Thorn Tree travel forum

1

Hallo Mr Than

I've never been to Kampong Luong, but have travelled along NR5 between PP and Battambang quite a few times.
As far as I know, KgLuong is where your map puts it, off the shore of the Tonle Sap from Krakor. However, I think it is more a cluster of floating villages rather than a single compact one; some of the more outlying settlements may be further west so closer to Pursat.
I've only taken the boat PP-SR once (10 years ago) and it stopped at KgChhnang but I don't think it does anymore. I'm pretty sure that it doesnt stop at KgLuong either.
Anyway, you may still be able to find a boat across the lake to Siem Reap, from either KgLuong itself or KgChhnang. I would guess that boats operate just like share taxis there, i.e. leave when there are enough passengers to make the trip worthwjile for the boatmen.
I am sure there are boats from KgChhnang (which sits on the"Tonle Sap "River" not lake) since part of that province is on the other bank. I also know that people living in the floating villages of the other shore of the lake further north, use KgChhnang as the service center (hospital etc). But you can ask at KgLiuong itself and may find some as well.
Pursat on the other hand is some distance away from the lake and you probably won't find boats from there.
(Yes the name of the town is Puthisat (=Bodhisattva), but pronounced "Puusatt").

You probably already know this, but just in case you don't, I think you'll find it interesting:
Kampong Luong was the scene of the worst massacre of ethnic Vietnamese by the Khmer Rouge during the UN Administration of the country in 1992-93. The attack was expected and the local authorities had requested UN protection for several days. But they did not come until the day after the massacre. It appeared the massacre suited the political agenda of the UNTAC; it can be considered the biggest stain on the record of that UN administration during its tenure in the country. No one ever held accountable, neither UN nor KR.

Hope you'll have a very rewarding trip,

SG

According to the laws of physics, and considering all relevant factors (mass, speed, size of wings, rhythm of beat, watts of power produced, aerodynamics etc.), the hornet cannot possibly fly. But the hornet doesn't know that - and flies on

2

Hello Striftsal:

Thank you so much for your reply.
You are the right person for me to learn from, about Cambodia-behind-the-scene.
Where in Cambodia are you living, and may I stay in touch with you for more advice & info via email?

Thanks again,

Thanh

3

Hello again Thanh, you are a kind gentleman.

I have to correct one thing I wrote in my post above. I was talking from memory, which I should not rely on too much anymore at my age. Later on I checked out my collection of past issues of the Phnom Penh Post, and found out that the massacre I was referring to actually happened at Chong Khneas (off Siem Reap's shore of the lake). It was 10 March 1993, 24 people were killed and many more wounded. From there, the survivors fled first to Kbal Toal (Battambang), then to Kampong Luong and then to the Vietnamese border. Though Cambodian citizens, they were therefore not able to vote in the UN overseen election in May that year. The rest of the story I told you was correct however. The article also carried some rather callous statements from UN officials at the time, which I prefer not to quote here.

Kampong Luong itself was then the target of another KR attack a few years later, which left 23 people dead. The UN was no longer there, and the KR were almost finished; at the same time, some "trendy" political party was trying to gain popularity by playing the anti-VN racial issue (a disturbing feature of Cambodian politics, at least for me).

More info coming your way via PM, feel free to contact me.
When are you going to visit Cambodia?

Cheers,
SG

According to the laws of physics, and considering all relevant factors (mass, speed, size of wings, rhythm of beat, watts of power produced, aerodynamics etc.), the hornet cannot possibly fly. But the hornet doesn't know that - and flies on

4

Thanks for the info, but I am about at the deadend.
I wish someone would advise me on the following concern:

We will come to visit Kampong Luong from Phnom Penh by bus, and intend to find a Vietnamese family and ask to stay overnight on their boathouse. Next morning, we will come back to shore in Pursat. Our next destination is Chong Kneas in Siem Reap.

QUESTION: To continue on Highway 5 to Battambang then Sisophone then Siem Reap and to return to Phonom Penh for the next day's speedboad to Siwem Reap, which one is better in term of time consumption?

