Pailin
Krŏng Paĭlin is a Provinces of Cambodia. Krŏng Paĭlin area is 803 including, 2 districts, 8 communes, 79 villages.
Introduction
Like Poipet, this former capital of the Khmer Rouge is now a boomtown attracting Cambodians from around the country seeking to make their fortune, or at least a better salary than back home. Pailin was the major revenue producer for the Khmer Rouge guerillas, being a major gem producing area as well as a prime logging area.
While gem production seems to have tapered off a bit, other business opportunities and the lifestyle have attracted prospectors to the town. Up until the surrender deal of Khmer Rouge’s number three men, Ieng Sary, in 1996, the townsfolk lived under the strict rules of the KR hierarchy, with little freedom of expression and most aspects of life being completely controlled by the paranoid regime.
Abound here, another of Cambodia’s Wild West towns. And like the gold-rush days of Califirnia, people seem to be everywhere in the hills sifting through mud puddles and scratching at the dirt, looking to strike it rich with the find of a nice gem. Still, there is more control of some aspects of life than in other areas of Cambodia.
But this seems to have attracted people rather than kept them away. I talked to several people who had moved to pailin from Phnom Penh and gave this as the main reason they made the move. They liked the idea that criminals did not enjoy the same impunity that they seem to enjoy in Phnom Penh. The influx of residents from other parts of the country has produced a friendlier Pailin.
Nowadays the mixed lot of Pailin residents seem happy to see foreigners coming in to holiday and check the place out, realizing that their presence means that normalcy and revenue are arriving in Pailin.
Even the Vietnamese residents seem to have been accepted, which is truly amazing given the hatred the Khmer Rouge have generally shown them. Pailin is worth checking out. The town is nestled in a beautiful valley with picture sunsets over the mountains that separate Cambodia and Thailand close by. Wat Gohng-Kahng This features the much-photographed landmark gate of Pailin town that you face as you arrive on the highway from Battambang. This wat is the center of holiday festivities these days in Pailin and was the scene of the official Pailin reintegration ceremony in 1996, after the Ieng Sary faction of the Khmer Rouge worked out surrender and semi-autonomy deals with the Cambodian government.
People
There are 19,059 of male population and 16,175 female with total 35,234, 25-02-2007.
Get in
The Cambodia-Thailand border crossing just west of Pailin town is reportedly opening for foreigners as of May 2000. It’s supposed to be a full-service crossing issuing tourist and business visas. Crossings however, this one is unconfirmed at the time of this writing.
by Share Taxi
Pailin to Battambang 150 baht (50 baht in the pickup truck bed)
Pailin to Battambang:
The Pailin-Battambang road is fairly lousy, but much better than it was a couple of years ago, with many new bridges. The scenery along the highway heading to Pailin from Battambang is nice and there are a couple of interesting. Security is not a problem.
Phnom Sampeu, the mountaintop temple, has memorials set up with skulls and bones of Khmer Rouge victims. It’s located 15 km from Battambang on the Pailin road.
Pailin to Koh Kong
It’s now possible to make a journey from Pailin to Koh Kong through the scenic Cardamom Mountains of Pursat and Koh Kong provinces. This route takes in areas that are considered to be the most pristine and untouched in all of Southeast Asia.