The rains here are almost over now. The rivers have overflowed into enormous sheets of water and the rice fields are submerged.  Only the taller bushes and trees break the smooth surface reflecting the clear blue sky.   The people of Cambodia look forward to this annual flood and depend on it for agriculture and next year's fish. The weather is warming up nicely, back up to a pleasant 30oC.

We are still exploring Cambodia during holidays and time off work. During a recent major Buddhist festival, P'Chum Ben, we took a week to explore the far north east.

Encircled and enfolded by rich green jungle foliage the crystal clear crater lake shimmered blue in the afternoon sunlight.  In the surrounding hills, in northern Cambodia, thundering waterfalls plummeted down into torrents which fed the tributaries of the mighty Mekong.
 
Highway 7, a well surfaced road, stretched 400km north from Phnom Penh, through Kampong Cham, to the small town of Stung Treng and from there to the border with Laos.  We overnighted there in a $3 per night guesthouse before braving the road east to Ban Lung, the regional capital of Ratanakiri Province. The road to Ban Lung was a two hundred kilometre long track of slippery cloying red mud which stuck to the wheels, eventually filling the wheel arches and bringing us to a halt.

Two storey open front shop houses on either side of its wide dirt main road gave Ban Lung the appearance of a Wild West Frontier town. In many ways it was. The dirt road continued east into Vietnam through a frontier closed to foreigners.  We were there to enjoy the scenic beauty of the region which boasts jungle clad hills, the home to cloud leopards, tigers and elephants.  It was lovely. Strolling around the crater lake gave us spectacular views. The Ban Lung locals frolicked in the pools at the base of the thundering falls, the more adventurous squeezing behind the solid curtain of water. Further a field we watched the indigenous hill tribe people heading to the market to sell jungle fruits and vegetables and village crafts.

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We could hear the distant rhythmic chanting of the monks as we walked up the long staircase toward the pagoda.  As we approached carrying cooked rice, fruit, cans of soft drink and incense sticks the chanting became more pronounced and distinct. Our friends from the Fisheries Department with their partners and families were here to begin the festival of P’Chum Ben, one of the most important Buddhist events in Cambodia.

P’Chum Ben is a time when families remember their ancestors, family loved ones who have recently departed, grandparents who were respected and loved by their extended families and the more distant founders of their families. The folk lore is that the departed may have gone either to heaven or hell. P’Chum Ben is the time that the gates of hell are opened to allow momentary respite. This is the opportunity to take food and nourishment to the Wat to provide spiritual sustenance to your loved ones should they languish in hell.

There are of course many other historical and practical aspects to P’ Chum Ben, as with all religious festivals the world over.  This is the peak of the rainy season, when the land is flooded and the monks cannot circulate around the community to beg for alms. So the people bring the food to the Wat. It is a time when the farmers are exhausted, last year’s food supplies are gone, the rice must soon be transplanted and the new crop has not yet matured. So food and nourishment is available at the Pagoda. The food delivered to the monks in the Pagoda are today distributed to the poor and needy in the communities.

Since the Pagodas in the towns and cities receive large quantities of food our colleagues and families decided to visit a more remote Wat where the food would benefit the rural poor.  So they combined their P’Chum Ben observances with a family outing to Kirrirom National Park and invited us along.

Kirrirom is a popular mountain retreat. The road winds steadily upwards leaving the rice fields and palm trees on the plain to take visitors to fragrant pine trees, clear air and cool breezes. As well as spectacular waterfalls the park offers thatched roofed shelters by mountain pools and streams where families can picnic.  It was wonderful to relax with our Fisheries colleagues and chat about families and friends and leave the pressures of work for a day.  We felt honoured to be so well accepted by our colleagues that we were invited to join them on such a personal and religious occasion.

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