Lights Out at 8pm: This is Pursat!
For the first two years that I lived in Cambodia I was often asked if I had been to Angkor Wat, Sihanoukville, Kampot, Kep, any of the provinces that begin with ‘Kampong’, or end with ‘… kiri’. I was always embarrassed to reply with the polite, “No, not yet.” ‘Yet’ being the operative word here, suggesting that all these destinations were indeed on my itinerary, but I just hadn’t been there … yet. The truth was, after two years in Phnom Penh, I still hadn’t ventured outside of the city… er, yet.
But in June last year I was offered an opportunity up-country in the provinces that I jumped at immediately. I’d never even heard of Pursat Province, so I can’t say that it was at the top of my ‘must see’ list, but the fact that I was offered a job seemed the perfect solution to end my unemployment status.
And receiving a regular salary would remedy my failing attempt to live in my self-imposed, one-man cashless society. The offer came to me by email and I responded that I would be there in 24 hours. I knew absolutely nothing about Pursat Province – least of all, where in the Kingdom of Cambodia it might be located. I consulted my (actually somebody else’s) copy of Looney Planet for Cambodia and I learned that my soon-to-be new home was located on National Highway Number 5, about 188 kilometers north east of Phnom Penh on the way to Battambang, which was just 105 kilometers up the same highway.
The job, I was assured, was with a brilliant company known as ACD – Australian Centres for Development -and the was straight forward and well organized. I would be very pleased with my employers and colleagues and, best of all, the students were sincere and hard-working. In my first week on the job I was very pleased to learn for myself that these promises were true.
I’d landed a great job! As I understand the story, this is how ACD evolved. I believe there are six ACDs still operating, in scattered locations around the provinces of Cambodia. Between 1990 and 1993 the Australian Centres for Education (the highly reputable Australian Centres for Education) sprung up everywhere throughout the country. Their aim was to sharpen the communication skills of the International and Local NGOs, Government Ministry’s, Cambodian Military and Police as well as all the civilians throughout the country that would be working on the immense task of organizing and carrying out the first democratic election in Cambodia in 30 years.
In addition to all these Cambodians involved with the election, there were also 20,000 UN Peacekeeping forces – from all over the world – settled into the country for the duration. Their mission was to oversee and assist throughout the election process at the same time that they maintained International Human Rights Covenants.
These people too would need language training from ACE, as English was to be the Lingua-franca for the entire election process. In 1993 when the election came to a close, ACE retreated to Phnom Penh where it focused on its mission: to prepare Cambodian students for post-graduate studies abroad – ideally, in Australia.
ACE closed outright many of its provincial institutes and sold others to private barangs and Cambodians. The centres that continued to operate under new ownership provided a great service to the NGO workers and government ministries employees. ACD’s new curriculum was more work oriented and practical than academic (as in ACE). Students in the centres for development knew exactly why they were continuing to study – many were reporting to and regularly communicating in English with their colleagues, counterparts and superiors in foreign countries. Improved communication skills meant increased salary and promotions. Students who know what is motivating them to learn a language certainly find more success and rewards for their efforts.
In retrospect, I must say that never once did I have to consider classroom management or student discipline for any of my classed. Everyone was always with me, paying attention throughout the instruction and actively working on the in-class assignments. In Pursat my students came to class to learn English and improve their skills. Of course this increased the expectations on me to produce, but it was a motivating challenge that I was happy to welcome and respond productively to.
In short, it was a great pleasure. And Pursat Province proved to be a delightful place to live too. While Phnom Penh has streets that number up into the five and six hundreds, Pursat has streets that number up to five! That’s right: Street 1, Street 2, Street 3, Street 4 and Street 5. I think there are six streets that intersect these numbered streets, forming the grid-pattern layout of the town by intersecting the numbered streets perpendicularly. (I’ll never use that word again.)
The ACD facilities were located on Street 1 which runs parallel to the mighty Pursat River. On the river side of the street there are no buildings. Fountains, big old trees, lots of park benches and grassy areas with flower beds make that side of the road people-friendly.
It’s airy, fresh and always cool. Pursat still has much of its original French colonial architecture and there are many villas – all in excellent condition. The rents are unbelievably inexpensive. But unless had one of the limited number of jobs or was considering retirement, why would anyone want to live there? It’s a sleepy town and except for a couple of noodle stands and baguette wagons at the market and a few hotel restaurants just about every other structure or dwelling place has their lights out by 8 p.m. It’s easy to find creature comforts like cheese and pate de fois.
There are good wines and splendid coffee imported from Vietnam or Laos are abundant. There was said to be 5 barangs living in Pursat when I was there, but I’d never met all of them and rarely saw those that I did know. So I went to bed early. I read a lot. I ate well and even managed to gain weight during my stay there. And yes, I was often bored out of my skull. Pursat does not have any kind of entertainment that would be of interest to an old Martini’s veteran such as myself. So my trips to the big city were only possible during the two week break between terms which lasted for ten weeks. Then I made up for lost time! Pursat is Cambodia’s fourth largest province in size, but the population is only 57,000 people. The area stretches from the Thai border to the shores of the Tonle Sap Lake. The Cardomom Mountains run through the province and this area is blessed with many pristine waterfalls. In the years to come, Pursat could well be one of the leading destinations for eco-tourism expeditions.
I’m glad I finally got out of Phnom Penh. Well, I‘d go back in a heartbeat. Don’t you feel like going? So now, apart from Pursat and Battambang, I still haven’t been anywhere else in the country … yet.
Terry Avon
