Well, well, well… this town is full of surprises isn’t it?
Having fallen asleep on most of the journey here by taxi ride** I guess I must have missed a good portion of the busy part of town and only awoken amongst the dust clouds and largely empty roads of the Kampong Chhnang “burbs”.
What I’d thought couldn’t be more than a few thousand at most is instead a small, yet charming city of approximately 50,000 people (according to the Lonely Planet). All the excitement is focussed between the main highway N5 that leads north from Phnom Penh through the central western provinces, and to what must have once been a significant port town along the Tonle Sap River.
So finally, after a few short days of seemingly endless dust, heat, and office tedium, I was given a greater peek at the beauty and hidden treasures that had only been hinted at from that one morning ride through rolling green fields and past fat water buffalo grazing in the lilies of a neighbouring pond.
In short, this town is not what it appears to be. Look behind, over, under, and in between and get ready to be pleasantly surprised by a unique landscape. (Many thanks to Martina for being a lovely guide. My view of this town just turned upside down!)
More photos in the Cambodia album.
**what the locals call a taxi here, was instead a private sedan with 5 people seated in the front (yes, that’s FIVE; 2 ladies in the single passenger seat with a child on one’s lap, and then the driver in his seat, and another man squished in between the driver and the door!) Normally there would also be 4 to 5 others in the back but thank goodness it is my organisation’s policy for employees to book “double” seats (ie. a normal seat) so we had a fairly comfortable ride over. And before you ask, no, there was no aircon or seatbelts; at the speed we were going, I doubt there were even brakes.
