The Cham Boat Habitat

Abstract

The Cham people now living in Cambodia are descendants of the once famous kingdom of Champa (192-1835). Champa is part of the present day Vietnam. In Cambodia the Cham dwell in many types of houses which are called the “One, two or three … roof houses”. The largest is the “Seven roof houses” usually built by and for the well to do families. Other types of the Cham houses are known as Sang Pet, Sang Ketang and Gaiy Sang. The objective of this paper, which is a series of my research writing on the Cham houses in Cambodia, is to give a brief description of the types of the houses mentioned above and the description of the Habitat of the so called “boat people”, people living in “gaiy sang, house boat” which differs from the “boat house” meant for housing racing boats. The focus will be on the living habitat of the families living all their lives on gaiy sang raising up their children and what will hold for the future of their offspring.