A Stupa in a Rice Paddy

JULY 13

Mr. Tin picked us up bright and early and took us down to the docks of the Tuhle Sap (sp?) River, a tributary of the Mekong.  He hired a local boat who took us past floating villages where entire communities live on boats.  He explained that most of these people are Vietnamese and the floating villages began originally because they could not own property (whether it was against the law or they just couldn’t afford to own property wasn’t quite clear).  As the days have passed,, we’ve seen other floating villages which have schools, stores, and just about anything any other town would have – all floating on boats and pontoons.  In the distance we could see the mountain named for the maiden who died of a broken heart when her lover found out that her step-father was a giant who had eaten the eyes of all twelve of his wives.  The mountain looks like a lady lying down as this girl did when she died.

Anyway, it was a beautifully relaxing boatride which took us to the other, less inhabited side of the river where we landed at a dirty, smelly village and hired a tuk-tuk to take us around to the remote temples that are spread out across this region.  It was really exciting to visit these temples as they pre-date Angkor Wat – so we were seeing the chronological progression of Cambodian architecture.  The first one we visited had 200 steps to reach the summit and the single stupa we found at the top was in a terrible state of disrepair.  There were some local boys who were hanging out at the stupa but were really on cowherd duties.  Mr. Tin translated what they were saying, explaining that from this high point on the hill they could see all their cattle below.  We gave them some Stetson bandanas before taking 200 steps back down the hill.  The second stupa we visited was in the middle of a rice paddy!  Rice paddies, as you know, are flooded with water.  There are, however, little dikes or levees around them which square off the fields.  So we had to balance-beam walk around the fields to reach our destination.  As we walked we heard a woman yelling something across the field.  Even though I was concentrating mightily upon not falling off the mound of dirt I was walking on, pretty soon I noticed sounds behind me.  When I took a moment to pause and look behind me I saw a line of Cambodians behind me.  Led by the woman who’d yelled, there was about seven little kids walking single file behind her (and behind me) along the dike.  But I had to concentrate on balancing, so on I went until Mr. Tin, Jeff and I reached the stupa.  This one was in better shape but still pre-dated Angkor.  As we looked around the site and Mr. Tin explained the architectural details (you can tell the date of Khmer architecture by the material… first they used brick, then sandstone, then wood, then cement).  The woman and the little kids stood by.  They weren’t begging, just curious.  I ended up giving them stickers that I’d brought along with me.  They were at first reluctant to let me put stickers on them but once one brave boy let me do it they were game.  Then we walked along the dikes back to our tuk-tuk and on to the next temple. 

 

This little Khmer girl is trying on her new Stetson bandana

The poverty on "the other side" of the river

Mr. Tin tells the tuk-tuk driver where to find the temples we sought

This shirt is the only one Jeff could find in his size at the Khmer market
(photo taken in the tuk-tuk)

Scenes from the tuk-tuk

Rice paddies on either side of the road - and perhaps a stupa or two!

As we drove through rice paddies and small villages the poverty was striking.  I don’t think I’ve seen conditions this bad since I was in India in the 1980s.  Mr. Tin informed  us that the soil in this area was not as fertile and so these peoples’ rice crops were meager.  The people didn’t look like they were starving, but their living conditions were pretty deplorable. I felt some major white man’s guilt as we motored through their villages, but the children were eager to wave and smile as the adults went about their work or rested in hammocks underneath their stilt houses. 

 

Workers in the rice fields

This stupa was in a state of bad disrepair - the cowherd boys were using it for shade

New Stetson bandanas for everyone!

The view from the stupa

That's rice drying on the tarp behind Jeff

Another stupa!

All I could think of is all the unexploded land mines left in Cambodia - you are often warned not to stray off the beaten path!  This was definitely off that path!

Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho, it's off to the stupa we go

Though ostensibly abandoned, some faithful do still visit this holy site 

These kids (and to be honest, Mr. Tin, too) are thinking "Why do these foreigners care to see this old pile of bricks?"

We had a picnic lunch at one of the stupas and shared our leftovers with some local children, then hopped back in the tuk-tuk, eventually finding our way back to the riverside where our boat driver had been waiting for five hours to return us to Kampong Chnang. 

 

Ancient faith and modern faith exist side by side

Munk at site of the new temple - where we had our picnic

Picnicking in Cambodia

Ignore my giant leg and check out the munks' quarters in the background

Local kids enjoyed our picnic leftovers

We then drove about three hours to Battanbang, our next stop.  Battanbang is a town which had been a provincial headquarters for the French during colonial times.  There are still vestiges of French architecture – and a fabulous French restaurant “La Pomme d’Amour” – to remind visitors of the French period of Cambodia.  Another “must do” experience of Battambang is the Seeing Hands – a massage from a blind masseuse. The Seeing hands program gives training to those blinded by land mines or other means so they can support themselves.  The $6 massage was in an open-air storefront that opened off the busy road and was pretty stark.  But our masseuse/masseur were strong and well trained.  I’ll take a six dollar massage any time.