With its long white sand beach and wooden bridge leading to a straw
hut above the water, Ta Barang (translated as French grandpa) is a
private beach that has experienced almost overnight success after
thousands of Facebook users shared photos of it.
Stepping down from a dark green Jeep, 68-year-old Puth Chantaravuth
sports a white beard, dirty T-shirt and pants. He is walking around
collecting litter in the beach’s parking lot.
“I used to live in France from the age of 22, so when I came back
here people called me bong barang [French brother], pu barang [French
uncle], oum barang [French older uncle] and now ta barang,” the owner of
the resort says.
Ta Barang is located in Keo Phos commune’s Rithy II village in 1ha of land that Chantaravuth bought more than two decades ago.
The Cambodian-Frenchman, who formerly worked for Royal Air Cambodge
before it closed in 2001, tells The Post: “In 1997 I bought this land to
build my own house to live with my wife because I love the sea air.
I’ve developed it step-by-step and it suddenly became a hit on Facebook
recently. Before, there were a few visitors who came here, but it was
not famous.”
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Chantaravuth says that during Khmer New Year the beach welcomed far more visitors than it ever has done before.
“In the Khmer New Year holiday, there were so many people who came
in. I can’t estimate the exact number but at least 500 people. It was a
lot,” he says.
Chantaravuth explains that his resort recently found fame after a chance encounter with a motorbike group.
“What has brought fame to this beach is a motorbike group who were
visiting from Prei Nub. They came here, interviewed me and posted it on
Facebook. They said the water is good, the beach colour is white and
their kids can play around,” he says.
Chantaravuth has built six huts along the beach for guests to stay
in, as well as a long wooden pier leading to a hut sitting on stilts in
the ocean that is also available to rent.
But with the number of visitors now outstripping the facilities
available, Chantaravuth says this success may have come too late as he
now feels too old to expand the resort.
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“I can’t do it. Some people ask me to build more relaxing spaces, but
I don’t want to. I am old, this is enough for me. I developed in the
past because I love my customers and it’s my honour that I can host them
today. But now I am so exhausted; I do not want to expand and build ten
or 20 story buildings,” he says.
“If you had come when I bought this land, you would see it was just
forest land that had no road and very few people. Locals only came to go
fishing.”
Local tastes
Chantaravuth says the food at his resort largely caters to local tastes.
“We serve local food, like restaurants in Phnom Penh and Prek Leap
do. We don’t make international food, here we have roasted chicken, sour
chicken soup, stirred fried squid, grilled squid, sour squid soup, crab
and prawns.”
However, the Cambodian-Frenchman says that with the dramatically
increasing number of visitors at Ta Barang, he takes his responsibility
to protect the local environment seriously, asking visitors to be
considerate of this.
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“I suggest people help keep the environment clean, but some of them
do not follow my request. Some people leave litter on the ground, so I
collect it and burn it. I won’t allow the garbage to disturb the beach
because I love it so much.”
The pensioner says that now he has returned to his homeland and bought this land, he isn’t going anywhere.
“I will never leave this home. I love it so much. I do not want to leave the country for France again.”
Ta Barang has six huts for rent at 30,000 riel per night and two
bungalows at $60 per night each. The resort is located in Steung Hav
district’s Rithy II village, Preah Sihanouk province.
Source - PhnomPhenPost
