Tonle Sap: Going Off Limits & Sleeping With Toads
This next part of our South East Asia trip is one which we’ve been looking forward to with such anticipation, not just recently but before the original curtailed trip three years ago. Why? Because we do love pushing the boundaries of the comfort zone, and this short adventure will surely do that.
It starts when Var, our guide and companion for the next two days, collects us from Siem Reap and we climb into the nicely air conditioned 4×4. And when we say “companion” we mean it – Var will be sleeping in the same room as us tonight.
“I will explain all we are going to do” he says, “but first, I should check that you are ready for your 1-star hotel room tonight”, grinning like a schoolboy as he says it. We assure him we’re more than ready.
We’re on our way to Tonle Sap, a true phenomenon of the natural world: a lake which increases its size five fold in the rainy season, and a flowing waterway which reverses the direction of its flow twice a year – two phenomenal facts in their own right. But Tonle Sap is also the location for the hundreds of floating villages which have existed on these waters for generations, for centuries even.
This is one gigantic lake – in dry season, as it is now, Tonle Sap stretches 99 miles north to south, but as the Himalayan snows melt and the rainy season follows, the dimensions of the lake increase to an astonishing 160 miles long by 62 miles across. Water levels rise by over 10 metres as floods reach the maximum. The lake sits on, and is fed by, the Mekong, which flows into it from the north east and leaves towards the south. The Tonle Sap River flows southwards into the top part of the lake, with the Mekong joining and forming the largest section of Tonle Sap a little further south.
Thus, in dry season, all water flows southwards. As the water flow increases and the Mekong swells, the lake and the Tonle Sap River are forced northwards, completely reversing the direction of flow for the duration of the “flood season”, now northwards instead of southbound. As the flows decrease and the dry season returns, so the lake starts to recede and the waters resume their southerly flow. No other waterway in the world experiences such a radical change season by season.
When the waters do recede, they leave behind extremely fertile soil on perfectly flat lands, ideal for vegetable and crop growth as long as the plant life cycle is completed within the eight months outside of the flood. As you would expect from such terrain, Tonle Sap is an absolute haven for flora and fauna where bird life is particularly abundant. This unique country is under threat from a number of pressures though: we will endeavour to cover these in a later post.
Our destination is the floating village of Prek Toal, a 90-minute journey in a sampan boat from where the dirt roads end, picking up the water channels at their furthest reaches at this time year when the water level is at its lowest. Prek Toal is a static floating village: all properties here are tethered to wooden posts or to trees, making it necessary to keep re-attaching the house to a higher point as the water rises. On the way we pass Mechery, a mobile floating village where the entire community moves as the water level rises and falls; its dwellers are true water borne nomads.
Life in Prek Toal is so different, so unusual. Everything is on the water in floating houses: cafes, shops, coffee shops, schools, gas station, grocery stores… even the medical centre and a police station. And Prek Toal isn’t a tiny community, this long stretch of floating houses runs for a considerable distance down both sides of the waterway, with around 1,000 families housed here.
After helping to prepare our meal with the ladies at the community kitchen (no English, all done with sign language and actions, food delicious as ever), we speed down the water through the village to our home for the night. There is of course no running water – the shower is a plastic bucket, the toilet flush likewise. Our bed is a flat mattress on the floor hidden inside insect nets, Var in his cocoon next to us and our host lady – we couldn’t catch her name unfortunately – just behind.
Fortunately though, we have friends to do their best to remove the insect threat; our house is shared with a large number of geckos darting around snaffling food – and those toads who are to share our sleeping quarters tonight. Seemingly completely oblivious to human presence, they happily crawl or hop around, shooting out a tongue and devouring another potential blood sucker. It’s an unusual phrase which we will probably never repeat, but it’s good to know there’s toads in the house.
Prek Toal falls quiet early, lights in the houses are extinguished, the shops closed for the day and the shopkeeper in his hammock, lightning flickering silently around the dark sky. We sit at the water’s edge chatting with Var about life in a floating village, batting away a billion flies and watching this oh so different community end its day – a day, for them, identical to every other: for us, a once in a lifetime experience.
We drift off to sleep in the darkness, Var quickly silent, our hostess laying awake to ensure her unusual looking guests are content. And we are very content indeed, safe from bites inside our secure nets, listening to the sounds of a different world, rocking side to side each time a noisy boat roars by, feeling wonderful to be having this experience and privileged to catch a window to a different world.
Morning brings a surprise in the shape of rain. It isn’t meant to rain for another month yet, but as dawn breaks so does a thunder storm, fork lightning flashes in the sky and rain hammers the tin roofs and peppers the surface of the water. Var is surprised and disappointed: we were meant to be heading out early to the main lake to see today’s sunrise, but the unexpected storm has hidden the sun.
