Prey Veng (Khmer: "grand forest" or "long forest") is a sleepy province of Cambodia. The capital is Prey Veng town. This densely populated agricultural region is located on the east bank of the Mekong. The name literally means "long forest" in khmer, but the last great forests have gradually disappeared there over 30 years to provide for agricultural land. Also rubber played once a big economical role in this province, but since the war took over the country the plantations are no longer commercially viable. Prey Veng is a quiet Cambodian province, that just happen to have one of the countries busiest highways running straight through it-National Highway No 1, which links Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.
There are little places of significance to see nowadays, but during the pre-Angkorian times it must have been one of the most populated and lively areas of the country. One of the earliest pre-Angkorian kingdoms was located in the area around Ba Phnom.
The sleepy provincial capital is also named Prey Veng and situates on the National Highway No 11, recently rebuild as a road link between National Road No 11 and No 7, or Neak Luong and Kompong Cham. There aren't a lot of travellers making their way to that small town.
So, if you would like to escape from your fellow travellers that's an opportunity, especially on the way to Kampong Cham. It's also a stop worth on the way to or from Vietnam. The town itself hosts a few decaying colonial buildings, showing that this was once a lively and important centre. There is a huge lake on the west edge of the town, which evaporates from March till August and local farmers cultivate their rice on the fertile ground.
The province boasts of silt deposited in each flood of the that make the region conducive to agriculture and fishing. It is part of what is called the "great green belt" of Cambodia.
The main crop of rice and has the largest area devoted to rice in the country, contributing about 10% in the national crop and is among those that emerge each year the largest surplus. Tobacco, mung beans, cane sugar, palm sugar, cassava, sesame and fruits such as coconuts, mangoes and cashews or grown in Prey Veng. Rubber trees have played an important economic role in the past, but the plantations were abandoned during the wars that bloodied the country decades ago.
However, despite its agricultural base, it is one of the less wealthy areas of Cambodia. The rate of people living below the poverty line is around 53%, 36% below the national average. In addition, its net migration is negative, indicating that the a number of people from their homelands are moving away to find other means of subsistence.
Minibuses/Bus/Share Taxis:
There is lot's of minibuses going almost everytime of the day from Phnom Penh to Prey Veng (6000Riel). Most of them leave near the central market (Southwest corner), where you can also find lots of usual buses heading to Vietnam or Svay Rieng Province (they have to pass Prey Veng).
Going with a share taxi won't cost you so much time to reach, but a little more money (8000-10000Riel, 2 hours). If you would like to go to Kampong Cham, there are also minibuses leaving from the centre of Prey Veng city for a 1 1/2 hour ride costing 4000-6000Riels.
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