PAILIN CITY

    Kampong Cham is the capital of the province of the same name and the third largest city in Cambodia. With its Mekong River location and relatively close proximity to Phnom Penh (123km) and Vietnam, Kampong Cham has always been an important trade and transportation hub. The highway from Phnom Penh is in excellent condition-you can get here in just under two hours by road or by the bullet boats that are a main mode of transportation between towns on the Mekong River. Either way it?s a nice fide, with views of the rural countryside or river area, depending on which way you go.

Kisonal Bridge

     Kampong Cham in Cambodia is home to some of the well-known Cambodia tourist attractions. Nokor Bachey Temple is one of them. It is 2.2 kilometers away from the provincial town of Kampong Cham in Cambodia. This historical site houses four long buildings of ancient time. The first long building is adorned with eight dragons, six lions and two devils. The second long building preserves two spectacular carvings of Te Cho Dam din. The third long building is popular for its eight-hand sculpture of Preah Norey.

    It also features a unique four-hand sculpture of Preah Norey. The peculiarities of the structure of the fourth long building distinguish it from all other edifices of Nokor Bachey Temple in Kampong Cham of Cambodia .

    Memot has given its name to a prehistoric culture that lived in the area some 2500 years ago. The Memotian  culture is the name given to a series of archaeological sites found in Memot and across the border in Vietnam. The district is home to a number of prehistoric sites which have only recently been studied.[5] In 1959, French archaeologist Louis Malleret  first described a series of 17 circular earthworks, each with an outer wall and an inner ditch. He reported this new category of prehistoric sites in the red soil region east of the Mekong in Kampong Cham Province and Vietnam. In 1962, Bernard Philippe Groslier  carried out excavations in a circular earthwork near Memot, later called the Groslier site, and named this civilisation “Mimotien”. To date 36 of these massive prehistoric villages have been discovered in Cambodia.

    Chamkar Leu was the site of significant fighting during the Cambodian Civil War. During the Second Indochina War the district was heavily bombed by both B-52 and smaller aircraft. One of the senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge, Ke Pauk was born in nearby Baray District. According to his auto-biography, Pauk joined the nascent Cambodian Communist movement in Svay Teab, Chamkar Leu District, Kampong Cham

    Between 1974 and 1978, two pagodas (wat in Khmer) in Kang Meas district were used as prisons and killing fields by the Khmer Rouge.According to a mapping team who surveyed the region in 1995 and 1996 Wat O Trau Kuon and Wat Nikroath in Peam Chi Kang commune were used as a district prison and regional prison respectively.

    O Trau Kuon was the main Democratic Kampuchea district prison from 1974 until 1978. Initial victims at this site were soldiers from the army of Lon Nol and then New People  who were brought to Kang Meas District from Phnom Penh. Victims were executed at the mass graves close to the Wat. District authorities reported 467 mass graves at this site and estimated that 32,690 victims were executed there. The graves were excavated in 1982 and the remains placed in a memorial stupa near the pagoda.

    Wat Nikroath was used as a prison from 1975 when New People were invited to the pagoda to receive food. They were then imprisoned and later executed. District officials recorded 186 mass graves at the site containing an estimated 11,160 victims. Monks from the pagoda reported that they have found names written in blood on the walls when they returned after the fall of the Khmer Rouge. These have now been covered with fresh paint.  

    Tbong Khmoum district lies in the centre of the province and is surrounded by other Kampong Cham districts. Reading from the north clockwise, Tbong Khmoum borders with Krouch Chhmar district to the north. The eastern border of the district is shared with Dambae and Ponhea Kraek districts. Ponhea Kraek wraps around to the southern border of the district where it joins Ou Reang Ov in the south. The Mekong River  forms the western border of the district running from north to south and here the river is part of the district to midstream. Across the Mekong are Koh Suotin, Kampong Cham and Kampong Siem districts. The large Mekong island of Kaoh Samraong lies in the center of the district's western border.

    Tum Teav, the 'Romeo & Juliet' of Cambodian literature, was set in Tboung Kmoum district. This epic poem, carried down through the generations by oral poets, was translated into French by Étienne Aymonier in 1880. Palm-leaf versions of the story were recorded by Santhor Mok and the Venerable Botumthera Som. The most recent literary version was composed by Nou Kan. The much-loved story has been adapted to theatre, song and film in recent years.

Phnom bros, Phnom Srey

    Tum Teav is a classic tragic love story that has been told throughout Cambodia since at least the middle of the 19th century. It is originally based on a poem and is the considered the "Cambodian Romeo and Juliet" tale. It was popularized by writer George Chigas and has been a compulsory part of the Cambodian secondary national curriculum since the 1950s.

    The tale relates the encounters of a talented novice monk named Tum and a beautiful adolescent girl named Teav. From the first sight, Tum, the monk, was in love with Teav, a very beautiful young lady. It is reciprocated and Teav offered Tum some betel nut and a blanket as evidence of the feelings she had for Tum and prays to Buddha that the young monk will be with her for eternity. Tum was very pleased to accept the offers, to see she felt the same way he did. He initially spends some time in Teav's home despite her being 'in the shade' (a period of a few weeks when the daughter is supposedly secluded from males and taught how to behave virtuously), and wastes no time in abusing the mother's hospitality by sleeping with her daughter.

    Teav's mother is unaware of this event and has alternative plans, intending to marry her daughter off to the governor's son (she dropped the idea when her daughter was chosen to be with the king, but resurrected it as soon as she learned that her employment at the court wasn't leading anywhere). She feigns illness as a ruse to lure Teav to her village whereupon she tries to coerce her into taking part in the wedding ceremony. Tum turns up with an edict from the king to stop the ceremony, but on arrival instead of presenting the order, he gets drunk, announces he is Teav's husband and kisses her in public; his behaviour gets him killed, and only after that does the governor discover the king's letter. Teav commits suicide.