The journey took eight hours by a minibsem from Mondulkiri to Takéo. Major roads in Cambodia are quite decent, but unfortunately crowded, which makes it impossible to drive quickly enough to cover long distances.
This year, the rainy season stayed on longer, and therefore, we arrived in a great monsoon downpour, of course after dark. Undeterred, we went to a nearby, very local market, where we got aour takaways and accepted Pawel’s invitation to his Khmer home.
We needed a "warm-up" so much, so got help from Khmer whiskey.
I must admit that the choice of local spirits is admirable, and the most expensive whiskey costs USD 4 per 0.7 litre. The taste is according to the price.
At that time, Paul had guests at home - his friends – a Polish-Khmer family with little Alexander.
We are in Takéo, which translates as "Crystal Grandfather." We are in the south-west part of the country. Takéo borders the provinces of Kampot in the west, Kampong Speu in the north-west and Kandal in the north and east. The southern border of the province is an International border with Vietnam. The capital province, city Doun Kaev (formerly and still known as Takéo) and is a small town with approx. 40 thousands inhabitants.
Takéo is often referred to as the "cradle of the Khmer civilization" because of the former kingdom of Funan functioning here.
Paweł - the organizer of our stay and provider of all the attractions in Cambodia – Has been living here in Takeo for several years and knows the place, its surroundings and the local people.
With great passion and dedication he is involved in tourism and in a completely unique, emotional way he shows us the country, talks about his great and tragic history and facilitates to undestand the mentality of the Asians.
We have never had such a fantastic tour pilot / guide. Thanks to him we can visit places and meet people whom other tourists do not usually have access to.
Personally Paweł takes great interest in spiritual life of the animists.
Before moving into tourism he had been helping residents in nearby village of Angor Borei to create an English school for the poorest. The cost of training of a child is $ 6 per month and many families cannot afford it. Paweł had launched a system of "educational adoption", which costs $ 120 for the full year for free education of a child. The sponsor gets the type of contract with a photo of the child and the feedback information several times a year of the progress. The sponsor is required to communicate with a child online through the school Internet. For now, the school has two (!) of those. Quite old computers. As far as we are concerned, we will try to provide additional school equipment soon.
To support the school, Paweł hired a school minibus, which has been taking us (8 pax) around for three days.. With the school headmaster as the driver!
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