Explore the floating village route Pilokki House, Kanchanaburi

Precha is happy
Aug 31
4 min read

Has anyone ever heard of a village called Pilokki?

With such a unique name, just hearing it already sparks curiosity — where could it be?

In this trip, we’re taking you along on our journey to find out.

Let’s go!

Pilokki Village is a small community located in the middle of the water at Khao Laem Dam, also known as Vajiralongkorn Dam, in Thong Pha Phum District, Kanchanaburi Province. This hidden gem remains rich in natural beauty and is home to a fascinating mix of cultures — Karen, Thai, and Myanmar — living together in harmony. Getting to the village can be done in a few ways, but traveling by water is considered the main route for locals here.

So then…

let’s begin the journey.

Just thinking about how to describe the way we got there already makes me feel tired! Honestly, it was confusing, exhausting, and a little overwhelming at times. But I’ll let you be the judge as you read on and imagine whether it really was as tiring as it sounds.

Our travel plan was to drive several kilometers through forest roads to reach the pier, where we had arranged to meet the raft operator at 12:30 p.m. We then loaded the car onto the raft and floated across for more than an hour. Once on the other side, we continued driving for another hour before finally reaching the village. Written out like this, it may not sound too complicated… but the journey was definitely a challenge.

We followed the location pinned on Google Maps, thinking it would lead us to the pier. It didn’t take long to get there, and honestly, the scenery at the supposed pier was already stunning beyond words. But then…

The farther we drove…

the more we realized there wasn’t a raft in sight.

No matter where we looked, there was nothing.

At first, we thought maybe we had just arrived too early, and the raft operator we arranged to meet hadn’t shown up yet. So we circled around and waited for a while. But soon, it became clear something wasn’t right.

We decided to ask some locals who were fishing nearby, and that’s when we found out — the map had taken us to the wrong place. We had actually wandered even farther off course, and to make matters worse, there was no phone signal at all.

Still, getting lost here wasn’t all bad. The atmosphere was absolutely worth it — breathtakingly beautiful, even if it wasn’t the pier we were looking for.

In the end, we had to drive back to the starting point and begin again from the entrance, this time heading down a new route with a local villager kindly offering to guide us. But the path was so rough it felt as though no car had ever passed through before.

The road was narrow, cutting through dense, dark forest, with fallen bamboo blocking the way at several points. As we pushed on, we couldn’t help but feel a little discouraged. Each obstacle took so much time and effort to get through, and the journey felt endlessly long before we finally made progress.

But once we finally got onto the raft, it felt like we had reached the halfway point of our journey — the destination was no longer far away. Sitting there with the breeze on our faces and the cool water flowing gently around us seemed to wash away some of the stress from the long, difficult trip.

After about an hour on the raft — just enough time to catch our breath — we finally reached the village shore. This was our very first step, and our very first visit, to this floating village. We were warmly welcomed by the acting village headman, Teacher Big, who kindly offered to show us around and led us straight to the school to assess its needs.

Oh, and by the way…

The purpose of this trip wasn’t just sightseeing. We had actually set out to survey the route and understand the school’s needs, so that we could plan to bring donations on our next visit.

We arrived at Border Patrol Police School, Ban Pilokki — the only school in this village, and the center of community activities. From the outside, it might look like a fairly large and well-equipped school. But after a closer look, the reality was very different.

The cafeteria doesn’t have enough seating for the more than 260 students. Many of the tables and chairs are broken, making them unsafe for the children. In the preschool classrooms, there are no fans, and the windows are damaged. The children are still lacking basic necessities such as school bags, sleeping mats, shoe racks, and more.

On top of that, they are also in need of rice and dry food supplies to provide three daily meals for the students. Every child here studies for free, and for those whose parents cannot care for them full-time, the school also serves as their home.

After completing our mission, it was time to find a camping spot. Teacher Big kindly guided us to a grassy field by the river — the very stream that flows through the heart of the village and sustains the people who live here.

We quickly set up camp before the sun dipped below the horizon. The evening unfolded simply but perfectly: cooking dinner, washing up, sitting together, and chatting late into the night. It was yet another night filled with happiness.

To be honest, we had planned this trip as a chance to relax. But the circumstances and the journey itself surprised us in many ways. Still, it was more than worth it to have experienced the atmosphere of this place at least once.

And we will definitely come back — this time with donations and supplies to share and support as much as we can.

Until next time, Pilokki.