David Bowden
With a new purpose-built ship, visitors to Cambodia can explore Tonle Sap River in luxurious comfort, writes David Bowden
MONSOON rains create an unusual phenomenon. It makes the 120-kilometre Tonle Sap River, that connects the great lake of the same name to the Mekong River, reverses its flow and travels upstream when waters from the larger Mekong force the tributary to flow backwards into the lake. This occurs from May to October while at other times ofthe year, the Tonle Sap River flows towards the sea.
During the wet season it is thought that the lake expands by up to five times its dry season area, which means that those living around the lake need to be mobile.
Most lakeside inhabitants live in floating homes that move with the receding or expanding waters and floating townships are situated around the lake. These locations are home to Vietnamese and Cambodian Muslim Cham people.
TAKING THE GREAT LAKE
While the Khmer people have boated across the Tonle Sap (Great Lake) from Siem Reap to the capital Phnom Penh for ages, the introduction of a new ship the RV Indochine 11 means that tourists can now travel in luxury between Cambodia’s leading tourist destinations.
Onboard the inaugural journey of the RV Indochine 11, a purpose-built ship to travel between Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, means a few days visiting the ancient Angkorian temples and while I’d been there many times before, the temples always reveal something new. Detailed carvings on most temples reveal fish and animals such as dolphins and crocodiles that live in and around Tonle Sap.
Siem Reap, after all, is the gateway to the famous temples of Angkor and a civilisation that at its height from the ninth to the 15th centuries was one of the world’s most densely populated places with an estimated one million residents.
Water has and still is important for those who farm in and around the temples and archaeologists suggest that Angkor thrived because of the way rainwater was captured, stored and then released as required during the dry season Angkor’s rulers built two large dams (barays) to store and then distribute water during, as andwhen it was required. Some temples have moats around them and a new activity I enjoyed was a boating excursion at sunset around the vast Angkor Thom moat.
ALL ABOARD
Our ship departs from Phnom Krom, a short road trip from Siem Reap. This bustling port is constantly on the move as the water level of the lake changes.
It is lined with small vessels of every description and after a short journey on a small boat, the glistening new RV Indochine 11 awaited its eager passengers.
Perched four storeys above the water, it is easily the biggest ship on the lake but still with a shallow berth to pass over shallow sections and low enough to negotiate a few bridges along its leisurely two-day journey to Phnom Penh.
It is indeed exciting to be on the inaugural voyage of the ship and to experience its luxurious facilities and the many sights along the way.
While cabins on river cruise ships are never large, I am surprised at the space I have and the fact that there is a verandah which means that the room appears bigger than it is.
There are two beds, ample storage space, a shower and toilet, television, fridge and workbench but with intermittent WiFi, especially when we cross the remote lake in the evening.
Public facilities include a small top deck pool, ample sun lounges, a spacious indoor lounge and bar, and a first floor restaurant.
Spa treatments are also offered in a converted cabin.
After a late afternoon departure from Phnom Krom, the vastness of Tonle Sap becomes a reality as the horizon all around blurred with the blackened skies of an impending thunderstorm.
After pre-dinner drinks and a sumptuous dinner, it is time to turn in as the ship is planned to dock early the next morning, halfway at Kampong Chhnang.
EARLY BIRDS
I’m glad I awoke early as the journey into Kampong Chhnang passes the lakeside communities of floating homes, permanent homes perched on stilts over the lake, fishing folk, mosques, churches and even shops.
Kampong Chhnang is the main town beside the lake and strategically located at the eastern end, where it flows into the Tonle Sap River. It is known in Cambodia for its pottery and utensils like cooking pots and water containers.
It is a bustling market town and where travellers get on and off small ferry boats that cross the lake for Siem Reap. The ship’s captain informs me that our ship is the only one of any size that has a shallow enough berth to enable it to cross the lake.
We alight here to visit some attractions, including a pottery, sugar palm farm and the busy market. Sugar palms provide the locals with many products for making hats, thatching, timber and palm sugar.
Farmers climb up the trunks to collect the sap which they boil until it thickens into a syrup and then, crystalline blocks.
MEETING OF THE MEKONGM
Beyond the lake, these waters continue to flow southward down the Tonle Sap River where in Phnom Penh, they meet the mighty Mekong which commences its journey 4,350km away in China’s Tibetan Plateau.
I spend a leisurely two days exploring the capital on several shore excursions and used the ship asabase for sleeping and dining.
While I leave the ship in Phnom Penh, other passengers continue all the way to Ho Chi Minh City.
Visitors to Cambodia now have a new and luxurious form of transportation in which to explore the Tonle Sap, the lake’s flooded forests and to observe the daily routine of the farming and fishing communities that live on and around this vast expanse of water.
TRAVEL FILE
HOW TO GET THERE
There are daily flights from Kuala Lumpur into both Siem Reap and Phnom Penh so passengers on the RV Indochine 11 are best to fly into one and out of the other. The ship continues onto Ho Chi Minh City and this can also be a gateway or exit for cruise passengers.
WHEN TO TRAVEL
Choosing when to travel is important as Cambodia’s tropical rainfall, heat and humidity can affect the experience. The buildup to the wet season (February to April) is the hottest and driest season.
USEFUL CONTACTS
RV Indochine 11 (www.croisieurope.travel) continues down the Mekong River right into the Vietnamese city of Ho Chi Minh City as well as operating the journey in reverse all the way back to Siem Reap over 11 days (one way), including shore excursions.