Our time over the two days in Prek Toal is so brilliantly educational, Var is a knowledgeable and engaging companion and we learn so much about the unusual life in this extreme environment. Fishing methods are described in detail, likewise the construction of the floating houses, the difficulties of this lifestyle are explained; we visit the school and engage with the children, we help in the community kitchen, study the methods of cultivating food in this unusual climate.
Var is the only person we meet over the two days who has even one word of English – apart from the children who call “hello” and know how to high-five. The rest is sign and body language. Educational programmes are in place here and it’s fascinating to listen and learn. The village people have for centuries caught and grown their own food (fish and vegetables anyway, the rice needed to be brought in) and waste – peel, stalks etc – was thrown into the water. When plastic packaging arrived, they knew no different, so the plastic went into the water too. Given the massive flow of the Mekong, all this plastic disappears way south from Tonle Sap, leaving these communities in blissful ignorance of the environmental damage they are causing downstream. Education of adults has not been easy, so the projects wisely concentrate on educating the young. The children teach the parents, hopefully breaking the historical chain.
There’s another issue too: over fishing. With such an abundance of marine life there is no concept of endangering species amongst the villagers, and a refusal to accept any such possibility, so the educational angle has to be subtle. For centuries this community has fished for their own consumption but also to generate funds, taking the catch to market in the cities and returning with both cash and other foodstuffs. And so the programme concentrates on farming: teaching which crops can be grown in the time available, not just for consumption in the village but also for taking to market and providing an alternative source of income, in turn restricting the need for big hauls of fish.
It’s working – there are extensive vegetable plots and long lines of the chilli plants which are the most lucrative crop – but, again, trying to change the ways of a community steeped in customs handed down through generations is not an easy or quick task. We are in awe of those working so hard to get there.
The thunder storm clears after breakfast with the happy effect of significantly reducing the humidity levels. We may have missed the sunrise, but it’s still early and the planned birdwatching expedition is now going to happen. It too is brilliant, this place teems with wading birds: herons, storks, ibis and egrets, but there are plenty of others to see too.
An occasional pelican floats in search of fish, terns and swallows swoop overhead and now and again we spy the magnificent grey-headed fish eagle. The heavy looking greater adjutant stands like a fisherman at the water’s edge, a cinnamon bittern flies up from the greenery, now and again an oriental magpie-robin takes flight. The hilariously named racket-tailed treepie flits between trees; there’s a bright red flash as a scarlet-backed flowerpecker feeds nearby. Don’t these things have fantastic, exotic names!?
The birdwatching is amazing, but our time in the floating village of Prek Toal is an experience which will live in our memories for ever. Just seeing how life is here, learning just a tiny bit about this very different world, understanding just a fraction of what life means to an isolated and unique community like this, all of this has been an amazing, humbling experience.
It’s been wonderful. Even sharing our room with toads.
37 Comments
normareadtalktalknet
Wow what a fantastic and amazing experience … the very essence of why you love to travel .. so interesting to read about this and you have again taken us with you on this wonderful experience 🙌
Phil & Michaela
Thank you Norma…it was a fabulous couple of days
Nemorino
Fascinating. I never knew how Tonle Sap changes with the seasons, or why it is helpful to have toads in your room when you sleep.
Phil & Michaela
Both new to us too!
Mike and Kellye Hefner
This might be one of your best, most adventurous posts ever! I read it twice and had Mike read it too. What an amazing experience you had. Most travelers would bypass Prek Toal in a heartbeat, but you guys always find the best ways to dig into a place. I absolutely loved this.
Phil & Michaela
Thank you so much for those lovely comments, Kellye. Sometimes when you travel, you know “in the moment” that you are experiencing something special. This was one of those times, for sure.
wetanddustyroads
Oh, that’s a big water buffalo! The shops in the water are so unique (that nail bar 😉). I love the community kitchen, the idea of helping prepare dinner and your sleeping arrangements – what an experience! Your description and photos of Prek Toal are beautiful – it’s definitely a place we would like to visit.
Phil & Michaela
It was very special, Corna, we absolutely loved the whole experience.
Toonsarah
What a fabulous experience – or rather, lots of experiences! We didn’t get to Tonle Sap and at the time I wasn’t too disappointed as the visit to the floating villages sounded quite touristy. But clearly it isn’t, if you know where to go! I think I could even put up with sleeping on the floor in a shared room, just for one night, in return for all of this!
Phil & Michaela
And the toads?!😂. Actually yes, we’d read a lot about the touristy ones, which of course tend to be the ones which are easier to get to. Our solution to find the right place was to book nothing of the floating village visit until we got to Siem Reap. Then, when we found a reliable guide, we explained exactly what we were looking for and what we wanted to avoid – he then recommended the tour we ended up doing. Sometimes you can’t trust the internet and you just have to find the right human being!
Toonsarah
Very true – nothing beats local knowledge!
