This section is dedicated to the community of Chambok and in particular to our friends (above from left to right) Cham (cook, craftsman, guide), Thy (our perfect guide but also the ecotourism coordinator and best English speaker in Chambok), Morn (the community leader), Sagn (our Khmer teacher and guide), Mon (a great carpenter) and - missing on the picture - Ron (leader of the restaurant run by the community women and our perfect cook), and - last not least - Mr. Rorn and his family (our home-stay hosts). (Unfortunately we don’t know the name of the community senior next to Thomas.)
Whenever you travel to South East Asia, you will probably visit Angkor - be also sure not to miss the Chambok Ecotourism Site http://chambok.org for a life experience the real Cambodia.

As agreed upon at our arrival, our two moto guys showed up in Kirirom on Monday morning at 8. They took us for the 1 hour ride to Chambok community, a direct neighbor of the national park. There we were greeted by (Phun) Thy with whom we had been in touch by phone (+855 (0)17 363 480) and mail (thyphun@yahoo.com). He introduced us to the history of the Chambok community with its more than 700 inhabitants - a typical Khmer story. In 1979 the Khmer Rouge subjected the villagers to forced labor on government farms and in building dams and irrigation systems up to 60 km from home. Not all of them survived the combination of hard work and too little food. Since the area remained a Khmer Rouge hideaway even after their official defeat, the population was gathered in a Red Cross refugee camp in Treng Trayeung which still meant not enough to eat. Only after the local Khmer Rouge leader guide died , the heavily mined area could be cleared and it was not before 1998 - nearly 20 years later - that the villagers could go back to their homeland.

The community consists of rice fields which lack irrigation and therefore yield little to nothing outside of the rain season, bamboo jungle, forests and mountains with 4 beautiful waterfalls which are active all year round. Since 2003 ecotourism provides additional job opportunities for the villagers and at the same time helps protect Chambok’s natural resources, in particular its beautiful forests which are no longer cut down at random.

With the community motorcycle, Thy then took us to the house of Mr. Rorn, his wife. the 2 boys aged 19 and 11 and the 2 girls aged 17 and 14. They are the most friendly hosts you can imagine. They had given up their biggest room upstairs which was decorated with love and equipped with two enormous beds - one of them would have been sufficient for both of us. It was the best (as well as the cheapest) room we ever had and probably will have on our entire trip. Upon our arrival we were invited to have tea on one of the graes (a platform which can be used to lie or sit on) under the upper story of the house. Thy had to translate our introduction since the family speaks only Khmer. After we had left our big bags in the room, the moto easily carried the 3 of us back to the community center where the women of the village take turns to prepare delicious meals for the visitors.

After a perfect lunch with 3 different dishes, Thy took us for a hike through the bamboo jungle with its permanent change of light and shadow to the 3 nearest waterfalls. One of them is an impressing 40 meters high. We also went face to face with the bats sleeping and flying around in a cave nearby. At the end we took a refreshing swim and natural massage in one of the lower waterfalls - a wonderful setting in the evening sun.

For dinner (and breakfast the next mroning) we joined a lively group of Australians, New Zealanders and one German who spent one home-stay night in Chambok on their organized 4-weeks-tour through South-East-Asia. The community moto took us back to our hosts - it was pretty darn dark but Chambok features a few lights now and then and even a little Karaoke bar. Our family had set up a car battery to light up our room and their outside “living room” (and to recharge their cell phone the next morning). More tea and conversation - this time with a lot of questions about us and our country. Most tricky was the question about Thomas’ job - our business seemed so far from everything that matters around here. Then we had a wonderful night - despite a crowing duel between “our” and one of the neighboring roosters at 4 o’clock in the night.

When we got up with the sun (and a little help of our alarm clock) at 6, the family was already up and busy. We enjoyed our sunrise shower at the rainwater jar next to the family’s garden with banana and papaya trees. We appropriately substituted the usual scarf around our hips with our swim shorts - until the family spotted us and provided Simon with one of the plaid scarfs that is every man’s favorite accessory in Cambodia. Some women use it, too. But for washing themselves, they need to wear a sarong.

But the best was yet to come. With the team mentioned in the beginning we gathered after breakfast to prepare for our overnight camping tour to the mountains and the highest waterfall. We were lucky because the community had anyhow planned the tour to prepare for a group tour towards the end of the month. At 11 o’clock hammocks, blankets, a tent cover, tools, a box of ice, enough cans of beer and endless amounts of food fresh from the local market had been stuffed into improvised backpacks. Even our European backpacks looked a little Cambodian with plastic bags full of vegetables dangling from them.

A steep hike first through the bamboo jungle and then through a young forest recovering from its earlier over-exploitation brought us to a rocky platform at the mountain top.

While the men prepared the camp site using fallen tree sections with fitting crotches for the base and bent bamboo for the roof, Ron prepared two fires and a great lunch. It was fascinating to watch how the precise blows of Mon’s axe perfectly trimmed the timber to its exact length.

Since we were not really helpful for the camp, we mostly helped Ron.

After lunch, Thy and Sagn took us to a wonderful look-out with a view of the entire community.When we came back, our camp site was almost ready. We only had to hang hammocks and mosquito nets.

Before the sun set at 6, all the men went to the nearby mountain top waterfall. After crossing the stream and climbing down the steps of the waterfall, a perfect swimming pool and a lot of little boys’ games let us forget how much sweat had been poured during the day. After another wonderful dinner which by some magic Ron created on the mountain top, we settled for beer, dealing cards in the light of a torch supported by a bamboo triangle and enjoying the rest of our dinner and pork grilled over the open fire. It took us a while to fully take in the rules of the game but after a short we became competitive. We had a lot of fun together.

The next morning we got up with the light well before the sun was visible. Mon created coffee cups from bamboo, Cham the fitting chop sticks and we enjoyed breakfast with rice porridge, noodles with cabbage and fried eggs. Together we crossed the stream once more before we had to say good-bye to most of our friends. They continued to explore another campsite for the rest of the day while Sagn took us down to the village on a different trail. A final ride with our moto guys. The we joined a minivan which uses loud honks and a helper boy on board to collect more passengers along the way, before the passengers of two vans were combined into one 30 km before we reached Phnom Penh. Into the city the helper boy seemed to bribe the police controls on the way (probably to make them ignore the excess number of passengers). And finally our first moto ride in Phnom Penh to our guest house from last time. Why use a tuk-tuk again? Two motos are cheaper and quicker.