Going Native

Preah Rumkel is an small and relatively poor farming village in Cambodia near to the Laos border which in recent years has turned to eco-tourism as a way to supplement it’s income, increase living standards, and preserve its community way of life. The basic model is that a fairly large percentage of profits from homestays, boat trips, an other attractions goes directly into community projects such as building schools hospitals and roads and providing an emergency fund for families who fall on hard times. I first read about it as a place from where it is possible to watch endangered freshwater irrawaddy river dolphins which was roughly on the route that I was planning, was immediately attracted to the idea, and decided to go and try it out.

Actually getting there was a little more difficult. There is relatively little information available on the internet with regards to booking or precise directions (organised tours are available, but these didn’t suit my travel plans) so in the end I decided to chance it and go there and find out. It was 20 miles off the main road, which I thought wasn’t too bad, especially as it actually made my overall journey shorter compared with following the main road to the town. Oh My God – what a road! (Not in a good way.) It was a dusty gravel track with lots of short steepish uphills and downhills and was SO bumpy – it felt like there were more potholes than track! In some places water had collected in the potholes and turned into gloopy clay-like mud, which presented a whole different set of challenges. On top of that shade was in very short supply down the lane, making it hard to rest comfortably. On the upside it was very pretty, with the bright green fields on either side contrasting beautifully with the sandy red lane and the bright blue sky, but the riding was VERY difficult under the hot sun.

By the time I arrived in the village, all I wanted to do was lie down and rest, but given that I didn’t actually know where in the village the homestay was, and with my very limited Cambodian and the villagers very limited English this was easier said than done. After about an hour of fruitlessly cycling around trying to ask for directions and getting more and more hot and bothered, I finally gave up and sat down dejectedly on some grass to consider my options.

It was at this point that some friendly villagers, (who I guess could see by my face that all was not well,) came over to help, and when they discovered the language barrier, called for reinforcement: enter Bunhen.

Bunhen, who was born and lives in the village, works as a border police officer on the Cambodian / Loas village, and has taught himself to speak English through watching videos on YouTube. Although not perfect English, it was very good considering, and he soon told me all about the village and the ecotourism project, showed me where the homestay was and introduced me to the ladies who run it. It turns out I had actually cycled past the front of the homestay without noticing it, and the ladies who look after it had been off down the lane doing something else. Even better, he told me that I could get from the village directly to the Laos border by taking a boat, meaning that I didn’t have to cycle back down the lane to get to the border – Whoopee! From here on in everything turned around. The rest of my time spent at the homestay was so good that the difficulties getting there were totally worth it. After food (so much food!) and rest that evening I was raring to go the next day, and totally made the most of it!

Because I was now not going to pass through town on my bike, I decided to get the village bus there the following morning so that I could take out some currency as I had been planning. Although not on the normal list of tourist activites, getting the village bus was actually a really good way to get a feel for the community and village life. Unlike metropolitan buses in the UK, the bus (which was actually a minibus) went round to the houses or small holdings of each of the people getting the bus (you had to phone the driver the night before to arrange it) and pick people up individually. People came out of their houses smiling excitedly and wearing what seemed to be their nice clothes, and as they got on the bus they would greet everybody else on the bus enthusiastically and fall in to conversation with their neighbours. The whole bus journey was filled with chatter and laughter amongst the villagers, who it seemed were a real close-knit community, and all seemed genuinely eager to see and talk to each other. The bus waited in town for a few hours during which time I walked around, taking in the sights and sounds. Then, on the way back, the villagers returned laden with humongous bags of rice, bags bursting with vegetables from the market, and other purchases from around town which were good-humouredly loaded onto the already full bus, with a good amount of shuffling of bags and people.

In the afternoon, Bunhen took me on an exillerating ride on the back of his motorbike down beautiful country lanes to see the nearby waterfalls. I have to say that even though I love riding my bike and wouldn’t change it, I can see why motorbikes and scooters are so popular around Asia – as well as being cheaper than cars, they are a lot of fun to ride around on in the sunshine, and they are so springy and manouverable that they can handle roads and terrain that both cars and bikes would have trouble with! With hindsight, the waterfalls weren’t quite as impressive as the ones I would see the following day in Laos, but they were very cool to see and the journey to get there was very fun.

Next, we rode out to near the river, and the a boatman took me out to a nearby island from where you can watch endangered freshwater irrawaddy river dolphins. At first, I thought I was going to be unlucky as the water seemed still, but then suddenly the boat driver pointed excitedly and I caught a glimpse of a dolphin’s back arcing out of the water. In fact, though I’m sure he’s seen them many times, the boat driver seemed almost as excited as I was, and though we didn’t share a language we were soon pointing and exclaiming excitedly to each other as dolphin after dolphin broke the surface. When we returned to the shore, the boat driver showed me around his small-holding (including gorgeous tiny baby goats,) and introduced me to his mother, who picked me a fruit off one of her fruit trees as a present.

In the evening I watched a beautiful sunset over the paddy fields near the village, before returning to the homestay for another personal banquet. Seriously, the ladies fed me so much! It rather put me in mind of the stereotype of hospitable farmer’s wives that we have in England.

Today (Thursday), I left Preah Rumkel and went out on the boat with my bike to the Laos border, passing on the way the amazing “planted forest” – a place where trees grow out of the water, since the land they stand on is dry during the dry season, but submerged during the rainy season. Today I left Cambodia and entered Laos, but I left with fond memories of Preah Rumkel in my heart.