Asian Gem

A remote village in north-eastern Cambodia is attracting visitors with its gems. Kate Crockett prepares to be dazzled.

The journey to Chom Rom Bysrok, the place where three districts meet, in north-eastern Cambodia is slow and painful as our four-wheel-drive navigates the 20 miles of cratered road, through rubber plantations, from Ban Lung, the capital of Ratanikiri province.
From the back of the pick-up, we edge slowly on through the plantations, as local women bleed the rubber trees, collecting the precious white liquid that oozes out. They sell it on for the equivalent of just 10 US cents per litre to a local factory where it is turned into rubber and shipped to nearby Vietnam.

A few miles on we emerge from the shadowy plantations into open farmland where the farmers are harvesting and drying peanuts. These raw materials too are destined for foreign shores. Beyond the farms is the village of Chom Rom Bysrok, with its scores of shanty homes children running around, market traders, a new local school and a picturesque waterfall and river at its furthest reach. The settlement is truly in the middle of nowhere. But here, a community has sprung up in the last 10 years, around its most precious local commodity — gems. Most of the 4,000 Chinese, Vietnamese, Laotian and Cambodian people who live here are gem miners. The soil here is rich in emeralds and zircon.

Today we watch as a group of men stand in a tight circle, clothes stained head-to-toe in rich red dust, looking-on anxiously as the gem dealer from Ban Lung expertly sifts through their basket of stones — the afternoon’s hard-earned bounty. Would it be their lucky day? If so, the dealer might hand them anything from US$2 to as much as US$20 for a gem of the highest quality. As it happens, the dealer separates half a dozen stones and discards the remaining basketful. He offers the diggers a few dollars. It’s an average day. But the gem miners — the old, the very young, male and female — will be back at sunrise to resume digging.

Gem mining in Cambodia isn‚t quite what the visitor might expect to see — there are no big businesses and big machines in here — this is low-tech. In Chom Rom Bysrok it’s simply a case of choosing a plot of land that takes your fancy and digging. At the top of one shaft, we meet a guy bringing earth to the surface on a bucket as his friend below hacks away at the bottom. At the surface, the soil is added to a heap which will later be poured into troughs of water to make it easier to separate the gems. At the hole next door, a mother is sieving gems from the trough with a latticework basket as her family, including a young son, continue to haul up the earth.

Their latest 8-metre hole has been dug in a matter of days.
Everyone in our group is fascinated. None of the visitors have ever seen a gem pulled straight from the ground. The lady with the sieve hands us some stones she has just retrieved from the pool. They are opaque, earthy-brown stones. She then proudly presents her hand, adorned with a beautiful gold ring in-laid with two brilliant blue stones. It’s the same stone. Apparently, the earthy-brown zircon we’ve just seen will become this brilliant blue once it has been fired. Some of the group hand over a few dollars for a clutch of the tiny brown stones straight from the ground — the perfect memento of this unique place.

We leave the group and wander on around the holes that litter the land behind the town’s main street. It’s a pretty precarious business. Kids fall into unfilled holes and mines collapse, but, of course, the digging goes on. However, Chom Rom Bysrok is not a gloomy place. The beaming faces and shouts of “hello, bye-bye” from the throngs of kids that line the streets remind you that this tough place is not all that different from any other
in the friendly kingdom of Cambodia. You’re welcomed with open arms whoever you are — and you’ll leave with the fondest of memories.

Getting there and away
There is a direct flight from Phnom Penh to Ban Lung, Ratanikiri, once a week (depending on demand). Chom Rom Bysrok can be visited by four-wheel-drive during the dry season.

Cambodia’s other must-sees

The temples of Angkor:
The 90 or so Khmer temple ruins close to the city of Siam Reap are Cambodia’s premier attraction. Sunrise at the most famous site, Angkor Wat, is something not to be missed. Other highlights include the atmospheric jungle temples of Preah Khan and Ta Phrom, one of the locations for the film Tomb Raider.
Phnom Penh
Cambodia’s edgy, bustling capital is the place to wind away a few days, visiting the magnificent National Museum, home to some of the treasures recovered at Angkor, and also the serene grounds of the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda. For a touch more realism, head down to the local markets for the true mercantile taste of the Capital.
Tuol Sleng and the Killing Fields
Sadly, a trip to Cambodia would not be complete without a glimpse into the horror of the country’s recent history. S-21, the high school which was turned into the Khmer Rouge's premier torture centre, makes for a chilling visit, with it’s thousands of images of inmates who were later murdered. The nearby Killing Fields of Choeung Ek, where 17,000 people were killed, is a similarly horrifying experience.

Text & Photos: Kate Crockett