Phnom Chi adventures, part 2

Day 2 of our Phnom Chi adventure began at six in the morning with a cold shower in the village of Pouroung, in the remote northeast of Kompong Thom province. Our first day had been a tough eight hours on the moto, on a variety of road surfaces, the last two hours on a particularly difficult track that was a good introduction to the second day. Kayin proved to be an exceptional host and cooked us a second chicken for breakfast before we bade our farewells and with Chhoun and Srey Nee acting as our guides, we headed for our first temple of the day. It had rained throughout the night so the track through fields and the forest was mostly underwater – a common theme on this trip – it was the beginning of April and rain was almost unheard of at this time of year!

Two hours and fifteen kilometres later we arrived at the brick towers of Prasat Trapeang Preus. The temple is six kilometres north of Phnom Chi - the title of our adventure but never the actual destination – and for the first time ever I took GPS co-ordinates at the site, courtesy of GTZ who’d provided the hand-held instrument. With an elevation of 108 metres, it showed N12 degrees 51’32.1 and E105 degrees 38’32.4. I’m sure that will mean something to someone – its gobbledegook to me! The three large brick towers were in poor condition in their forested location, next to a large baray. Deep holes in the centre of each tower suggested temple thieves had already taken anything of value and amidst the rubble a token few carvings had survived and were collected together inside the northern tower – though no lintels or colonettes remained in situ and the east entrances of all three towers had been destroyed. According to the CISARK website, a second temple, Prasat Banteay Siam, was closeby but Ta, a logger and Pouroung resident who’d joined us, said that it was at least 25kms away, very remote and nothing more than a pile of rubble. We agreed against an attempt to see it, deciding instead to head for the village of Snang An, where another temple site was located.

Much of the forest route we took was flooded

Some of the carving housed in the northern tower of Prasat Trapeang Preus

Now guided by Ta, the track we followed was the toughest yet, though Sokhom and Ka showed their mettle and did a great job in keeping upright, no mean feat on a trail through rice fields, forest and river beds, major sections of which were underwater. With a short break for lunch, chicken leftovers of course, and a look at the massive stone monolith called Thma Liew Yum (’stone where people cry’), we arrived at the gold-mining village of Snang An in mid-afternoon, some four hours and 28kms since setting out from the temple. I was shattered but can only imagine how Sokhom felt, having to drive the moto with me as his passenger and carrying our heavy bags over terrain that would’ve defeated most people. I have always marvelled at this wiry man’s resilience and toughness over many trips together over the last eight years. And his spirit never flags, his smile never strays from his lips and his infectious laugh is always a welcome constant.

I didn’t get a good vibe from Snang An, a village of newly-constructed houses doubling up as shops, smiles were absent, the faces weren’t welcoming and the residents, drawn to the area to dig for gold, emitted an undercurrent of hostility I’ve not encountered before. As it was late in the day, Cristiano located a couple of guides in Yot and Tet to take us to the temple nearby, Prasat Kamnap Neang Poav. The forest track took us past a second stone monolith, Kamnap Sre Ar, to the temple site (at N13degrees 02’30.7 and E105degrees 37’23.2) which was basically a hump of ground, covered in debris from the brick temple that once stood there with a large hole in the ground at its centre. It’s located six kilometres from the village, where our accommodation for the night was the open shop-front of Tet’s house.

The forest setting of Prasat Trapeang Preus, with our party and spirit house on the right

Crossing a small bridge above a dried-out riverbed

At dusk we bathed in the nearby River Chinit and ate wild boar and tinned sardines as the palm rice wine was handed around. This time I slept, intermittently, on the floor under a mozzie net but was woken at 4am by a thunderstorm that continued for another four hours, leaving a small stream running through the centre of the village. After omelette and more sardines for breakfast, a policeman showed us the boarded-up room where six sections of colonette had been rescued from robbers at the nearby prasat and would soon find their way to the museum at Kompong Thom. A long discussion with our hosts ensued as they attempted to charge prices that were way above realistic valuations for the food, accommodation and guiding services, which I felt was merely indicative of the vibe I got from that village. We finally got away at 9.30am and with the recent rains, encountered water almost continuously along the track, as we headed back to Tumring.

In three tough hours (and forty kilometres), we were sat eating lunch at Tumring market. We said our goodbyes to Chhoun and Srey Nee who’d been great company, fixed a flat tyre and decided against taking an alternate route back to Kompong Thom via Sandan when the locals advised that it was flooded and impassable. So for the next five hours we retraced our steps back to Kompong Thom, stopping along the way for sugar cane juice and petrol, arriving at Cristiano’s home on the outskirts of the city at 5.30pm. Our Phnom Chi trip was at an end, two temples had been visited, lots of new friends made and some very tough terrain conquered, and whilst it wasn’t as successful, temple-wise, as I’d hoped, it was an enjoyable adventure nonetheless.

Time for a break and some chicken leftovers en route to Snang An

Our overnight accommodation in Snang An, the expensive shop-home of Tet