on stilts in Cambodia
The year was 2006, the month was March. My best friend and roomie Ankita had been itching to travel. She met up with her college buddies Arun and Chandru who were planning a trip to South East Asia. What happened next is a blur but approximately eight days later, we were on a flight to Singapore and from there on to Cambodia and Thailand.
It was one hell of a trip and the beginning of my travel escapades but it remains my favourite because the memory of sunrise at Angkor Wat haunts me still. But this post is about something else. It’s about something more real and humane that will amaze us and make us introspect. It’s about a floating village on stilts in a lake in Cambodia.We had two tuk-tuk drivers for full three days with us in Siem Reap. It was their idea to take us to this village. There was a problem though – there was no road that existed so the tuk tuk was not an option. However, this did not appear to be a problem for the drivers as they dismantled the tuk tuk and were only left with their motorcycles. They got two more of their buddies with bikes and so the party was ready. We were exposed to something akin to dirt bike riding for the first time in our lives and it was a crazy experience.
(That’s my friend Arun behind one of the tuk tuk drivers on the only decent stretch of road to Kampong Phluk)
Fortunately for us, all four drivers could speak a little English so the 40 minute journey to Kampong Phluk provided us more insight into the village.
We finally reached the village only to find it deserted!
There was just a vendor selling coconut water and some essentials beneath a shaded tree and a woman or two sitting on the stilts.
Apparently there was more to the village than empty houses. We were told that the entire village had migrated to the lake as it was the fishing season. So we definitely had to now go see this village in a lake and there was going to be a boat ride involved which was an obvious pleasure. (The boat ride was expensive though – $20 per person!)
The boat ride was relaxing and we were looking forward to the first glimpse of the village. And what we saw made us introspect. It wasn’t the most beautiful place on earth or the most bizarre and neither were there activities that one could indulge in. But what we saw was a celebration of the human spirit. It was a celebration of the fight and right for survival. The villagers waved as we passed them by on our boat and a few of them called us over to sit.
(Their source of livelihood – Fishing)
Our boatman strategically steered us to a store which had a pretty little girl selling all necessities and coca-cola! (Yes coke was cheaper than mineral water in Cambodia!) We sat in this little shop, chatted with the girl while sipping coke and finally took our farewell.
(The store in the lake)
The human spirit is resilient, strong and it fights for itself. Kampong Phluk proved that. This is why I love to travel. Every new place opens a new thought, a new window into a bright new world for us. However different that world may look, it is definitely as beautiful as ours if not more.
This is it then. Cheers to Cambodia. Cheers to life!
(Picture Courtesy – Ankita Prasad and Chandrasekhar Vijayarenu)
2 Responses to Kampong Phluk – The floating village on stilts in Cambodia
(Sigh). Made me relive those surreal 8 days.
In fact the tuk tuk ride, the village on stilts and the sunrise are images that come to me often when I think about travel. Thanks for sharing!
🙂