Charging Across Cambodia in Search of Rivers I was still under the spell of Cambodia as the wheels touched terra firma on Phuket International Airport. I had no idea what to expect as I left for our first exploratory in this former kingpin in Southeast Asia’s history. During one stage in history, the Khmer Empire was the Microsoft of the era. The 1100’s were great times for the ruler Suryavaran II. He spread his authority across Thailand and Burma, and pushed all the way into what is now Malaysia. There’s a reason why Angkor Wat, meaning city or capital on Sanskrit, is spread over 230 square kilometers. Angkor Wat was the capital from the 9th century until its collapse in 1431. We hired a van in Phnom Penh to take us to our first destination. The roads along the way were as bad as any I’d seen anywhere… except possibly for some of the really deep backwoods roads of West “by God” Virginia. The Tek Chhou River runs right through the town of Kampot. Gangs of White-rumped swifts zip over the river in search of insect snacks. We checked into our guesthouse and off we went. A river that had first-rate jungle scenery and a gentle gradient was our first real ‘find.’ It was a good one too. The riverbed was dotted with various sized rocks. There was enough water to paddle down at the level we witnessed; it would get even better with a bit more... a lot more water, and the fun meter would be in the red! There was a road that ran parallel to the river. A four-wheel drive truck shouldn't have any difficulties getting up it. We walked up the road about six kilometers. A White-rumped Shama allowed us a long look as it scurried about on the dirt track chasing a bug. This is a beautiful mostly black bird with a long tail, a rusty-colored breast, and a white rump. They often sing to each other through the thick jungles of SE Asia. They are very melodic indeed. The road is supposed to go about eighteen kilometers further than we walked. It looked perfect for a raft trip. So that's one river we'll do in the future. We thought, however, that it might be best experienced by walking up the road while a cow cart carries the gear instead of a truck… oh my romantic side exposes its soft crown so often in these trying midlife days. We went to Sihanoukville next. We met a friendly Brit named Craig at the Angkor Inn Guesthouse. He spoke fluent Cambodia. He told us about a couple of treks he did recently. They sounded interesting, but we chose to look at a river instead. We hired another van to take us up to some waterfalls. We went through completely barren land for quite a while before we got to the river. A reforestation project was underway. At least they’re trying. The falls ended up being a local touristy spot, complete with copious amounts of trash thrown everywhere. Trash is my personal pet peeve. Southeast Asian’s historically put all of their trash in one place – outside. Look past that and you’ll have a wonderful time. We found a logging road that met the river about three kilometers below the falls. Turquoise-winged Indian Rollers were abundant. Indian Rollers are fairly large insectivorous birds that are scattered over much of SE Asia. The river looked very interesting. There were small ledges everywhere we looked. It’d be perfect for a gentle rafting trip. However, in looking at a map, it might end up being flat water for a long ways after that. As long at there is a flow, it should be a nice scenic trip. They did leave the trees in the riparian area. The riparian area is that all important area on both river banks. A huge percentage of wildlife calls this region their home. It’s a key environmental zone. Loosing it is always detrimental to many species in both the plant and animal kingdoms. The river flowed to the Preak Ream National Park. A river trip that starts in the hills and ends up in the mangrove forest is a sure hit since it covers so many different types of flora and fauna. We’ll just have to run it to make sure it’s scenic enough and fun enough to warrant our seal of approval. Leaving Sihanoukville, we boarded a “barf” boat to Koh Kong. I sat next to a huge man who smelled like sour milk… as if the pitching a rolling wasn’t hard enough on my tummy. They show movies on the boat too. If you’re into cheap, hokey, low budget Kung Fu movies, you’ll be in screaming pugilistic Nirvana; The rest of us need our sleep. Cambodia means a bit of hardship travel. The rewards, however, certainly outweigh the adversity. We arrived in Koh Kong with our stomach contents still in place. Koh Kong proved to provide us with what would be the best river of the trip. We hired some motorcycles in order to drive up a dirt road that was mentioned in the latest guide book on Cambodia called “Adventure Cambodia”. This new book is a MUST if you’re heading to this country. About the bikes, let’s just say that none of us are petite. Add the fact that some of us did know how to drive a motorcycle and you’ve got the formula for misadventure. I don’t want to say that we looked like clowns on tiny bikes, but I am glad no one took photos of us. The road went from decent packed hard dirt with pea-sized gravel on top, to deep muddy ruts, to washed-out bridges. The multitude of ‘near misses’ gave us big kids many deep, guttural chuckles. We got to see the river a couple times. It was fabulous! The worthy rapids, even at low water, dazzled me. I imagined the river with a couple feet more water. The spots we saw would only get better and better with more water. The next day, we hired a