Andy Brouwer's Cambodia Tales

Highway Sixty-Seven : Anlong Veng

Ray Zepp, a teacher who has travelled to the far corners of the globe, published the first edition of his Cambodia Less Traveled guidebook in 1996. The book gives the reader an insight into the 'other' Cambodia, not usually found in the glossy guidebooks and is a treasure trove of anecdotes and experiences in many off the beaten track locations throughout Cambodia. Zepp, now back in Cambodia after a spell living in Micronesia, has also published the fascinating A Field Guide to Cambodian Pagodas and earlier this year, A Field Guide to the Pagodas of Siem Reap. My thanks to Ray for permission to post this insight into his recent experiences in northern Cambodia:

I'm now teaching English in Battambang for COERR (Catholic Office for Emergency Relief and Refugees), an organization known for its work in the refugee camps, especially Site Two, back in the eighties.  I'll probably stay here for another year, or maybe more.  But with the opening up of Cambodia, it appears that the possibilities are limitless.

Anyway, here is some information about Highway 67 north of Siem Reap, which has been vastly improved up to Anlong Veng, opening up that whole region for tourists, forestry, development, and political manoeuvering. Using that road, tourists can now breeze up to Banteay Srei, Phnom Kulen, Kbal Spean and Anlong Veng.

The road is not sponsored by ADB, IMF, or any outsiders.  It appears Hun Sen got the governement to pay for it, in order to open up the region to development.  More cynical minds like mine see it as a sop to the loggers.  Even with no additional logging, the timber along the swath of forest cut just for the road must have been worth millions of dollars to someone.  And now, it is possible to see the tracks into the forest where thinly disguised logging is taking place.  The logging roads go off at an angle and immjediately turn a corner so you cannot see what is going on beyond a 10-meter belt from the main road.  Driving through the ' protected forest reserve', it looks as though the forest is not being cut, since all the cutting is going on just out of sight.  Only at one point is there a clear-cut road going off into nowhere.

The 'protected' area is actually quite small.  For the rest of the way, squatters are putting up shacks at an incredible rate.  On the trees are posted the names of the land owners, of course friends and relatives of the big generals and politicians.   There is going to be trouble when the politicians try to evict all the squatters.

The trip to Anlong Veng takes about three hours from Siem Reap, even in the rainy season.  Anlong Veng is developing rapidly.  There is now a guest house, just beyond the new Hun Sen monument at the central roundabout. I saw a Smiley's  Guest House van parked there, so presumably Smiley's are running overnight tours up to Anlong Veng for tourists curious about Pol Pot's last refuge.

Now people tend to think of Anlong Veng as Pol Pot's territory, but it seems that is not quite true.  According to people I talked to, Pol Pot was stationed for years down in the southern zone near Pailin, until Ieng Sary broke away in 1997, and so Pol Pot and other big names like Son Sann, Nuon Chea, and Khieu Samphan, moved up to the Anlong Veng region.  But even then, they moved to a camp up in the mountains beyond Anlong Veng, so if you want to see their hideout, it takes a couple of hours by moto to go up into the mountain.  You cannot see Pol Pot's house right in Anlong Veng because he didn't live there.

Anlong Veng was, however, the stronghold of Ta Mok, whose house is prominent in the middle of the flooded zone around the town. People I talked to painted a rather different picture of Ta Mok from what I had been led to believe.  They said he was a very simple man who lived just like the other people in town, and was quiet, not presumptuous, and humble.  He actually developed the area into a rather habitable place. There is a Ta Mok school, a hospital which had medicine even during the Khmer Rouge times, and he built a lot of dams.  All over the region you can see the dead trees rising out of the tracts of water created by the dams.  These ponds are called 'Trapeang', and many of the village names are Trapeang this and Trapeang that.  So old Ta Mok does not have a bad reputation in the area.

The road north from town takes you past some burnt out government tanks, some with writing on them to the effect that ' this is what happens to those sellouts to Vietnam.'  But there are not millions of bullets and other arms lying around, as one tourist told me he had heard.  Perhaps that is what you can see in the final Pol Pot camp up in the hills, but I didn't get there and didn't particularly want to.

Thirty-odd kilometres to the east of Anlong Veng, a new district has been carved out, called Trapeang Prasat, run by a very energetic former Khmer Rouge leader as district head.  The area is developing fast, but is far behind Anlong Veng because the road is not yet an all-season road.  In the dry season you can make Trapeang Prasat in less than an hour, but it took us over three hours, getting stuck in the mud even in UNHCR 4x4's. This trip cannot be made in the rainy season in an ordinary vehicle.

There is a lot of demining activity by Halo Trust along this stretch of Highway 67, but otherwise it is pretty countryside  through open woods, and along trapeangs.  I asked whether the name Trapeang Prasat meant that there was a prasat (temple) int the area, and was told that indeed there was, only a couple of kilometers from the district seat. The person who told me said he had been there twice -- the first time he had walked around the ruins, but the second time it was all roped off as a mine field.  In fact, it still is that way, and you can see from the stakes in the ground exactly what kinds of mines the Halo Trust is finding there, marked by red sticks with numbers like A-72 (the code for the kind of mine unearthed).  But the temple is still quite visible, not in good shape and in no way spectacular, but in a very peaceful setting at the edge of the jungle by one of the trapeangs.  It is worth a visit if you are in the area.  Just ask anyone in the town.

