Cambodian Rural Homestay

While still on pavement, a minefield warning, just beyond the roadside

The long tuk tuk drive to Sambor Village

Teng and Nai with their children

Sambor home stay  in morning light

Buddhas behind a gauze curtain at the local temple

Fish monger at the Kampong Cheuteal Market

Family members at the Sambor home stay

Digs at the Sambor home stay with mat on the floor and a pink mosquito net

The hand held device was not a road hazard  in this case

Prasat Yeai Poeun is part of one of the three temple complexes at Sambor Prei Kok

Children in the yard at the Sambor home stay

Whooping it up with home made palm wine paired with smoked fish

Fisherman on a stand in the lake beside Sambor

Sambor farmer in the rice fields

THE IDEA of a visiting a rural home stay came by accident. I was surfing for information back in Vancouver, on the pre-angkorian temple complexes of Sambor Prei Kuk, located in Northern Cambodia. Once in Phnom Penh, further searching brought me to www.samborpreikok.com and the correct contact information. With that I was able to get the reception at my hotel to kindly phone the community tourist organization in the village of Sambor. On the sixth evening, after leaving Vancouver i arrived in this community partially off the grid. The trip by tuk tuk (a trailer with two benches that is covered and pulled by a small motorcycle), from the provincial capital of Kampong Thom, took nearly 1 1/2 hours. En route I asked the driver to stop so I could photograph some signs by the side of the road, warning of land mines in the forest beyond. After all, this had been were Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge forces had battled back and forth, in the 1980s. The last 13 km (of the 35 km trip) was on a dirt road. The tuk tuk ride included clouds of reddish dust as well as numerous holes and washboard.

At Homestay #7 i met one of the tourist coordinators from the community tourist service. My host named Teng showed me where to sleep. It was in a simple wooden house, with cracks of light coming through the boards in the walls and floor. The large dark living space was partitioned off into smaller sleeping areas and the peaked roofed structure was raised on high posts, like most rural Cambodian homes. In Phnom Penh (at the Salita Hotel) I had enjoyed 3 star comfort but here conditions changed to a tiny $6 room (or cubicle) with nothing more then a mat and a blanket on the wooden floor, covered by a pink mosquito net. Meals were cooked under the house, at the back, and with the use of firewood and two open hearths. The first night I helped with dinner by cutting local vegetables. That introduced me to the spinach-like flavour and texture of Morning Glory greens, which was prepared with oyster sauce, for part of the family stir fry dinners. A young man and family member, named Samei, took me the first day to the rice fields where we visited two crumbling brick kilns beside a small shallow lake. A lone fisherman out in the water, stood on a stand and cast a long bamboo rod. As the light faded we followed a herder and his water buffalo back across rice stubble fields, up a dusty lane lined with cane fences and back into the village.

The next morning Samei took me on a bike ride. First we followed the red dirt road further East to the Kampong Cheuteal High School, a sprawling compound with a sports field, covered concrete stands and a series of one story buildings were some 1,000 students were taught. (www.kampongcheuteal.org – which is unfortunately in Khmer). Why would I go here? Your internet addicted blogger asked (but did not demand), at the home stay that is, if there was internet access in the village per chance. An hour in an empty classroom, equipped with a few computers seemed to be the best solution my hosts could come up, which I deeply appreciated. From here, my guide (and minder), took me first to the local Buddhist temple and then to the next village of Kampong Cheuteal. By mid-morning the covered market in this next village was coming to life. Around the outer perimeter were meat, vegetables and fruit stands while the dry goods, small electronics and other services (including getting nails done or a haircut) were available in the centre of the market.

In the afternoon it was off, in the cramped confines of an ox cart, to the 7th Century ruins of Sambor Prei Kuk. Given the age of these Hindu temples as well as a US Air Force bombing during the Vietnam War, there was still much to see. Before visiting temples like Angkor Wat, it seemed important to first visit this site first, from the much older Chenla era. Back at the home stay I joined four men in emptying a large plastic bottle of home made palm wine. Of course we all got a little jolly, on this sour tasting brew, which strangely different.

Otherwise of note, was the easy pace at the home stay. That included meals together with the family, playing soccer in the yard with the kids and drinking palm wine from next door with some of the men from around the neighbourhood.