Adventures in Pursat

I spent 3-4 days (left on the fourth day) and 3 nights in Pursat, a small village between Penom Penh and Siem Reap. Following the wedding, we took a road trip (on that 4rth day) and spent 2 nights in Siem Reap, a larger village/small city. There, we went to the Ankor/Bangor region and saw the temples. The area where we stayed was cheaper than the 5 star hotel strips, rustic, but still slightly touristy.

Come to think of it, a lot of my time there was spent in a damn car. After the 24+ hour plane trip, we had a 3 hour car ride ahead of us to Pursat. Then, we had a 4-5 hour car ride to Siem Reap, except our car had to be repaired along the way, so add another 3 hours. SERIOUSLY. Then, it was a 5-6 hour car ride back to Penom Penh, which took much longer than that.

So, I really appreciated it when we got off the car, that first day, and the first thing they do is to take us to cut down a banana tree. We sat in the back of the pick up and drove through the village. It was kind of fun. Then, when we cut down the banana tree, we sat on the sides of the back, which was an exciting ride. I mean, people pile on and ride these things in huge groups, so we were doing it like the locals, you know? I guess no seat belts required.

Yes, we needed a load of coconuts and like two whole banana trees for the wedding. At the time, I was thinking, “that’s not how we harvest bananas in Farmville,” but apparently banana trees only bear fruits once. (Apparently banana trees aren’t really a tree, and once the stalk bears fruit, it dies. You can cut it down and a new one will grow through the root/stalk.) I was looking forward to having some bananas. Little did I know that they were going to spray paint the whole thing silver and decorate the front of the tent in an arch of the banana trees. Like, you would think they would just get fake trees if you wanted to spray paint them silver. I don’t get it.

Anyway, her relatives there mumbled something about going to cut down banana trees to be a tradition or good luck or something and sent us on our way. With one other local and someone’s aunt/grandmother to guide us, us white people went to cut down a banana tree. No joke! It required couple of poles, pushing the trunk/stalk down and hacking at it. This was all in someone else’s backyard. I think we cut a stalk of coconuts, also, where the local kid just jumped up on a coconut tree and climbed up barefoot, cut some down, and climbed and jumped back down. Just like that. They gave me a coconut to drink and it was quite delicious. Unfortunately, these coconuts suffered the same spray painted fate as the bananas. (I guess we can still drink from them, right? Still, I never found out what happened to them after the ceremony and reveling. They really like spray painting fruits, though. They spray painted some limes, too.