Woman fishing
Delightful boat trip through a nature reserve and through Cambodian back gardens.
Ferry landing and boats in Battambang
One of the most enchanting boat trips in Cambodia is the public ferry from Battambang to Seam Reap (Angkor Wat), a trip down the Sangkar River and through various channels of its delta that flows into the Tonle Sap Lake. The delta is a nature reserve, the Prek Toal, mostly of interest to bird watchers, but before you have reached this, you have already spent hours traveling past fishing communities living in boats, in floating villages or in more permanent houses on impressively tall stilts, a testimony of how high the water level can get in the wet season.
Life on a boat
Birds in the reserve
Chinese fishing nets
Birds checking the catch of the day
Fishing trap transport
Fishing nets
Fish processing
The trip takes anything between 6 and 10 hours, depending on water levels and how often the boat gets stuck in the mud, but it is worth it. The last half hour or so crosses the Tonle Sap Lake for a landing in Chong Khneas, from which tuk-tuks drive you to Seam Reap, the town closest to Angkor Wat.
Riverside community, with floating houses and houses on stilts
Tonle Sap Lake
