The Kampong Cham retreat blending bamboo and Buddhism
An eco-tourism project in a remote area near the provincial capital is incorporating unusual style, sustainable design and an opportunity for tourists to connect with the country’s Buddhist traditions. With the midday sun beating down, Vandong Thorn walks towards the edge of a plateau. To his left, a work crew is putting grout into the beams of an unusual building, made almost entirely from bamboo, whose flowing curves resemble a seashell. Before him, the Mekong River sprawls northwards. “You see all the Cambodian pictures here,” Thorn says, admiring the view. “You see the rice fields, you see the ponds, the river, the village and traditional houses. It’s merging all of it together here.” The co-founder and director of the NGO Buddhism for Social Development Action, Thorn found this site, perched on top of a mountain just over 20 kilometres from Kampong Cham city, in 2015.
