Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Prey Chung Kran
Kompong Cham is famous for high-quality silk. The tiny village of Prey Chung Kran is
set on the banks of the river and nearly every household has a weaving loom. Under the
cool shade provided by their stilted homes, weavers work deftly to produce
kramas
that
are fashionable and traditional. The most interesting thing to watch is the dyeing process,
as the typical diamond and dot tessellations are formed at this stage. Prey Chung Kran is
about 4km from Wat Maha Leap. There are additional weavers all along the road between
Wat Maha Leap and Prey Chung Kran.
Wat Hanchey
Wat Hanchey is a hilltop pagoda that was an important centre of worship during the
Chenla period when, as today, it offered some of the best Mekong views in Cambodia.
During the time of the Chenla empire, this may have been an important transit stop on
journeys between the ancient cities of Thala Boravit (near Stung Treng to the north) and
Angkor Borei (near Takeo to the south), and Sambor Prei Kuk (near Kompong Thom to
the west) and Banteay Prei Nokor (near Memot to the east).
Sitting in front of a large, contemporary wat is a remarkable brick sanctuary dating
from the 8th century. The well-preserved inscriptions on the doorway are in ancient
Sanskrit. A hole in the roof lets in a lone shaft of light. The foundations of several other
8th-century structures, some of them destroyed by American bombs, are scattered around
the compound, along with a clutch of bizarre fruit and animal statues.
The smooth trip out here takes about 40 minutes from Kompong Cham on a motorbike.
Cycling out here through the pretty riverbank villages is a good way to pass a day.
Rubber Plantations
Kompong Cham was the heartland of the Cambodian rubber industry and rubber planta-
tions still stretch across the province. Many of them are back in business and some of the
largest plantations can be visited. Using an extended scraping instrument, workers graze
the trunks until the sap appears, dripping into the open coconut shells on the ground. At
Chup Rubber Plantation
, about 15km east of Kompong Cham, you can observe harvesting
