Floating village in the middle of Tonle Sap Lake
Once we got past all the border crossing kerfuffle, we really enjoyed our brief stop in Siem Reap to visit Angkor Wat.
We stayed at an amazing little inn called the Golden Mango, which totally made the mango name proud. It was slightly farther out of the town centre, so the inn offered free tuk-tuks into town, or free bicycles. With our $18 rate per night, we also got free breakfast and tea/coffee/water throughout the day. Although I think the rate is supposed to be on the pricier end of the hostels in Siem Reap, this was a great place that I would recommend to anyone!
With the free bikes and the helpful directions from the staff at the inn, the first day we decided to venture out into the countryside to explore the floating village of Chong Kneas. It was a decent distance away, and I’m sad to say that after months of being super careful, I got some serious tan lines on my back from the journey. Aside from that, it was a super successful day. We took lots of pictures along the way, locked up our bikes by the dock at the village and paid for a boat ride in. The boat broke down halfway, but the two-man crew was able to fix it eventually, and we stopped in the floating village for a quick bite and a look around before biking back into town. On the way back, we stopped at the market for local villagers, and bought four deliciously ripe mangoes for slightly less than 50 cents – yes, that’s the total price! We got caught in a fiery tropical rainstorm just as we approached town, but after the long and hot day we’d had, that was the most welcome and refreshing break we could’ve hoped for.
My favourite architecture from the floating village actually was built just outside of the village proper – these houses on stilts sat on the river leading from the lake, and also needed to be propped up for the rain season when the lake overflows. There’s just something picturesque about the wooden houses nestled between lush greens.
Dinner was a lovely Khmer-style fare at a restaurant recommended by the hotel staff (they were just so full of good ideas!), and we went to bed early to catch the sunrise the next morning at Angkor Wat (3:45AM wake-up call)!
