Remember the Soksabike team’s recent attempt to explore Bak Preah Village near the Tonle Sap Lake as a potential tour destination?
Well it was exactly that, an ‘attempt’. However, we did stumble across an amazing fishing conservation project in a village called Rohal Suong. With the team still keen to show guests the livelihoods along the Tonle Sap Lake, we set out for Bak Preah by boat 2 weeks ago, as promised!
Among the team of explorers for this adventure was Sothea, Sopheap, Alex and Jan.
A quick side note: Jan is from Germany and recently spent two and a half weeks volunteering with Soksabike and was the mastermind behind our second expedition to Bak Preah. He did an amazing job and we recommend you follow his cycling adventure across South-East Asia.
We left Kinyei HQ at 6.30am on Saturday morning the 25th of June but this time by bicycle and carrying a lot more gear, as we were prepared for a sleep over in Bak Preah.
The plan…
To ride our bicycles 14km to Rohal Suong Village where we change our mode of transport to a boat and get escorted all the way to Bak Preah by Rohal Suong’s community leader, Mr Jomroen.
Soksabike's community liason consultant, Sothea talking with Rohal Suong leaders
We made it!
Fishing industry along the Sangker River
Not only was the weather perfect for our bike ride to Rohal Suong but we got to spend the morning learning about Rohal Suong’s community projects from the community leaders. The Rohal Suong community is quite progressive and ahead of it’s time in terms of their level of environmental and wealth creation knowledge and awareness. Their projects include:
- A fishing conservation dam 3m deep and 50 metres in diametre and that provides 800 people with fish all year round;
- A community bank with nearly $10,000 worth of capital and 106 members where the majority of loans are related to farming and moto taxi businesses;
- A reforestation project where the community are replanting flooded areas and have started to see their fish supply increase as a result.
Soksabike’s guides and the Rohal Suong community want visitors to Cambodia to learn about these projects and how it is improving the livelihoods for families of the Rohal Suong community.
Boat to Bak Preah
After a banquet of fish, soup, veggies and of course rice for lunch we took a three and a half hour boat trip north along the Sangker River and made it to Bak Preah.
We were greeted by the Vice Commune Leader, Mr Ou Chan and the Village Leader, Mr Deng Saheim who invited us for tea. We discussed the potential for Soksabike to bring guests to Bak Preah and were taken on a tour of the village all the while learning about the businesses and situation of the people.
Jan and Sothea enjoying some rice wine with Bak Preah's community leaders
We talked about guests getting to:
- See the stilt housing unique to floating villages;
- Learn about the fishing industry;
- Go fishing Cambodian style;
- Help prepare traditional Cambodian food;
- Spend time with some families in Bak Preah;
- Play volleyball;
- Camp out in the community hall.
The visit to Bak Preah was also extremely challenging in parts for me and the Soksabike team, as the Bak Preah’s community leaders shared their struggles as a community situated on water for half the year. This isolation has caused a lack of education infrastructure and makes it difficult for Bak Preah to get their farming produce and other products to market. The most critical issues Bak Preah is currently facing is the river running out of fish, as so many livelihoods are dependent on the fishing industry. We are now thinking long and hard about what this community really needs and is tourism the right solution for this community? Are they ready for a potential influx of money and resources?
Housing in Bak Preah - built for the rainy season when it becomes a floating village
It was a fascinating 2 days being immersed in a completely different way of living in comparison to dry land Cambodia and we were thoroughly looked after by both the Bak Preah and Rohal Suong communities. They are keen to work with Soksabike and it would be one of the first exposures these communities have had to organised tourism.
Highlights of the trip:
- Building the relationship with both villages as it certainly developed over the the course of the trip and by the end we started to get much clearer information and insight into their expectations and needs;
- Rohal Suong not being interested in financial compensation for hosting guests on a home stay but rather compensated through skills sharing – they would like Kinyei to teach 7 of there members computer and proposal writing skills;
- Learning how to grind rice flour using a traditional grinder (tobal kun);
- Having a round of rice wine or 5 with community leaders from both villages and them pulling a brand new DVD player out of a Sony box and connecting it to a car battery to play Khmer music videos in the dark where there is no electricity – bazar contrast of worlds;
- Learning how the fishing community survive and are working to combat the fish shortage.
Kids in Bak Preah fascinated by Sopheap's camera and photography skills
Traditional rice grinder for making rice flour
Challenges for the new tour:
- Analysing the potential economic and development impacts (both good and bad) that tourism exposure will bring to Bak Preah;
- Ensuring we give guests a ‘day in the life of a countryside Cambodian’ experience without overwhelming them.
Where to from here:
- Maintaining and building on our relationships with Rohal Suong and Bak Preah;
- Start computer training with Rohal Suong community leaders in September;
- Test the road for cycling to Bak Preah after the rainy season;
- Do an impact study on tourism in Bak Preah.
It would be great to get your thoughts on our new community development 3 day bicycle tour by sharing what you want to do, see and learn about in countryside Cambodia.
