A Long Unforgettable Journey To Prey Lang
Day I : Departure Time
Tit, Tit, Tit… the sound of our car is ringing and telling us that we’re going to leave to Prey Lang
now. I’m so excited and passionate to see great trees and various species especially to see the situation
of illegal logging and deforestation in Prey Lang soon. Everyone got to know each other enthusiastically.
Of course, it just took us a few minutes to know one another since we have the same interest of loving
nature and want to protect it. We never
forget taking a selfie !!! Ohhh…some
participants had already slept without
knowing we’re taking selfie! Look, everyone
seems hungry now and yeah, we had
breakfast at Skun and lunch at Kampong
Thom. Now we’re full and it’s time to
continue our long journey. Ohh…we had to
buy some food for the three days at Kampong
Thom market too. I went to buy too because I
want to see people lives there and so on. A
few hours later we’re a little bit shock
knowing that one of our cars if broken. Oh My Buddha! Please bless us! We had a solution by adding
those on the broken car to our existing cars. Actually, it’s a bit crowded now but it’s not bad at all since
we brought some singers along with us! We sang and sang and sang happily and hopefully especially the
songs about Prey Lang, this makes me feels very delighted and passionate more! We arrive, we arrive,
someone screamed out loud! No we not arrive yet, another followed. In fact, it took us almost a full day
to reach our home-stayed site.
Day II III IV : Get into the Forest
Get up, get up!!!
Good morning to the new day of going into the forest. We had breakfast and
packed some food for the 3 days and 2 nights in Prey Lang. How did we get into the forest? Actually, we
got there by Kor Yun. It’s a new experience of riding it for most of the participant including me. We
jumped up and down; up and down…what’s wrong?
Nothing wrong! we just jumped up and down because
we can’t control our whole weight of riding Kor Yun
when it reached the hills. I laughed scarily thinking about
safety while feeling that it’s such a great adventure.
Along the way, we saw that green is everywhere
there. They’re tall but slim trees, many trees that we
never see before. Our villagers told us the trees’ names
and their uses accordingly with smile on their faces. We
heard the great voice of some birds singing, it seems like
they all welcome us to Prey Lang. How about
the big and big trees? We saw only the base
of the big trees. It’s actually a tragedy for
that. It would be very great if those big trees
still exist! It would be beautiful and peaceful
if those big trees still stand in front of us! We
felt very disappointed with that especially
seeing the best tree types of our Prey Lang
such as Beng, Neang Noun…left only their
base. Where are their leaves and whole
bodies? Who did this ugly thing? Some dirty
guys did this, they deserve the bad deed
some days. And one of our purpose is to see
this and find the solution to protect our Prey
Lang too.
Our days in Prey Lang were full of joy
in challenging a new life in the forest, full of
sorrow in seeing our thousand-year-old trees were cut, full of memory in doing all actions with all
participants…We won’t stop here, We won’t just go and see by doing nothing. We won’t let those dirty
guys do whatever they want. We won’t let Prey Lang be alone and cry. We won’t leave the villagers
there hopelessly especially Prey Lang Protectors! We’ll spread this news to the world, we’ll get their
attention on Prey Lang, we’ll be there when Prey Lang needs us! So how? There’s only unification,
there’s only love, there’s only commitment, there’s only passion can help us.
Together we love and protect Prey Lang!
Written by: Ms. Thun Sophorn