Banteay Chmar village

We arrived at this remote little village near the Thai border at noon yesterday.  This is not really a tourist area, nor is it really developed.  Partially that's because it was the last remaining holdout of theKhmer  Rouge, long after Pol Pot left power.  The unfortunate effect is that this was the most heavily mined area of Cambodia, with more than a million land mines to find and deactivate.  We saw signs posted letting us know where it was safe to go, and of course, the villages have been cleared for a long time.  We also saw people with visible scars and lost limbs.  A terrible legacy.

We were served meals in their community center.  This little thatch roof building had a long table, a small library, school posters on the wall, a bathroom (squat style), and a kitchen.  There was a big organizational flowchart on the wall for this cooperative venture . The food was great but appeared to be served in what had perhaps been collected from the villagers as their best plates and dishes.  

We stayed in homestays, right with families in the village.  The houses were up on stilts, with the underside open on three or four sides, maybe with hammocks or a big wood platform for lounging. Babies and children played under the houses, puppies and dogs and cats and chickens wandered through.  Upstairs was a big wooden room divided into several smaller bedrooms on the sides.  The windows were barred but had wood shutters that opened directly outside--no glass windows.  The beds were wood platforms with mattresses, hung with mosquito netting.  The floors were thin wood planks that went right through to downstairs, we could see through the gaps.  While our host families didn't speak much English, they were friendly and we played with puppies and babies and relaxed a bit.  

Just as we were hoping to head out to see the main temple, the wind picked up.  The sky darkened and a sudden hard rain started falling.  This was an early showing of the approaching rainy season.  It was a hard fast rain, over in about 20 minutes.  It cooled things down by about 15 degrees--very welcome--but it also turned the streets and path to a sandy red mud--not particularly welcome.

With our big fancy cars,  we were definitely an event for the village.  We jammed the tiny roads, people smiled and waved.  Teen girls stared and giggled. We were as much an experience for them as they were for us, that's for sure!