Thanks in advance for your tip.

Regards,

5

Hi Ng,

If you go back to Phnom Penh you will have to leave very early to catch the boat to Siem Reap as it leaves around 7.00am. If you do this way I estimate it will take around 8 to 9 hours. If you continue on to Battambang then to Siem Reap via Sisopon then it will take about 8 hours by taxi or 11 hours by bus if you get a connection which you will probably not. So both ways are roughly the same for time. The quickest way would be by taxi back to Phnom Penh then taxi to Siem Reap which be around 6 hours.

If your destination is Chong Kneas (floating village) then you can visit here in a half day from Siem Reap.

sydneyangkor

www.siemreaprooms.com

6

Hi Ng,

Sorry I have wrote it the wrong way around it should be 8 hours from Pursat back to Phnom Penh to Siem Reap and 6 hours Pursat to Siem Reap by taxi that is.

Whoops!

Kompong Loung is around 40km east of Pursat but in instead of going to Pursat you are best off going to a place called Krakor by taxi from Phnom Penh. Kompong Loung is about 5km from Krakor.

sydneyangkor

www.siemreaprooms.com

7

Thanks + thanks + thanks for the additional info.
Let me make it more clear about what I intend to do in Cambodia so you can help me better.

I have two goals:

*1- My friends at work and online (some of them unknown to me and they didn't know me in the past neither) after viewing and reading my serial of pictures named "the floating misery", and after learning that I am going to return to Chong Kneas for another serial of snapshots — have asked me to bring their donations to help the poorest families of Chong Kneas. Of course they relied on my judgement to select those who I will relay the donations and how the help would be made as well.
Because the only floating village I visited and photographed in March 2005 is Chong Kneas, the donations must go to this community.
To me, due to the size of the combined donation, the most effective to be given out should be rice. Lucky that a DVD fell into my hands lask week showing the humanitarian work of Franciscan Charity. From the DVD, I tracked the activities of its Spiritual Director (Rev Trinh Tuan Hoang), and call him to obtain additional info. Finally, I came up with the idea that I will use the donations (US$480.00 so far) to buy 2.4 ton of rice, dividing into 48 parts for 48 families.
In order to correctly pick the poorest familes, I will spend the first afternoon to scout around and interview rice sellers to track those who cannot afford to buy rice, and those who bought on credit but failed to pay. From this, I will make a list of candidates.
The nest morning, I will shop and transport that 2.4-ton of rice to Chong Kneas Catholic Church where I would borrow its space to store and distribute rice. I would also ask the person who manages the floating church to help distribute rice (not me) to those whom I would invite to pick up the donations.

Here are the links to the village:

01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25

*2- But prior to my arrival to Chong Kneas, I would try to visit Kampong Luong Floating Village that has been described as the highest population of Vietnamese people in this article. My nieces asked me to see if I can buy about US$200.00-value of fishnet at local market (Phnom Penh or Battambang?) to give to the miserable family identified in the story. Also, a TTer from Seattle (Washington State) asked me to give him an estimate of required expenditure to build a floating classroom for local children to learn Khmer language. This means I need to request and arrange local religious authorities to furnish free labors once we arrive with materials. We will try to cover the meals for about 20 volunteers during construction. The TTer who got the first idea and I are carpenters, and my wife (a cook for *HCC*) told me she will use her annual vacation to come to take care of kitchen service for the group.
That's the reason why I want to be at Kampong Luong.

+

As I said, due to time limitation (because I must stay in Danang with my sick father who is suffering the agony and in his last days of life), I must calculate my available time to complete the trip to Cambodia before taking the return flight from Saigon. This is a real challenged match to me.

I appreciate all your advice, suggestions and recommended itinerary while I am in Cambodia.

Sincerely,

Thanh

8

REPLACEMENT

For some reason, the link to Picture 03 above id dead.

Please use this one.

Thank you and sorry about the error.
Thanh