Tonle Sap Lake and Kampong Phluk Half-Day Tours from Siem Reap (4-5h)

The tour picks people up between 7am-8am so you need to be ready in case your the first pick-up of the day. It’s about an hour drive from Siem Reap and there’s no breakfast provided and our guide (Barang) was sure to ask that everybody ate beforehand. During the drive, Barang talked a little about the culture and history of Cambodia as well as what to expect during the tour. When we arrived at the end of the road, there was a little walk to the boat. If your there during the rainy season make sure you wear boots you done mind getting dirty. By the time we got to the boat everyone’s shoes had thick red clay mud caked on the bottom. We all had to scrap the mud off before trying to walk down the ramp to board the boat. The boat ride is obviously the best part as you’re going through the ‘floating village’. Barang tried to talk about the village as we went but the boat engine is really loud making it impossible to hear anything he was saying. You eventually get the a floating dock where you can do the optional boat ride through the mangrove trees. If you choose to take the ride, about 50 yards into the ride you will turn a corner to find a fleet of other boats selling food and drinks. We hadn’t brought a lot of money and were planning to use what we had to tip the woman padding the boat. However, the sales woman was pretty aggressive so when we initially declined she responded that we should buy something for the woman paddling the boat. When we declined again she told us to ‘think of the children’ and we should buy something for them. If we had brought more money, we would have caved. But the woman padding the boat had her son seating in her lap the entire time (as did a lot of the other women) and we decided we wanted to tip her. Just make sure you have a couple extra dollars if you plan on doing this option since they really do need the money. The rest of the ride through the mangroves was very nice. After the ride through the mangroves, Barang tried talking to everyone but there are constantly boats coming and going which again made it impossible to hear him. After getting back on the our boat, we arrived at the alligator farm which wasn’t much to look at. It was then back on the boat to go back through the floating village to the van and back to Siem Reap. It’s an interesting trip but nothing spectacular.

Just when you think that Cambodia could not get any more beautiful, enter Kompong Phluk. Kompong Phluk is a colorful, floating fishing village outside of Siem Reap. Our tour guide, Vanlonh, captured our hearts from the very start. Vanlonh is warm and charming with an infectious smile. He takes great pride in his job and it shows he is a stand out among other tour guides. Our boat ride to Kompong Phluk on Tonle Sap Lake was picturesque and relaxing. Upon arriving at Kompong Phluk, we were met with smiling faces. The townspeople are very welcoming. In fact, I happened upon a one-room schoolhouse where elementary school-aged children were busy learning. The teacher noticed me and invited me in to speak with his students in English. Their command of the English language was impressive...far and away better than my Khmer. : Opt in on the canoe ride through the mangrove fields. It was easily the highlight of our day. Our canoe had the most adorable little copilot he smiled and played as his mother navigated us through the mangroves. What a treat!

We enjoyed the trip out, and a break from the other sites around Angkor Wat. The boat ride is pleasant, and it was interesting to see the floating village, it is the first time I have visited something like this, but guess that if you have seen one before this might not be the tour for you. We took up the option of an additional boat trip around the fresh water mangrove for $5, which again was enjoyable, but nothing out of the ordinary happens. We stopped on the way back to visit the Buddhist temple in the village, but I would have liked to have the chance to see something such as a school, or poke our noses around a typical house etc to learn a bit more about the way of life in the village.

I booked this as a last minute decision and very glad I did. This is one of the best value tours I’ve been on. I was picked up from my hotel and then to the tourist office. We then headed off to the lake. The guide provided a running commentary on the importance of the lake and a bit of background on the village we visited. The additional cost tour in a small canoe was well worth it. Had a great group from all papers of the world. I was lucky to share my canoe with a young women from Israel. One of the real benefits of such a trip is besides visiting a great location and interacting with locals you also meet fellow travellers. So for me this was a fantastic tour.

Good organisation and overall a good tour! I had a lot of fun doing the afternoon trip to the floating village: the sights are beautiful and the canoe ride through the mangrove forest is amazingly peaceful (except for when they stop for you to buy stuff off of other canoes; I didn't appreciate the pestering and guilt tripping into buying something for the driver, but that's what it is, nothing to do with the tour). The canoe ride is not included, it's 10 USD per boat and they take 2 people at a time, so if you share, like I did, you pay half of that. I recommend you not to skip the ride. The rest is as he description says: boat ride through the village, stop for a short visit at the village, back to the boat to go to the mangrove forest and optional canoe ride (30min ride), then boat again to Tonlé Sap to watch the sunset, and trip back through the village (very beautiful light at that time of the day).

トンレサップ湖への半日ツアー、午前出発でした。ガイドの Phearom さんは地元の知識が豊富で、色々な情報を道中の車の中でしてくれました。また、ツアーに参加したグループ(私たち家族と、カップルが2組)が打ち解けられるように気を遣ってくれ、車中大変和やかに過ごせました。トンレサップ湖の水上村へは小さな屋根付きモーターボートで行き、大部分はボートから見ました。人々の生活が間近に見られて非常に良かったです。途中、モーターボートを降りて休憩しつつ、オプションでカヌーに乗りマングローブの林を見て回りました。現地の人たちから途中色々と物を買うように勧められるので、予め予算を決めておくと良いと思います。カンボジアのローカルな部分を垣間見られて新鮮でした。

I strongly recommend this visit of Kompong Phluk and Tonle Sap Lake to everyone, but you should definitely ask for Mr. Van Lonh to be your guide. Lonh has outstanding English communication skills, a terrific personality, tremendous enthusiasm, and a warm sense of humor that made the day particularly fun. We used Viator/TripAdvisor for all of the tours on this trip of Southeast Asia and Lonh was by far the best guide we had on the whole trip. We learned a tremendous amount about Cambodian history and the people and culture of the areas we visited without feeling we were overwhelmed with detail and information. In addition, when Lonh found out that we were going to be heading to the airport after the outing, he offered to take us to the hotel and even insisted we stop for lunch on the way there to sample more of the local cuisine. The restaurant he took us to gave us the best meal we had the whole time we were in Siem Reap. Although he waited for us while we ate, all he asked for was $10 for the driver -- the same amount we would have paid a cab. By the end of the day, Long was a good friend. He is certainly a tremendous ambassador for his country!

We had an amazing day in Kompong Phluk and on Tonle Sap Lake! Our guide, Vanlonh (AKA George), was a wealth of knowledge with personality plus. Vanlonh’s communication skills are top notch; his smile and sense of humor are a true gift given the hardships his country has endured. Our tour was small (5 people in total), which allowed us plenty of individualized attention with the guide as well as our fellow tourists. Take the optional canoe ride through the mangroves. What an unexpected treat! Our co-pilot melted both mine and my husband’s hearts.

Had a great day with Vanlonh! Great personality, very knowledgeable and went out of his way to make sure we knew EVERYTHING about the village. I have gone on A LOT of tours through Viator/TripAdvisor and he is definitely among the best. Thank you for the memories!