CAMBODIA TALES 2003
Overview - January 2003
Above: Author (right, with silly head-scarf and dirty shirt) with Dara (center) and Phean at the Dara Reang Sey Hotel in Phnom Penh (January 2003)
What a
great way to kick-off 2003...three weeks of reunions with old
friends, making new ones and lots of new adventures seeking out
some of the least-known ancient temples in the Cambodian
countryside. My arrival in Phnom Penh, via Singapore and a brief
detour to Siem Reap, was a quiet affair, as my friends forgot I
was coming! We soon met up before my usual warm welcome from the
two sisters who run my home from home in the capital, the Dara
Reang Sey Hotel, and an evening meal with Garrie Maguire, a 
photographer
from Australia, and friends. An early start the following morning
and Sophal and his 250cc dirt-bike carried me across the Mekong
River at the Neak Luong ferry crossing and onto the religious
site of Ba Phnom and the temple of Preah Vihear Chann. We reached
the sleepy backwater of Prey Veng after lunch and finished the
day with tikaloks and a nice sunset. Tourists are a rarity in
Prey Veng, and it was nice to get away from the hustle and bustle
of Phnom Penh.
Making
our way north towards Kompong Cham, we visited Phnom Baray,
Prasat Prei Dahm Srok and Preah Theat Preah Srei before getting a
good look at the new Kazuma Bridge spanning the Mekong as the sun
set. Early next morning I saw the killing fields memorial at Wat
Nokor for the first time, before our search for temples off
Highway 7 revealed Yeai Hom, Tuk Chha, Kuk Ampil Thvear, Kuk
Pring Chrom, Prasat Beng, Prasat Kuk Khvet and a re-visit to
Prasat Premea Chong Prei and Wat Tang Krasang en route back to
Phnom Penh. The hilltop temple site of Phnom Bayang, south of
Takeo and just a few kilometres from the Vietnamese border, was
our target for the next day, a round trip of over 220 kilometres.
It took four hours to reach the mountain on Sophal's dirt-bike
and another ninety minutes to climb to the temple, Prasat Bayang.
I was exhausted. After lunch we visited the overgrown Preah Ko
but it was too late to visit two other temples we could see on
the next hill, as
we
made a bee-line back along Highway 2 for Phnom Penh, arriving
home in the dark. The following day was a rest day, punctuated by
my usual visit to the National Museum. Next morning, a moto ride
out to Takhmau took me to the new purpose-built headquarters of
the Sunrise Children's Village, where I was shown round by
Rosanna White and watched the captivating children practise their
dancing and singing. Sunday dawned and an early start to what
turned out to be a great day, the wedding of my friend Tima and
Theary. The vibrant colours and traditional ceremonies were a
real joy to witness and made it a memorable event. My dancing
efforts in the evening made it rather more forgettable!
I
hitched a lift to Siem Reap with Merrily Hansen, a long-time
e-mail pal from the States, stopping in Kompong Thom for lunch
and to visit the occasionally-open museum. Hooking up with Rieng,
a proud dad of just two days after the birth of his first son, we
headed out north of the Angkor Park to Svay Chek on the hunt for
more temple sites. We located Prasat Kbal Khla, Prasat Tamoch,
Prasat Somran and a laterite bridge called Span Thma, before an
hour's walk through an active de-mining area and ricefields to
find Prasat Seman Ting - a hard slog and little to write home
about. That evening I
had
dinner at the home of Noung, a souvenir seller I've known for six
years. Next day, Rieng and I rode out to the village of Tbeng and
located a large brick tower on the crest of Phnom Veak before
returning to Siem Reap to visit the Tonle Sap exhibition at
Krousar Thmey, to chat with John Weeks at the Center for Khmer
Studies at Wat Damnak and to meet Don at the Lazy Mango bookshop.
That evening I took Noung, her family and friends to dinner at
the Bayon restaurant, later met up with Garrie Maguire and
friends at the new FCC bar before retiring to my bed at the Red
Lodge guesthouse.
The share-taxi
took three hours to reach Kompong Thom and waiting for me was the
ever-reliable
Sokhom.
