Phoum Kandal & Chong Kos Floating Villages

Much less visited than other floating villages, the Tonlé Sap River hamlets of Phoum Kandal (ភូមិកណ្ដាល) and Chong Kos (ចុងកោះ) are a colourful vision of brightly painted wooden houses, with tiny terraces strung with hammocks, all built on rickety DIY pontoons. To fully explore the villages, hire a wooden boat (with captain) at Kompong Chhnang dock (US$10 per hour, up to three people) to paddle you through these fully buoyant towns, complete with shops, satellite TV – check out the ingenious bamboo electricity poles! – and mobile vegetable vendors.

A one-hour boat ride will allow you to see one village; with 1½ or two hours, you have enough time to visit both. Hiring a paddle-boat allows you to glide within the maze of watery streets to glimpse how village life functions when everything floats.

Phoum Kandal (directly southeast of the boat dock) is an ethnic Vietnamese village, while Chong Kos (to the north) is Khmer.