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Published: February 28th 2011
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Hello everyone
So with Sunday being our only day off from language training, we arranged with some local Tuk Tuk drivers to go on a small trip around the Kompang Cham province yesterday (Sunday 27/02/2011) - we were all eager to get out of the town, which is fairly touristy and see some real villages and jungle/forest. So, at 8:30 we congregated in the lobby and boarded our steeds!
We headed out of town along Kizuna Bridge (a big concrete monstrosity that spans the Mekong built in honour of Japanese industrialist) and into the Province in our Tuk Tuk convey, dodging lorries, SUV's and cyclists...I have to admit, the early morning breeze was helping my Saturday night hangover! Our lead Tuk Tuk driver, Gideon, had planned an awesome route that took us around villages, rural areas and through farmland so that we could see some areas not normally seen by visitors.
When we entered the villages it really was something like you see in the films; kids shouting hello, babies looking on in bewildered confusion, young men trying to look disinterested but still actually intrigued with older people ignoring the crazy
Barrangs roaming through their 'streets'!
We had bought some bags of sweets for the little ones, so were soon swarmed by a dozen kids wanting to say hello, have their photo taken and poke and prod us!
Gideon took us to one of only two remaining wooden Wats, with the other being in Siem Reap. During the Pol Pot years, the Khmer Rouge either burnt or razed to the ground lots of temples, with the wooden ones being particularly easy targets. The one in Kompang Cham survived only because the Khmer Rouge used it as a hospital. Once Pol Pot et al had been ousted, the Wat was bought to it's original use and recently, as a homage to it's temporary use during Pol Pot, a hospital has been built beside it within the Wat grounds. There were some amazing statues, monuments and mausoleums within the grounds of the Wat, photo's below!
After leaving the wooden Wat, we went walkabout to the nearby village, where we met and spoke to villagers about their trade – most people were either tobacco farmers, silk producers or Krama (traditional Cambodian scarf) makers. It was amazing to see, as there is no industrialisation, so all of the
Shipwrecked...
..until the wet season! tools, looms and machines we handmade and either people or horse/cow powered. Everyone we spoke to was so friendly, welcoming and pleased to chat to us – was an amazing insight into rural life. One silk maker was a lady into her 70's, operating a foot powered loom making metres of silk to sell – a 5m roll of handmade silk sells for about $50, which takes weeks to produce. This is the same silk where a section 24inc x 4inc is then made into $300 scarf sold in Selfridges....fair trade?
I also spoke to a peanut farmer, who sells her crop for $1 a kilo – y'all know the weight and size of a peanut, so now imagine how many it takes to make up a kilo? Suffice to say, these were sown and harvested by hand, by foot, in the middle of the dry season – back breaking stuff.
What did surprise me was the number of tobacco farmers working in Kompang Cham, and the sheer size of the fields, spanning beyond the horizon. Obviously, my next step is to try and procure some local cigars and try the fruits of their labour!
After the
wander through a few villages, we were back onto the Tuk Tuks to head for lunch, where we then made our round trip back to Kompang Cham town. We did a circular route, so that our way back was via a ferry over a village that becomes submerged in the wet season. The ferry ride was great, chugging over the Mekong in a clapped out boat – health and safety being what it is in Cambodia, I chose to stand on the roof of the boat. This provided two advantages – 1, the view was spectacular, and 2, if we hit or started to sink I'd have longer before I got wet! As it was, we landed just fine – honest Mum!
Now, for several times during the journey we had to get out and walk, as being the dry season the levels of dust and sand are just amazing – we were covered in a fine layer of dust by the end of the trip. As Tuk Tuks are not the most powerful machines in the world, think of a 125cc bike pulling a trailer with a roof with 4 people in it, and you can see the
worry! My driver was absolute comedy gold, as every time we came to a hill he burst into laughter, assuming we were not going to make it...which was then followed by even louder laughter at the surprise of every time we did actually make it to the top!! This then made myself and fellow passengers just crack up even further! Great stuff.
One section was particularly hazardous, as the Tuk Tuks had to make it down to a rickety bridge, over the bridge and up a very steep and sandy hill. So, we all dismounted, crossed the bridge and awaited the Tuk Tuk from the hill on the other side. The drivers technique was one that would have made Jeremy Clarkson proud......
POWER!!! Once on the bridge, the driver floored it, swung into the hill where the other drivers then jumped out and ran behind pushing it up the hill – fecking hilarious to witness! All went well until the last one, where the driver swung too hard into the hill, and nearly stacked it into the river, doing a wheelie and landing (literally) 1m from the edge – we could see the whites of his eyes from the top
Mekong & The Dry Season
You can see how low the Mekong is currently, compared to the wet season - look for the high tide bank, a good 30/40ft of the hill! At this point, I legged it down the hill, helped pull the Tuk Tuk back onto the 'road' and pushed it up the hill. Once back at the top, more than one fellow volunteer commented that they did not expect me to move so fast... you see, they too have now learnt the lesson to never underestimate my ninja skills!!!!
The last leg of the journey was back home via the Bamboo Bridge...Bamboo Bridge? Yarp, a bridge made of bamboo! During the dry season, most of the middle island becomes habitable and a bridge is erected every year to connect the island to Kompang Cham town. It is an amazing feat of ingenuity, but when riding across it sounds like you are in a hail storm! I plan to do a separate posting on the bridge, so I won't say too much more at this point!
We were then 3mins from home, where we pulled into the hotel, exhausted but exhilarated.
So, that was my Tuk Tuk tour of Kompang Cham. Utterly brilliant, funny, heart warming, interesting, sad, hilarious, thought provoking and knackering all at the same time. When/if you come for a visit,
999
The bridge leading to sandy hill, scene of a Tuk Tuk's near death experience! I'll definitely try and get us sorted to come to Kompang Cham and do something similar – memories you won't forget, I promise.
So, until next time, adieu,
Pete
xx
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THE KAGE
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Statutes
One of the Buddha statues looks like Chubba Cheeks!