Tuesday, March 13, 2012

History of Toeuk La Ork village, Chi Phat Eco Tourism site, Tmar Bang district, Koh Kong province


(Written by Ty Theavy)

During the war time between Thailand and Cambodia in 1593, Siamese armies overcame the Cambodian population and gathered the survivors together in this village. They made them slaves and forced them to speak Thai; if didn’t do so they were killed. The place where this happened to the Khmer villagers was at a plateau village called Siem Krom, but long after the Siamese left this village’s name was changed because the people hated its past. The name was changed to Toeuk La Ork. This refers to heavy rainfall which makes the water in the ponds of this village murky. Now this village draws only 65 families and they make a living from of a small patch of land, growing food and fishing. In the Pol Pot regime the people here were evacuated to another village in Butom Sakor district. Majority of the citizens were brought to be killed in the elephant field nearby. You can visit this village by boat in only 30 minutes from Chi Phat. Now some part of the village’s land has been taken for sugar cane farming.

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