Visit to the fishing villages

The grandiosity of the temples of the Angkorian Empire contrasts with the reality of a large part of the Cambodian population. The bicycle excursion to the fishing villages in the Tonle Sap Lake shows this contrast.
The excursion starts in the recently paved national highway that links Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. As soon as we abandoned the road in the direction of the Tonle Sap Lake, the quality of the roads starts to decrease… and it decreases at such a dramatic pace that soon after we were not sure if we were in the right or wrong path. With a mixture of stubbornness (of some of us more than others) and a blind faith in our ability to decipher maps that do not contain indication of the selected destination, we continued advancing through dirt roads that resembled the moon surface.
After some effort, we managed to arrive to Kompong Phhluk, a fishing village constructed over foundations of long sticks that, during the dry season (in which we are now), defy the laws of gravity. From there, we went by boat to the Tonle Sap Lake and visited a floating fishing village. A totally different sort of life and a new perspective into “Amouk Fish”, the great (and delicious) speciality of Cambodian cuisine.