I want to show you the two big waters in Cambodia. They are Komping Puoy Lake and Yak Loam Lake.

They are different even though they are lakes.

What are the differences?

Komping Puoy

Komping Puoy is not a natural lake. It was built during the Pol Pot regime.

At that time, Pol Pot wanted to make electric storage, so they ordered people to work.

Hundreds of people worked from day to night to fulfill the need of the organization. Men dug the ground; women and young people (both boys and girls) carried land to backfill to build the storage.

Nowadays, Komping Puoy is a park. There are many tourists, both local and from abroad, visiting there. They are glad with the beautiful view. They play in the water happily. They say it is a relaxing place.

They sit in a small bungalow. They have a chit-chat, laughing and smiling. They have food. They enjoy it.

But do they know that there were sweats and bloods of Khmer in order to create this park for all of us today?

I bet fewer people knew about it. Only older people realized that this lake is exchanged for hundreds of lives.

For me, it is a national history park, not a national park. I felt sorry for Cambodians when I arrived there, but I am happy when I see smiles on the faces of the Cambodian young generation. It means they live well. It means Cambodia is at peace. So it does not matter if they know the story or not. I hope the miserable history will not repeat.

Yak Loam

This lake is a natural park. 

Yak Loam was created by a volcano thousands of years ago. It is amazing. The lake is round like an orange. The water is clear. There are small and big trees around the lake. I heard from local people that there are big fishes living in the lake. They said some of them are big like whales.

The tourist is advised to swim near the bank, not to the middle of the lake, especially when the sun sets.

There are bungalows and restaurants to serve food. Moreover, there are Khmer cakes selling in the area.

My Suggestion

Yak Loam is more popular than Komping Puoy. However, I would like to recommend writers, painters, photographers, and vloggers to tour both of them. They will bring different colors to your content.