Monkey's Tale
Such a great experience. I didn’t realize that some of the villages were actually floating and that one is mobile! What a life those people have, so different from our own, so different from most other Cambodians too. A memory to keep for sure. Maggie
Phil & Michaela
It was fabulous, Maggie, though it’s worth taking the trouble to reach an authentic village rather than some which apparently have become over touristed. Prek Toal was definitely authentic and unspoiled.
Monkey's Tale
I read in the comments that they’ve become quite touristy. Too bad, because they weren’t when we went, but that was a few years ago now.
Latitude Adjustment: A Tale of Two Wanderers
What an adventure.
mochatruffalo
What happens to waste water treatment if any?
Phil & Michaela
Straight into the river, I’m afraid. There is no structure and these villages aren’t accessible enough to have permanent systems installed.
mochatruffalo
Yikes!
Lookoom
Obviously you have gone beyond the comfort zone. I went to see the floating villages on the shores of the Tonle Sap Lake, a very different environment from Siem Reap which benefits from the money brought by tourism.
Phil & Michaela
Yes indeed. We hear that some of the floating villages have become over touristed and now lack a bit of authenticity. Prek Toal was definitely “real” so you just have to be selective about where you end up I guess.
notesoflifeuk
Wow! That’s quite a trip! Fantastic photos too 🙂
Phil & Michaela
Thank you, yes it was pretty special….and a bit different…
grandmisadventures
Such a rare and incredible gift to spend some days here seeing such a different way of life and being part of their community for a short time. Great post! 🙂
Phil & Michaela
Thank you 🙏 it was fabulous!
leightontravels
What a brilliant experience from start to finish. You seemed to be very safe in Var’s hands, no chance of being caught offside. I didn’t make it to Prek Toal, but so much of your experience resonates with some of the things I saw at Kampong Phluk and Kampong Khleang. To bed down for the night in a homestay and experience this kind of village at night must have been very special. Great work on capturing the birdlife!
Phil & Michaela
No offsides indeed….a bit close on a red card call for the toad though at one point. Yeah it was great, Leighton, loved the experience.
Wandering Canadians
Sounds like an amazing experience. It’s always good to get out of your comfort zone and it’s adventures like this that provide more perspective on life. I can’t even begin to imagine what life is like here. And I never would have guessed having toads in the house could be a good thing!
Phil & Michaela
Nor would we before this!
rkrontheroad
Tonle Sap was one of most memorable days in southeast Asia. How special for you both to have a homestay on the lake! The adjutant bird looks almost prehistoric.
Phil & Michaela
Wonderful experience and helping prepare meals in the community kitchen was just great. We left wishing that we’d committed to two nights really.
Annie Berger
Fun read about sharing your room with toads, your guide, and the other woman – what an experience that, as you said, you will long remember. Heartwarming, too, to see how the people are slowly adapting to growing vegetables as a source of income instead of just harvesting fish.
Phil & Michaela
It was a brilliant experience, Annie…kind of wished we were staying another night when we left. Would have beefed great to help in the community kitchen again, we loved doing that.
Annie Berger
I can imagine what a rewarding experience that must have been for both of you. Sadly, I can think of only a few times where we have made a difference in people’s lives when we traveled.
Phil & Michaela
Yes we would like more of those opportunities too
Alice
Thanks a lot for this beautiful sharing. I’m travelling solo to Cambodia next month and I would like to know if that would be possible to share the contact information of Var and also the budget I should prepare to live this beautiful experience with the locals. Thanks in advance
Phil & Michaela
Hi Alice, we would be very happy to help and give guidance, helping other travellers is one of our joys! Give us a couple of hours to rack our brains and remember the detail and we’ll give you some useful information
Phil & Michaela
Hello again Alice. Right, here we go. Two things first: our advice is based on our experience as a couple and of course we know that things are slightly different for solo female travellers, but hopefully the info will be useful. Secondly, the Cambodian people are extremely friendly and helpful, meaning you don’t need to plan too much in advance, you will always be able to find local help, which is what we did. We had looked on line and found some companies but didn’t want to commit without getting local advice. Plus, we wanted to tailor our trip to suit ourselves, including starting in Siem Reap but ending in Battambang rather than a round trip. While we were in Siem Reap, we met a very good guy, a tuk-tuk driver, who sent us a list of the good and ethical tour operators. One of those was the same one that had come up on our web search, a company called Osmose. Handily, you can contact them by WhatsApp. So basically we arranged the whole Prek Toal tour by WhatsApp while in Siem Reap. Osmose then use freelance guides, so using Osmose doesn’t guarantee that you’ll get Var, but you could probably request it! We can’t unfortunately give you budget guidance because we tailor made our trip (with ride to Battambang), but I think you can find guide prices on their website. Last points: not sure when you’re going, but the river and therefore the village, is very different at different times of year, so I recommend you do a bit of research in that respect. And lastly (this might be a big bonus!) we just happen to have kept Var’s cellphone number. It’s +855-92-913576. We really hope this helps and we hope you enjoy Cambodia as much as we did. Great country, lovely people, fabulous food!