With a little arm-twisting, we set off on his moto for a five day
trip to the far north of Preah Vihear province. Nearly five hours
later we arrived in Tbeng Meanchey, took the last available room
at the Mlop Trosek (a ceremony at Preah Vihear had flooded TBM
with visitors) and bumped into Paul Hay and Gordon Sharpless.
Next day, we took the new road north and then the turning for
Choam Khsan, arriving at the Heng Heng guesthouse at 1pm. The
last thirty kilometres, through deep sand, had been tough going.
Our target was Prasat Preah Neak Buos and any other temples we
could
locate but the local opinion was that only Neak Buos was
feasible. The mine-infested countryside makes temple-hunting a
risky business in this part of Cambodia. We set off for Neak Buos
early next morning accompanied by two guides and though the sandy
track was difficult, the temple was well worth it. Swamped by
vegetation, Neak Buos is a real gem, with more than a dozen
structures of brick, sandstone and laterite and lots of carvings
scattered around the site. After three hours of discovery, we
stopped for lunch at the nearby police checkpoint to mend two
punctures. They could only recall one other visitor in recent
memory.
Returning to
Tbeng Meanchey, we pushed on to Phnom Dek and then headed for
Preah Khan (aka Prasat Bakan), arriving in the nearby village of
Ta Seng some ten hours after we'd set off. We visited Prasat
Damrei later that afternoon before settling down for the night
with a family in Ta Seng. Next 
morning
we visited the main Preah Khan temple and the satellite temples
of Prasat Preah Stung, Preah Ang Thom and Prasat Preah Thkol
accompanied by two members of the conservation team. Wholesale
looting of the temple has left it devastated with many of the
towers and galleries collapsed and in a jumbled mess, similar to
the state of Banteay Chhmar in the north-east. A brief pause for
breakfast with our village friends before we started back to
Kompong Thom, arriving at 4pm, covered in dust from the speeding
lorries and cars. The following day we took a leisurely route
through the back-roads to Sambor Prei Kuk, visited all of the
temples now on view and rounded off the day with dinner for
Sokhom and his family at our favourite restaurant.
I
shared the front seat of a minibus with an Italian teacher called
George for the four hour trip to Phnom Penh next morning. My
welcome at the Dara Reang Sey was as warm as ever and that
evening I visited the home of Peter and Veasna Leth for dinner.
Sophal collected me bright and early next morning for our trip
across the Mekong to the Srei Santhor district. We went in search
of temples and found a good one with half a dozen great lintels
at Preah Theat Baray and then onto the towers of Chan Lung and
the brick chedis of Wat Sithor. The district sees few foreigners
as confirmed by the stares, smiles, waves and shouts in equal
measures. My final day in Phnom Penh was a busy one. I began with
a visit to the Ministry of Education to see my friend Sopheap,
who runs their website, then he took me to Wat Moha Montrei to
pay a visit to Vannak, a monk I met in Sambor Prei Kuk. After
lunch, I spent an hour in the company of Thay, one of their
translators, hearing about the diligent work 
of the
Documentation Center of Cambodia. After a massage by one of the
blind members of the Seeing Hands massage team, I met up with
Debbie and Marc for dinner at the Boddhi Tree. Debbie was one of
the speakers at my Magic of Cambodia day in August and they run a
tour company in Cambodia called Carpe Diem Travel. Next morning,
I said my goodbyes and Roti delivered me on time to the airport
for my flight back to Singapore. A two-hour visit to Sentosa
Island broke the boredom of a nine hour stop-over at Changi
Airport before my Singapore Airlines flight deposited me back at
Heathrow, exposing me to the cold and harsh British winter, a
considerable shock to my system after a hot and humid three-week
stint in Cambodia.
I'm now posted tales from my January 2003 trip [photos to follow]. Read on by clicking the travel tale heading below:
- has the full story of re-discovering an ancient temple which has been long-forgotten and which lies in the far north of Cambodia, nestled against the border with Thailand.
Here's links to the rest of my Cambodia Tales:
January 2003 marked my ninth trip to Cambodia since my first-ever visit in 1994. It's a country that has a special magic all of its own and which draws me back every year to venture out into the Cambodian countryside in search of new adventures, ancient temples and to catch up with the friends I've made from previous visits. Each trip is full of laughter, smiles and a host of fresh experiences and this latest expedition was no exception.
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