The road is quite impassable past Trapeang Prasat on through to Preah Vihear.  But word has it that Hun Sen considers it a high priority, so that in the next year or two, it may be easy to drive right on up to Preah Vihear. As for now, however, the road is still marked as having a lot of anti-tank mines. Indeed, just a month or so ago, a Korean bulldozer hit one and killed the driver. So I would not recommend travelling these back roads for some time yet.

Back on the road up to Anlong Veng, it is now easy to visit Phnom Kulen and Kbal Spean, where those marvellous Hindu carvings are found right in the middle of the forest streams.  However, Phnom Kulen is rapidly being trashed by picnickers who leave their rubblish all over the place and destroy the silent romance of the jungle. Besides, it costs an arm and a leg to go there, and I would not recommend it.

On the other hand, Kbal Spean is still more or less pristine.  It really is beautiful.  You can still go skinny-dipping in the jungle stream coming down from the mountains.  I have never seen such an array of butterflies in my life - all shapes, sizes, and colors.  The two kilometre trail up to the carvings is well marked and developed for tourists. Pictures of the carvings can be seen in the most recent National Geographic magazine. It costs a few dollars for a guide and parking spot, but it is still worth it.

But you'd better get there fast. Apsara Tours has acquired the rights to bring in busloads of tourists.  Within a year the place is going to be trashed and overrun with noisy tourists. The bus will take tourists up to Banteay Srei and then continue onto Kbal Spean.

But for the near future, there are lots of things to see on the road past Banteay Srei.  Anlong Veng still has that frontier town feel about it.  You get a feeling of adventure about the whole area, but that may not last the year.  All the soldiers and deminers are creating the demand for restaurants and especially brothels in town, and that means that  AIDS is probably on the way. 

By the way, the area is a serious malaria zone, with both plasmodium falciparum and p. vivax.  Fortunately they are not resistant to mefloquine and some other new drug.  But bring a mosquito net and other mozzie protection.

Above article courtesy of Ray Zepp : August 2000. If you have a story from the 'other' Cambodia, e-mail me with the details.

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Phalla's Trip to Anlong Veng - August 2000

The reason for my trip was to visit Ta Mok's house, located northeast of Siem Reap, 140 kilometres closer to the Thai border. Ta Mok was the final Khmer Rouge hard-line leader who has been arrested by government forces recently and is being detained in Phnom Penh now, awaiting for trial.

On August 19, we started from Siem Reap town by taxi on the road to Angkor (no need to stop for ticket checking), then turn right at intersection of Angkor Wat to Prasat Kravan, Banteay Kdei temple and Srah Srang (royal bath), thereafter turned right again and drove on the grand circuit road passing Pre Rup then turned right again through Pradak Village after that turned left following the way to Banteay Srei temple, from there turned right. Twenty minutes later we passed Kbal Spean as the holy place famous for underwater carvings and eight-meter waterfall. From there, we saw mountains and forest on both sides of the road. We were now driving through the dense forest and small villages with beautiful landscape. The road is very good, made of laterite soil.  At an impressive point, we were on the peak of the mountain with plain terrain where we could see green forests surrounding us and enjoyed hearing the noise of cicadas. Occasionally, we saw people working in jungles, searching for herbs. Mine clearance activity was also being operated by Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC).

Half an hour later we reached a local supper market among the jungles, called Psa Louy market next to a pagoda with a big tree on the right. We stopped there for rest with drink and food. Then we continued our journey passing one big lake containing big, leafless trees, which is so picturesque. The atmosphere was flourished with fresh air and we were still up and down on the hill. One hour later we arrived at the destination, Anlong Veng and a market which was crowded. This market is called Psa Anlong Veng. We stopped for something to eat and drink. At the same time we wanted to learn about the lifestyle of people living there before proceeding to Ta Mok's house.  Continuing our trip two minutes later we crossed one bridge with waterfall at one side. It is an amazing spot, on the right hand side, we saw a great lake containing giant, leafless trees inside and full of water, really beautiful, then we arrived. This house is surrounded by a great lake at the back to prevent attack by enemy from the back and there is a channel to protect from the enemy from the entry gate. This plan layout and architecture are admirable as it proves that Ta Mok is experienced at war and he is understood of exploiting architecture of Angkor - the great builders of capitals against invasion by enemy.

There are three houses and one oil filling station garage, which are surrounded by big trees, making the area impressively shaded. One house is said to be used for a meeting place, and the walls are decorated with paintings. It has pictures of Angkor Wat and other beautiful pictures. The great art and architecture of his house also rest with natural strength. Freshly cut trees are used as pillars. There are many secret rooms underground of the house. Ta Mok is one of the steering committee members of the brutal Khmer Rouge organization. According to villagers, he was born in Takeo Province. He is said to have neither brother nor sister. We were told that he has three children, two sons and one daughter. He looked after nearly 300 children and all the people around Anlong Veng district, said a boy who used to be raised by To Mok. He also fed wild dogs that could do something better than people for guarding the house at night and they were obedient to him.

• This trip report was submitted by Mourn Phalla, a tour guide in Siem Reap.
• To view some recent pictures from Anlong Veng, click onto Gordon Sharpless' website.

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