Kampot Province

A couple of days ago my Khmer teacher and I were acting out a scenario between two friends taking a weekend trip to the countryside. As usual, I was struggling to find the right words appropriate to the situation, but my teacher, who hadn't taken a trip out to the provinces in years, got so excited about it that he insisted that we go the coming weekend. It's always good practice for me to speak with people in the countryside, who generally speak different dialects than in the city, so I was also excited to leave Phnom Penh for a brief while.

We traveled to Kampot province, which borders the ocean at the southwestern corner of the country. This part of the country is not nearly as flooded as the part along the road to Siem Reap, where it sometimes seemed that we were driving across an immense lake. In contrast, Kampot province, full of beautiful rivers and mountains, was relatively dry. I am sorry that I didn't bring a camera along, because the areas we visited are among the most beautiful I have ever seen, in Cambodia and in the world.

Along the way, we stopped near a hill that had many caves. The caves, inhabited and used as temples for well over a thousand years, are still a site for religious pilgrims. Although a Buddhist wat has been constructed near the caves, the temples inside date from the sixth century, long before Buddhism became the state religion. Thus the temples are dedicated to tutelary spirits (neak ta) or Brahmanistic deities (usually Shiva). We had a chance to talk to a lot of people about the history of the caves, though I admit I didn't understand everything the people were saying. But some of the young boys who lived near the caves were able to show us into some unbelievable caverns and beautiful spaces. I thought only small kids like them would be able to fit through some of the tunnels or be comfortable wading through the water, but in fact the majority of visitors to the caves were elderly women, who showed no fear and always wore wide smiles. One of the caves we visited, very deep into the earth, had a set of rock formations that sounded like a pin peat orchestra when struck. It was a remarkable sight to see how intertwined the religious sights were with the natural formations of the caves.

We then continued on to the city of Kampot itself. A former neighbor of my teacher when he was living in Kompong Sam province lived near the market in Kampot. She and her family of five welcomed us very graciously into her home. Although I've been in the country for a month and a half now, I still hadn't had a meal or slept in a traditional Khmer home or bathed in the traditional way, and as I am probably going to live with the family of the smoat master in Konpong Speu province in the coming weeks, it was good to have the chance to experience what it might be like. The family were staying had built their home next to a small garbage dump, in a squatter neighborhood inhabiting by many Vietnamese (Kampot is close to Vietnam). They did, however, have electricity and one pipe with running water. The family was one of the most welcoming I have ever known, and we were able to have some good conversations together.

Before returning to their house to sleep, we visited Kep, a small town by the ocean. Kep is situated at the edge of a very large bay ringed with islands and dramatic mountains, and the view from the town is spectacular, especially as the sun sets over the ocean. We went swimming the ocean, where the water is refreshing but not at all cold. And it was all strangely deserted, with very people near the waterfront or among the few houses in the town.

The next day we traveled to Mt. Bokor National Park, a beautiful forested region with clear, cool air and beautiful rivers. We came across a large family near one of the rivers and joined them for some swimming in the clear water flowing down from the mountain. Along the way, I had plenty of chances to meet the local people, including the abbot of a small mountain temple, and practice speaking with them, so although this weekend seemed like a vacation, I was glad to get some "studying" in. I definitely learned a good deal this weekend, both about the language and the culture, from having the opportunity to see a different region of the country, and I am excited to spend more time in the countryside in the future.