huge old monstrous six-wheeler to take us up as far as possible. It turned out to be one of the most fun “big kid” days we’d had in a long time. We went past the furthest point we’d gotten to on the clown bikes the previous day. It just kept getting better and better… the river that is; the road got worse and worse. That’s when the real fun began. The driver was a delightful army guy who owned this outrageous means of cross-jungle transportation. His younger brother rode shotgun. He was the mechanic, the ‘crawl-under-the-truck-and-hammer-the-gearbox-lever-into-gear’ guy, and a genuinely congenial co-traveler to be sure. After much toil and turmoil, we made it to the top of the mountain. As it turns out, three rivers descend from the same summit area. We’d been looking at the Steng Mumbai river, so we found the source of that river. The source is sixty-eight kilometers up from town. The river flows all the way down to a mangrove forest… another source to the sea run… another sure winner. We’ll need to have some experienced paddlers go down the Steng Mumbai first, before give the raft a chance. If it turns out to be a river that’s safe enough to raft, we’ve got us a real gold mine here. This is the sort of river that can bring a lot of eco-tourists into Cambodia and we want to get a ‘cash cow’ going for the Cambodian people. Angkor Wat is the biggest attraction in the country right now. A good whitewater river can bring a lot of money into a community; the sky is the limit if the river offers both a wild ride and stunning scenery. The jungle is being chomped away by the timber concessionaires right now. The Steng Mumbai flows through the southern reaches of the Cardamom mountains. This mountain range is being called the last large area of primary rainforest left in SE Asia. Timber companies are lining up to get the big trees. They’ll completely destroy this area in no time if some other form of income does challenge them. Tourism could curb the mass destruction. At least it could save the riparian area. We need this river to be one we can do commercially so we can at least have a chance at holding back the wood product supplier. There’s a bridge being built to connect Thailand to Cambodia at Koh Kong. The big buzz for the Thais is the casino industry. The whole mindset is off kilter for the other potential source of income for the community. The naturalists and the unconcerned could both exist, but we’d like to make sure that our camp, the “let’s save a bit of nature in the process of economic growth camp”, gets to save its chunk too. I ended up at Korschiveang Primary School teaching a bit of English while everyone else went to see Angkor Wat. Prek Toal Bird Sanctuary was what split me off from the group. I was sitting having some noodles for lunch when a young Cambodian came up and sat at my table. He was a teacher at the local primary school and he kindly invited me to come talk to his students. They don’t get much of a chance to talk to native English speakers. I gladly accepted the offer and strolled over to the school. The class subsisted of eight girls whom I guess were from ten to fourteen years old. They were exceedingly charming and very polite. Their strong language skills impressed me the most… very impressed indeed. I would write a sentence on the board and they'd stand up and read it one at a time - then 'wai' me and sit down. I started out with simple sentences with a noun, a verb, and a subject. I soon realized that I could write almost anything I wished. A couple of them sounded out the words as quickly as I wrote. Holding back the tears of joy wasn’t easy. These kids would have been ‘eliminated’ in the not-too-distant past. They wouldn’t have fitted into the Red Cambodian mold. They only had one dictionary between them, but they shared it when they wanted to look up a word I wrote that they didn't know. I'll give them some more as we're planning on sending them a 'care' package soon... and again later. The teacher's eyes are not exactly right. He has to put his nose almost on the paper before he can read it. We'll get him a pair of coke-bottle thick glasses too. The gang returned from Angkor Wat thrilled at what they’d seen. All of these guys are very well-traveled. To return from a destination with that certain look in their eyes meant that Angkor Wat actually is all that it is cranked up to me and more. It’s spotlessly clean and it’s set in a jungle instead of out in the open. They also saw a lot of birds, perhaps more than I saw at Prek Toal. I saw plenty of Spot-billed pelicans, Grey herons, Purple herons, Chinese Pond herons, Cattle egret, Small egrets, Intermediate egrets, Great egrets, Great and Little cormorants, and Purple Swamphens. I saw several Lesser Adjutant storks; unfortunately they were being help prisoner by a local makeshift zoo for tourists to gawk at. Prek Toal rests on one corner of the Great Lake – the Tonle Sap. Further on in the rainy season, the water will rise over three to four meters higher than in June. With the higher levels, there are paddling opportunities through the flooded scrub brush. I’ll be back. We are very interested in doing more in Cambodia. Our next trip just might be to explore the Steng Mumbai with the hopes that it’ll be something we can do regularly. Cambodia, a land that is just now opening its borders to those who want to see Southeast Asia in its unaltered form. Cheers, Dave *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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