Weekend in Pursat

Happy Birthday Queen of Cambodia! With another day off, I decided to make use of a long weekend and head to visit my ‘Mike and Tara’ of Cambodia, Mel and Richard, a great couple from the UK that I met during training with VSO who are placed in a neighboring province.

It started with a 4 hour bus journey which wasn’t too bad. Mel and Richard greeted me at the bus stop with their favorite tuk tuk driver, Rath. I believe they mentioned he was 1 of only 4 tuk tuk drivers in their town and the only that spoke a bit of English. That was the first of many rides with Rath throughout the weekend. We went to their home to relax for a bit, eat lunch and catch up. Their place is absolutely adorable and very comfortable, including my guest bed that was probably the best I’ve slept in Southeast Asia.

That afternoon we called up Rath to take us on a tour of the little town. Pursat is known for its amazing marble sculptures so he took us to different shops where some men were working away at their carvings. I was really impressed with how much detail even the smallest or the largest sculpture had. We then drove along the river for a bit and back to their place to get ready for dinner, went to one of their favorite Khmer restaurants and were all pretty exhausted so called it an early night.

The next day, unfortunately, Mel and Richard didn’t have off like I did. I joined Mel in the morning for their daily market run to get fresh produce from local farmers for the day. We then went to this little man-made island, that looks like a ship, to walk for a bit and boy was it hot early! As they headed off to work, I got ready for an exciting bike journey that I’ve been looking forward to all week. No map, no directions, just me, my Ipod, water and the bike. The journey lasted only about 4 hours because I thought the tires were going to burst since the roads are so bumpy, but I made it through a few villages on some rural dirt roads, some along the river, had a kind family pump up my bike tires and the mother actually proposed to me for her son!, watched a very intense volleyball match with some locals and took some great photos. I’ve grown to really enjoy long bike journeys and hope to find some trails in San Diego when I return!

I guess it was a good thing it only lasted about 4 hours because less than 30 minutes after I returned started a wonderful Cambodian monsoon! That afternoon, I relaxed and then ran to the store to pick up a bottle of wine to greet the two when they got home from work! We headed off to dinner and once again, the sun and ride took a lot out of me, and after some wine and beer, called it a night!

Saturday was our ‘big plans’ day! We went on a bamboo train ride for close to 5 hours which was quite the experience. Pretty much, they put wheels on the track, set some woven bamboo on top (about the size of a queen mattress) attached a motor to the back and we all piled on. It was very bumpy, very loud and pretty painful having to sit in awkward positions but what a great way to have a scenic tour of Pursat Province. Every time another train came we all jumped off, disassembled our train, let the other pass and reassembled to continue on. I don’t know why but it felt like we were ALWAYS the train to have to disassemble… At the farthest stop Richard was hungry and decided to order something to eat and got some sort of mystery soup! It was pretty entertaining to witness him moving various things around in a bowl not knowing what it was. On the way back, at one point we had to stop and disassemble for about 20 minutes because various trains were coming back to back. I noticed we were in front of a house that had a volleyball court and 3 boys playing. With the little amount of Khmer I know, and assistance from Richard since he was lucky enough to get 6 weeks of language training (I only had 3 days since I’m a short term volunteer) we asked who I think was the father if I could go on their property to play and he agreed. After the doubles game started, I remember looking over to see practically every person that lived in that area watching intensely. I don’t know if it was because a white person was playing, or a female (probably both, and this is typical here), but we were definitely the afternoon entertainment. And might I add, my serve was killer!

The rest of the ride home we were trying to cover up with anything possible (and by anything I mean Mel and I had both our arms pretzeled in our motorcycle helmet bags!) to keep the sun from leathering our skin, it was hot hot hot! As much as we covered up, we still resulted with awful burns! We were pretty exhausted and decided to head to the market in search of ingredients for homemade Cambodian spring rolls they had a recipe for from a cooking class. After a long search, and fun times in the kitchen, we had our spring roll feast and pretty much couldn’t move for the rest of the evening!

The next day I headed back to Phnom Penh fairly early to allow myself time in the afternoon to unwind and run errands. I’m so glad I went to visit them and had such an amazing time. The provinces are by far the best way to get a true taste of Cambodia and hopefully I can take a few more weekend trips before heading home! Thanks again Mel and Richard!