The floating village scams,
and how to miss them.

For most people 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. The difference is not luck. There are four tricks, they have the same shape every time, and once you can recognise the shape you can't be caught by it. Here they are.

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.

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 three rules

1. Go to Kompong Phluk or Kompong Khleang, not Chong Kneas. The commission economy lives at Chong Kneas because it is fifteen 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. Buy the ticket at the counter yourself, and read the printed price.
3. Decline the school and the market before the boat leaves, politely, and ask to go to the lake.

Or 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