Sonnie's video: A FLOATING VILLAGE: Kampong Phluk Siem Reap Cambodia

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR 9,000 SUBSCRIBERS! I will definitely be making a video for it, but we just got back from Thailand so it'll be out later this week. (^_^) SUPPORT US! (^_^): https://www.patreon.com/sonnietravels FOLLOW ME! (^_^): *On Twitter: @SonnieTravels *On Instagram: @SonnieTravels Starting from Siem Reap Kampong Phluk Floating Village is almost an hour away, but it was a fascinating ride and gave us a real inside peak into the lives of the Cambodian people. I’m sorry about the shakiness of this footage, but as you can see some of the roads were really rough to get down. This is a Cambodian school! They only operate between 7 and 11 am due to the heat and funds. The elementary schools always seemed to be way larger than the high schools due to students dropping out to work. At first, I was trying to figure out what type of vegetation these bushes were when I abruptly realized they were the tops of trees! Suddenly, the extent of the depths of the water became apparent. I’ve heard of tours in other countries and places of floating villages where no one actually lived there. This village was very active and definitely a real community. This may be due to the fact that tourism only hit this village about 10 years ago and is a relatively new source of income here. Most of the villagers rely on the fishing industry during the wet season and farm during the dry season as their main ways to make money. The water was very brown from all of the mud and dirt getting kicked up from the rains and also from how much clay is in the soil here. I can’t express how large this village was! I was truly surprised. I couldn’t find any information about exactly how many people lived here and our guide didn’t speak much English to provide information about the village. So we pretty much just observed and enjoyed. I was fascinated by the fact that these families still had dogs, cats and livestock high above the water. I’ve heard that the price of this tour sometimes triples during the dry season since there’s no prices listed at the stand where you buy the tickets, which seems a bit shady and I wouldn’t say it’s worth a TON of money to see. And since the ticket stand was pretty far from the actual village, I HOPE the money goes towards the locals there. Otherwise, it’s not the most ethical. So maybe just watch this video and experience it through us instead! This village sits on a river which leads into the Tonle Sap. It’s the largest freshwater lake in South East Asia and a huge biodiversity hotspot. The name of this floating village translates to the Harbor of the Tusks. We saw men and women weaving fishing nets, children playing in the water, people young and old bathing outside of their homes, a girl rowing a boat to her friends house and more. We saw multiple people bathing in the waters here. It obviously plays a huge role in their lives. It was all awesome and totally fascinating to see how people live here. Our mangrove guide was a local from the village who didn’t speak any English. Being on a small boat getting closer to the houses and the people gave us a brand new perspective which was really exciting. It got me wondering what it would be like to teach English in their local school and live in this community. We were silly and forgot bug spray … I really recommend bug spray. The crocodile farm was located right next to a shop with a ton of purses, belts and other things made from the skins of said crocodiles which was a bit upsetting to me. Also, you could hold the babies which I’m never a fan of. Babies should be with their mamas and not held by strangers being exposed to all of their new and exotic bacteria and germs and stuff. Our guide brought us down the river and out to see the lake. There was also a local temple we were able to visit too. The mangrove forest and the temple were the only two stops our boat made. At the temple was a few stray dogs and some monks. The details in the architecture and colors within the murals were so beautiful.