KOMPONG PHLUK LAKE-FLOATING HOUSES

Kompong Phluk Lake has a very interesting structure. Since we came during the dry season, we were able to walk through the village roads. Otherwise, you can move by canoes. While the lake shrinks in the dry season, this water basin grows 6 times larger during the season with the heaviest rainfall. In this rainy season, all the neighborhoods, fields, meadows, temples and even forests in the lake are submerged. More accurately, they are submerged in water. When this is the case, a completely different life begins for the people. They go to school by canoes, do fishing and buy food from the floating market. The houses standing on long wooden stilts do not move but only remain fixed on the water. The unstable structures can drift hundreds of meters depending on the height and flow of the water. They call the houses floating on the water “floating houses”.

The people living on the lake are unregistered refugees from Vietnamese, Cham and Khmer cultures. Their lives are very difficult. They are called 'forgotten people' or 'stateless people' here. The lake has officially opened its heart to these refugees and become a new homeland and living space.