Place
Kampong Speu
កំពង់ស្ពឺ
Kampong Speu (កំពង់ស្ពឺ)[1] is a province in Cambodia's plateau and mountain region.[2] It is known for its palm sugar and for Kirirom National Park.[3][4]
Geography
Kampong Speu borders Pursat (ពោធិ៍សាត់) province.[1] It covers 7,017 square kilometers (2,709 square miles).[2]
Kirirom National Park
Kirirom National Park, also called Preah Suramrit Kosamak Kirirom National Park, is in Phnom Sruoch district.[5] The park is 112 kilometers (70 miles) from Phnom Penh, beside the highway to Sihanoukville, on the eastern edge of the Cardamom Mountains.[6] The Water and Forestry Department created the park in 1940, covering 4,401 hectares on a plateau 300 to 1,000 meters (1,000 to 3,300 feet) above sea level. Norodom Sihanouk first went there by elephant in 1944. He named it Kirirom Plateau and had a holiday house built for himself, and roads and bridges followed to bring visitors.[6]
In the 1950s homes for middle-class public servants were built in the park's pine forest, with a hospital, water and sewers. The town was called Tioulongville, after the official and diplomat Nhiek Tioulong. Its houses were abandoned in the 1970s, when the country was at war. In 2016 the photographer Kim Hak showed a series of photographs of the ruins in Phnom Penh. He found that people nearby would not build on them, believing spirits lived there.[7]
The park is a favorite weekend trip for people from Phnom Penh, above all at Khmer New Year. A road climbs the mountain past pine forest, a waterfall and a lake.[4]
Palm sugar
In a letter of April 2, 2019, the European Commission announced that Kampong Speu palm sugar would hold protected geographical indication status. It was the second Cambodian product to get the status, after Kampot pepper in 2016. Cambodia had applied in 2017. A Swiss sugar company opposed the application, arguing that the product's description did not meet the European Union definition.[3][8]
Sam Saroeun founded the Kampong Speu Palm Sugar Promotion Association in 2008. It inspects the sugar and issues the certificates needed to export it. Its farmers work in Oudong Me Chey town and Samrong Tong and Samaki Monichey districts, and in Ang Snuol district of neighboring Kandal province. The trees must grow in sandy soil over red gravel, and the juice must be boiled within 15 hours of collection. The season runs from December to the end of May. The sugar is sold abroad, to France, the United Kingdom, the United States, China, India and South Korea among others.[9]
Population
The 2019 provisional census counted 872,219 people in Kampong Speu, up from 716,944 in 2008.[2]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Koh Santepheap, The origin, location and name of Pursat province (July 5, 2020; in Khmer)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 National Institute of Statistics, Provisional Population Census 2019 (2019)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Cambodia Daily, Kampong Speu palm sugar given GI status by EU (April 9, 2019), from VOA
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Cambodia Daily, Siv Channa, Kirirom National Park (June 23, 2017)
- ↑ The Phnom Penh Post, Kirirom Park reforestation growing roots (undated)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 The Phnom Penh Post, A forest with concrete appeal (undated)
- ↑ The Cambodia Daily, Michelle Vachon, Abandoned Forest Town Reflects Beauty of 'Golden Past' (October 13, 2016)
- ↑ VOA Khmer, Kampong Speu palm sugar given GI status by EU (April 2019)
- ↑ The Phnom Penh Post, Kampong Speu palm sugar: A sweet success story (undated)