Once again we found ourselves trudging down the muddy steps to the ferry boat to cross the Mekong back to Kratie and our trusty minibus. Our first stop was in Chhlong, the colonial town. We all agreed the tour company's description ("a tiny town with many French colonial houses that are amongst the most beautiful in Cambodia") was either a significant exaggeration or a poor indication of the well being of French colonial houses in Cambodia. The buildings were in a terrible state. The ones we saw were in complete disrepair and uninhabitable.
We spent about 30 minutes walking through the local market and observing lives in the poor, rural town. The only highlight of the stop was seeing a house being built on the banks of the Mekong by a carpenter. The woodwork in his future home was very impressive. Through Nyp, he told us that he needed to drill down 15 meters before hitting solid ground to support his stilts on the river.
Our next stop was unscheduled but very welcomed. Nyp had explained to us earlier in the week that he, his brothers and all of their fellow grandchildren collect money each month to send to their grandparents. Neither of the grandparents are able to work at this point in their lives, and the grandfather is blind. Because they had made so much effort to support the family earlier, the grandchildren support them now. Nyp is in charge of getting the money to them, which usually happens through a bank transfer, but because we were going to be driving near their town, Nyp asked if we would mind stopping for him to give the money in person. We were very interested in meeting the couple of whom Nyp spoke so highly, so we made a detour through the town of Soung.
When we arrived, we were graciously welcomed to sit with the grandparents, an uncle and a few great-grandchildren in the space next to their home where they spend their afternoons to escape the heat inside the house. Nyp translated for us as he visited with his family. We enjoyed seeing their interactions.
Eventually, we excused ourselves and went back about our day so that they could get back to theirs. Next up for us was lunch in Kampong Cham again where we had eaten four days earlier. We were happy to have their morning glory and Cambodian iced coffee again, and the view didn't disappoint either.
The last stop of the day was our hotel for the night in Kampong Thom, Sambor Village. Each of the rooms were little individual cottages with big beds and a roof you could see bits of daylight through, which would be a slight problem later on when the rain came.
After an interesting outing to the local shops for some supplies, we spent the evening around the hotel property eating a delicious sampling of Khmer foods and playing gin rummy while listening to the rain.
It was a nice, slow day, but we had big things ahead of us tomorrow when we finally arrived in Siem Reap. One more temple outside of town, and then we were off to Angkor Wat!
No comments:
Post a Comment