Stŏeng Trêng is a Provinces of Cambodia. Stŏeng Trêng area is 11092

Introduction

Town is an important trade hub with a few hints of Lao influence scattered about, owing to the fact that the Lao border is about 50 km away. It’s a friendly, quiet country town situated near the confluence of the San River and the Mekong River. It actually sits on the banks of the San River, with the mighty Mekong coming into the picture on the northeastern outskirts of town.
The San River goes by three names, depending on which of the locals you speak to. Some call it the Kong River because the San and Kong Rivers merge together about 10 km northeast of Stung Treng town, confusing people about which name the river should bear. Others call it the Sekong River, which is the combined name of these two rivers. Whatever name the fiver beside the town goes by, it’s another one of Cambodia’s beautiful picture-postcard river towns. It’s a nice place to kick back and chill out if you are on a circuit tour of the Northeast.River Scene, from Here to Laos
The San River is fronted in Stung Treng by a nice stretch of paved road. It’s the center of socializing (as in most Cambodian river towns) in the late afternoon and early evening hours as the locals ride up and down the stretch enjoying the view and each other. Drink and dessert stands spring up earlier to serve the daily merrymaking crowd. It’s a nice spot for a walk or jog any time of the day as the river road turns into a pleasant rural road that leads to the airport 4 km north of town.
The river port area just in front of the small city park is fairly busy, handling trade between Cambodia and Laos. The ferry across the San River to where Highway 7 continues north to the Laos border is also at this pier. The fare is 300 riel per head. We went for a ride on this stretch (2,000 riel for taking a big bike on the ferry), but there is not much to see along the way besides jungle and the remnants of a road that was a target of carpet bombing during the Vietnam War years. The road works its way eastward so it does not afford views of the Mekong River as one would hope. The few residents we saw along the way were truly amazed to see the likes of us, would want to be there.

People

Stung Treng province, which covers an area of 11,092 km2, is a remote and sparsely populated province in the northeast of Cambodia. It borders Lao to the north, Ratanakiri to the east, Preah Vihear to the west and Kratie and Kompong Thom to the south. The province is divided into five district, 34 communes and 128 villages. Stung Treng is a unique province quite distinct from other Cambodian provinces in the Mekong basin. It is characterized by extensive forest cover, intersecting rivers and streams, and low population density. The population of Stung Treng constitutes just 0.7% of Cambodia's population. The population density is 7 people per square kilometer, which is nine times less than the national density. As the population is low and the province is endowed with natural resources, the in-migration rate is very high. This fact has been proven by the population census in 1998, which shows that 19.4% of the province's population has migrated from outside, of which male migrants constitute 55%. The most commonly stated reasons for in-migration were moving with family, followed by searching for livelihood. Similar with other provinces, the female population is higher than the male population. The result of the census in 1998 demonstrates that 50.5% of the population is female. In Stung Treng, about 79.4% of the population are involved in the agriculture sector. The secondary and tertiary sectors account for 2.4% and 18.2% respectively1. There are 54,488 male and 55,217 female with total 109,705

Get in

By Air

The easiest way to get here is by air. Royal Air Cambodge makes the flight three times a week and President Airlines covers two other days of the week. This gives Stung Treng five days of service per week on the Phnom Penh route. Both airlines have offices near the parkway. The airport is abandoned and left wide open, except when there is a plane coming or going. The locals use the nice asphalt runway as a cut-through to connect with the river road. It is a nice open straightaway, so join the crowd with your big bike and see if you can achieve airborne status. We tried, but the bikes were not quite up to it.

Bullet Boat to Kratie

Unfortunately, the bullet boats usually don’t journey beyond Kratie. The stretch between Kratie and Stung Treng is loaded with small islands and clumps, with a fair number of dead trees thrown in for good measure. The journey is made only when the water is very high, which doesn’t occur during a good portion of the rainy season. When the boat is running it beats taking a share taxi as, unlike the road, the river affords a smooth ride. The trip downriver to Kratie takes around 4 ½ hours and six to seven hours coming upstream from Kratie. As of May 2000, the bullet boat was running every other day at a fare of 20,000riel. If the boats are making the run, take it- it’s a pretty stretch of the river.

Share Taxi

Share taxis ply two routes from Stung Treng one to Banlung (Rattanakiri) and the other south to Kratie.
For the trip to Banlung, bring food, water and mosquito repellant because if there is a breakdown (not uncommon) on this bumpy backwoods road you may be caught in the jungle for the night. Share taxis usually go in groups in case of a breakdown, but as the other taxis are usually full as well, people do end up stranded and sleeping out in the elements at times. The five – hour trip stretches to seven hours during the rainy season.
The fare is 30,000 riel for an inside seat. From Stung Treng to Kratie, the fare is 20,000 riel. Motorcycle touring info

Banlung to Stung Treng
The 146 km journey from Banlung to Stung Treng took 5 ½ hours during the rainy season, so knock at least an hour off of that in the dry season. The road is generally lousy, passing through areas of bomb craters that create deep lakes during the rainy season, but you can skirt around the perimeter of most of them. Where you can’t, the road goes zigzagging through the jungle, which is slow and slippery in the wet months.
Having said that, there are a few decent stretches and the last 19 km (after the road merges with Highway 7) are fairly easy ones. The same suggestion we made in the share taxi part of this section applies for riders on this road. Bring food, water and mosquito repellent. If you have a breakdown, there may not be anyone else coming by, depending on the time of day. It’s always best to get an early start to improve your chances if you do have a problem.
Stung Treng to Kratie
The road goes from asphalt to shredded tarmac to dirt. There are scattered bomb craters, but the road is not nearly as bad as some. The trip is 142 km and took four hours during the rainy season. As fat as security, see the word of caution under Share Taxi, above.

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