R. Doug Wicker — Author

After our motorized rickshaw tour and exploration of the Wat Preah Prom Rath Buddhist temple and garden, we had lunch at the Golden Temple Residence before our afternoon tour arrived to pick us up for a boat ride on Tonlé Sap, the largest freshwater lake in all of Southeast Asia. Tonlé Sap is also home to several “floating villages,” which don’t actually float, but rather consist of homes and businesses built upon tall stilts. The village we would visit this day was Kampong Phluk, which spends parts of the year dry, and other times finds itself surrounded by water. What we didn’t know was that the road would be so crowded this day that we would have to depart the tour bus and walk a considerable distance, weaving through myriad vehicles, to get to our tour boat. Surprise! It was Day One of the annual three-day Bon Om Touk “Boat Paddling” Festival, otherwise known as the Cambodian Water and Moon Festival. This festival is held in late October/late November, and it heralds the end of Cambodia’s monsoon season. On this trip (2025) it ran 4-6 November. For 2026 it’ll be 23-25 November.

When you’re in your seventies, scrambling down the steep slope to the tour boat can be a bit challenging. As me how I know. But Ursula and I both made without dying, so there’s that. Just kidding about that. It wasn’t that dangerous, just tricky to navigate.

At any rate, I’m sure you’ll agree that the climb down that slope was worth it for views such as this:

It doesn’t take long to sail from the Kampong Phluk boat dock to get to the floating village of the same name. And when you arrive, this is what awaits you:

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