One afternoon, I road the 20 km to Wat Han Chey, a temple overlooking the Mekong with a bizarre fruit theme. The Frenchman who owned my guesthouse didn’t recommend it. “It kind of strange place,” he said “All this giant fruits, animals eating fruits. Sort of … kitschy.”
I actually couldn’t remember what “kitschy” meant (so much for my writer’s vocabulary), but he had gotten my attention at the mention of life-sized fruit. I knew that Wat Han Chey had been built in either the 7th or 8th century during the Chenla Empire, which actually predates the much more famous ruins at Angkor Wat by about 500 years. Could it be that the ancients revered fruit, and might the durian be among them?
About Kampong Cham
Kampong Cham is a province about three hours northeast of Phnomh Penh. It’s the one other province in Cambodia (in addition to Kampot) really well known for durian. Which is of course the main reason I was there.
Besides durian, the best thing about Kampong Cham is that most of the major sites can be seen by bicycle.
Ancient, crumbling wats, giant Buddhas, sweeping views of the Mekong and fields of white cows dot the flat, narrow country roads flanked on either side by traditional wooden houses high on stilts.
There are few Western tourists in this quiet corner of Cambodia, and most people were excited or slightly bemused by my passing.
When I got to the top of the hill overlooking the Mekong, I learned the meaning of kitschy. And I loved it. Wat Han Chey is a hodgepodge of very old, crumbled pagodas, ornately painted temples, and a bewildering spread of garish, life-sized statues of fruit. I don’t know when the fruit statues were installed, or why (maybe the designer was hungry?). It was a funny, fruit themed outing with a great view, a great ride, and a great very well deserved durian dinner.
In addition, I now have one more durian statue picture to add to my collection.
The Ride to Wat Han Chey
I rode along roads dotted with houses on stilts on flat paddy fields
So what do you think? Would you like to see more photo essays? Please comment below!
fruitarianvagabond says
i guess no tastes that amazed you? i hope the long lapae in uttaradit blows your mind, but dont worry you always have Penang Fallback, ehehe
fruitarianvagabond says
i want more photo essays…..as the saying goes, "a picture is worth 1000 words", and i felt that as i scrolled down….i could tell why you put the traffic foto in so that we can feel the traffic you rode with (which made me not want to go, thanks, heheh)…….and the cows shows us what you saw on the bike rides, cows cows and more cows….gotta love em………and add more durian eating photos and photos of the durians yummy edible portions…they never bore me.
rdavout says
Hi there Lindsay and first of all thanks for sharing your undying enthusiasm for durian with the world!
I really like the way you write and perhaps for that reason I find your photo essay to lack the passion you so easily convey through writing. Perhaps adding captions to your photos and strictly keeping to a logical breadcrumb of sorts could make this more interesting. Photos 3 and 5 in this essay just don't seem to fit with the rest and without any explanations, it just feels like you grouped them together because they were nice and kind'a from the same place 😉
Hope this helps.
Faithfully waiting for your ebook and the opportunity to use it as a travel companion to South-East Asia 😉
Lindsay Gasik says
Thanks for the feedback. I included photos 3 and 5 because I wanted to show a little of the journey, like what sort of traffic I was riding with and a little of the landscape. I tried to keep it chronological – sites I saw on the way to Wat Han Chey, and then the temple itself. I can see though how they might not seem to fit
I am trying to reduce how much time I spend actually writing for this blog so I can focus on the e-books and my real book, the book book 🙂 I'll probably try this format at least one more time, realizing that this is a learning process.