STUNG TRENG PROVINCE OVERVIEW |
| Geography |
Demographics |
Telephone |
Capital: Stung Treng
Location: Eastern
Area: 11,092 km2
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Population: 81,074
Density: 7.3 /km2
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Calling code |
| Town and Districts |
| Sesan , Siem Bouk , Siem Pang , Stung Treng ,Thala Barivat |
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| General Information
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Stung Treng is a northern province of Cambodia. Formerly called Xieng Teng, it was a part of Khmer Empire, then the Lao kingdom of Lan Xang and later the Lao kingdom of Champassack. It was ceded to Cambodia again during the period of French Indochina.
The province of Stung Treng covering an area of 11,092 km2, is sparsely populated area. 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% respectively.
This remote province looks set to become a major commercial crossroads for trade between Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. Currently, it is a forgotten place, but once the roads south are finished, it will once again be plugged intot the rest of the country. Much of Stung Treng's traffic travels by water, as several major rivers transverse the province, including Tonle Kong, Tonle San, Tonle Srepok and of course the Mekong. However, the roads are improving and NH78 east of Ratanakiri is now in very reasonable shape.
The number of visitor attractions are extremely limited for now, but as tourism takes off elsewhere in Cambodia, it is possible that boat trips up the Mekong's tributaries will be a different way to see some remote areas. The population of Stung Treng includes several minority groups and the western chunk of massive Virachey National Park, accessible from Siem Pang .
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STUNG TRENG PROVINCE PEOPLE |
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GETTING IN - OUT
STUNG TRENG PROVINCE |
* Plane: The 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.
* Taxi: The share taxis ply two routes from Stung Treng one to Banlung (Rattanakiri) and the other south to Kratie.
* The route Banlung to Stung Treng: The journey of 146 km 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.
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.
* The route Stung Treng to Kratie: This line 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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GETTING AROUND
STUNG TRENG PROVINCE |
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STUNG TRENG PROVINCE RESOURCES |
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TRAVEL TIPS |
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There are no banks in Stung Treng, but US dollars are happily accepted everywhere. For telephone services, try the mobile-phone kiosks sprinkled around the market. Believe it or not, there is now internet access in Stung Treng at the Sekong Internet Center but at the crippling price of 1500r a minute. Tourist information is available at the tourist office in the government compound located in the south of town. It is a mini city of portacabins and in and among it all is Mom Rotha, the provincial director of tourism, who speaks some English. |
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STUNG TRENG PROVINCE ECONOMY |
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