Kampong Luong Floating Village

Located in Pursat Province on the waters of the Tonle Sap Lake, Kampong Luong is another of Cambodia’s unique floating villages where the community lives their life in a water-centric world. The area features a large community that is part land-based with houses on stilts and the larger community in floating homes, making a living from plying the waters of the great lake. There are actually four separate floating villages in the larger community area.

The community here is mixed ethnicity with Khmer, Vietnamese, Cham, and Chinese. The floating village has a surprising economy that centers around life on the water including all kinds of services such as food sales, consumer goods, and daily needs, plus boat repairs, fishing equipment, nets, and so on. Almost everything you need can be found with a quick paddle. Spiritual needs aren’t ignored and there are even floating pagodas, both Khmer and Vietnamese.

Getting there

Take the beautiful new National Road 5 to central Krakor District and take Road 54 north to Kampong Luong. There are buses that head between Phnom Penh <> Battambang and if you request they will stop here and you can get a tuk-tuk from the central area. Otherwise, it’s easy to hire a private car or find a tour group service online. With the new road complete it’s also very easy to go by motorbike.

Floating Village Boat Tickets

There is an official ticket desk located at the pier, which shifts northward as the waters recede in the dry months, and the boat tours are fixed prices. As of the Aug 2023 prices were

• Small Boat – 1-6 people – $13
• Big Boat – 7- 10 people – $20
• Big Boat – over 11 people – $2 per person per hour

Rodney Charles LHuillier

Living in Asia for over a decade and now residing in beautiful Siem Reap. Rodney Charles L'Huillier has spent over seven years in Cambodia and is the author of Ancient Cambodia (2024) and Essential Siem Reap (2017, 2019). Contact via [email protected] - more..