What is Bat Deng?

Bat Deng is the village of Ma's side of the family, where Uncle Leang and the Ung children's other relatives live. It is the village where Loung, Chou, Kim, Meng, and Khouy go after reuniting in Pursat City, because they know that those relatives are the last remaining members of their family and their village is a kind of beacon calling to them. Though the book does not dwell too heavily on the events which transpire in the village while the siblings stay with their relatives, the author does explain in "Epilogue" that after her immigration to America with Meng and his wife, Chou and the others remain in Bat Deng and have many children, leading to a great many Ung offspring growing up in that village and keeping the family name alive in Cambodia. It is a very bittersweet place to Loung, just as Phnom Penh is.