The floating village scams,
and how to miss them

For most people, after the temples, the floating villages are the best afternoon of their time in Siem Reap. For a few, every year, it is the afternoon they got taken for a hundred dollars. Fortunately, it's very easy to avoid these scams. There are four tricks, they look the same every time, and once you know them you can't be caught. Here they are.

A story from Luang Prabang

Years ago, backpacking in Laos, I met two Irish women in Luang Prabang. When I said I lived in Cambodia, they told me it had been the worst experience of their travels. They had loved the temples, the food and the nightlife. Then a tuk-tuk driver took them to a floating village, and the boat driver would not take them back until they bought rice. It was close to sunset, they were scared, and in the end they handed over $100 just to get home. It ruined their trip.

It was embarrassing to hear, because Cambodians are some of the warmest people you will meet anywhere. How could this happen? It happened because a few people on the lake had worked out a routine, and visitors had no way of knowing it.

A lot has changed since then. Chong Kneas is now managed officially, with printed ticket prices sold at a counter, and Kompong Phluk and Kompong Khleang are run by their own community cooperatives. Days like the one those two women had are rare now. But the occasional trick still turns up, and it helps to know what it looks like.

1. The school, then the rice

This is the famous one, and the reason we don't stop at schools. Shortly after the boat leaves the landing, the driver asks whether you'd like to see the floating school and meet the children. It sounds like the most worthwhile stop of the day. At the school the children perform something, you take photos, and on the way out the driver talks about how hard their lives are. Then a boat pulls alongside, or you're steered to a floating shop, with sacks of rice and boxes of notebooks at the front. Would you like to help the children? A 25 kg sack of rice is $50, perhaps $80. You pay, the sack is "delivered" to the school, and after your boat is out of sight it goes back on the shelf for the next guest. The driver's commission is most of what you paid. The children get nothing.

The answer is simple and has to be said early: no school, no market, please take us to the lake. Say it kindly and the trip continues; the drivers who run this are not dangerous, only persistent. Our note on school visits says more about why we pass them by. At Chong Kneas, children may also paddle up to the boats in metal washing pans, selling trinkets or holding a snake for a photo; a smile and a no is enough.

2. The boat price invented on the spot

Every village has a set boat price for visitors, shown at the ticket office: USD 20 per person plus a USD 2 tourism tax at Kompong Phluk and Kompong Khleang, sold by the community cooperative; USD 22 per person at Mechrey; USD 7 per person at Chong Kneas with a four-ticket minimum per boat, sold by Angkor Enterprise. The old trick was a tuk-tuk driver quoting "the boat" at $30 or $40 a head and splitting the difference with a boatman. It still happens to people who let the driver buy the ticket. Buy it yourself, at the counter, and look at the printed price. Our prices page has every fee.

3. Shops and restaurants on commission

Not a scam exactly, but the same economy. At Chong Kneas in particular the boat will want to stop at a souvenir barge, a crocodile farm with a gift shop, and a floating restaurant. Prices are several times what you'd pay in town, the "silk" is polyester, and there is no way to return anything without buying another boat ticket. The restaurant's fried rice at $6 is fine as a place to watch the sun go down; just know that a third of it is the driver's. You can stay on the boat at every one of these stops. Our guide to eating at the villages says which places are worth it.

4. The "floating forest" that isn't

The flooded forest is at Kompong Phluk and Kompong Khleang. Chong Kneas has none. A canoe ride offered there as "the mangrove forest" is a paddle through water hyacinth beside the restaurant, for $5 or $10. Pleasant enough, but it is not the thing in the photographs.

The four rules

1. Go to Kompong Phluk or Kompong Khleang, not Chong Kneas. The commission economy lives at Chong Kneas because it is twenty minutes from town and every tuk-tuk driver's default. The other villages are run by community cooperatives, and are quieter, more authentic villages. Our comparison explains the differences; our Chong Kneas guide says how to do it well if you have only an hour.
2. Know the price before you go. Ask your driver for the ticket price ahead of time, and make sure you know exactly how much you will be paying.
3. Book with someone accountable. Ideally, book your trip through your hotel or a company with an online presence and reviews. That holds them far more accountable than a tuk-tuk picked up on the street.
4. Decline the school and the market before the boat leaves, politely, and ask to go to the lake.

The best way to avoid all of this, and not have to worry about it at all, is to go with a company whose reviews you can read. That isn't only us; any operator with a public record has more to lose from a bad afternoon than a driver has to gain from one. On our tours the tickets are paid, the route is fixed, there is no school and no shop, and your guide grew up in the village you're visiting.

Frequently asked questions