Cambodia; Khmer New Year Holiday; Part 2

We went Phnom Penh, via Kampong Cham, Katie, Stung Treng and Ratanakiri is up near the Lao and Vietnam border...phew, was a long journey

RATANAKIRI TRIP (April 14th-18th)

It was a bad night for me as I was really sick in my stomach and as I was stumbling out of the bathroom at 5.30 am about to get ready for the trip, my roommate asked me if I was in any state to travel at all. She gave me some medicines and we were off. The pills worked like a miracle and although I didn't eat at all until we got there (13 hours later), I felt much better at the end of the day and remained well throughout the trip. Our bus was very uncomfortable, a big orange one with terrible seats and no leg room. We thought we had seen the worst part of the trip that lay ahead of us but noooo. They started putting Cambodians in the aisle too! They were sitting (without too much trouble) on small plastic chairs with their luggage and stuff. It was CROWDED and a major hazard. We crossed several of Cambodia's provinces, and I was thinking that in the time we crossed half the country, I could have flown back to Paris!!!! After about 5 stops on the road we thought we were reaching our destination.

Some wooden shacks seen from the bus

Sure enough we were about one hour from Banlung, however our magnificent bus decided to make a fuss and get a flat tire!

Our beautiful orange bus breaks down...

So after 45 minutes of tire-changing we continued for the longest hour I can remember. The roads were really bad, bumpy, dusty and a lot of detours due to road work. A good number of sketchy looking bridges were also strewn on our path, and I kept praying every time there was one ahead: Please make this bridge solid enough to let us pass...

Arriving in Banlung was a great relief, however the next stress on the menu was finding a guesthouse and planning our days. Unfortunately for us, nearly all of Cambodia wanted to be in Ratanakiri Province during Khmer New Year and there were no more rooms in any of the guesthouses we were set on trying...Sophann, the guy who told us this was a moto driver and took me to two guesthouses with rooms so I could check them out, while the girls waited at the bus stop...I had to move fast. I settled on the second guesthouse room, it was bigger and the same price as previous...Same Same, but different as Cambodians would say. The room we had was quite dirty and by the time Margaux and Emily arrived I had already become acquainted with Mr. Spider in the corner of our "airy" bathroom. It's OK, I got used to him and we remained on good terms until the end because he stayed in his corner. When I say "airy" bathroom, I mean, it had walls...that were not touching the ceiling. There was a good meter from the top of the bathroom wall to the ceiling, and so this being said, by the end of the trip, we each knew who had stomach problems and who didn't.

Our guesthouse, Mean Lip Guesthouse...that was the name

Sophan picked us up after we got refreshed and brought us to Star, a guesthouse but also a restaurant and as it turned out he was a guide too! Woohoo, given that most tourism places were closed, that we had no idea how to get around town yet and that we were eager to start our adventure, we set up a program with him. First day to see the waterfalls, the volcanic lake, the gem mining and the elephant trek. Second day the jungle trek and third day we left open. As both Emily and I had just got our food and Margaux's was being cooked, there was a power cut. Poor Margaux was starving and did not get her food until the lights came back on. It lasted only 10 minutes but that might seem like eternity when one is famished.

The next day we were up and going early and had 3 motos waiting for us and a fourth member in our excursion, an Israeli guy. The moto ride was uncomfortable but not too long. We went through rubber tree plantations, cashew nut farms, and really dusty and bumpy roads.
Arriving at the elephant trek we all looked a bit orange because of all the dust. We were in pairs to ride the elephants and started off into the jungle, or at least what was left of it. It was amazing to see just how much is being taken away, cut and burnt for agricultural purposes.

No more trees

Margaux and the Israeli guy on their elephant

The elephant looks like it's smiling :)

The elephant we had was hungry and thirsty, so he took us on an eating spree through the trees which he almost managed to kill us with. I felt bad for him because he looked tired and fed up with taking orders and directions. I realized that they do it everyday, several times a day, it has to be painful and the driver kicks them behind the ears to give them directions...and OMG now I am starting to sound like Brigitte Bardot: Save the Elephants!!! (Ok a little bit of sarcasm never hurts, but I did feel bad for the elephant).

Some local women carrying fruits and vegetables back to their huts

Emily and I with our elephant

After getting off the uncomfortable elephant ride, we went to see the Katieng waterfall, which was beautiful and quite crowded with vacationing Cambodians. We walked around the waterfall (or rather underneath it) and headed back to our motos and the next waterfall on the itinerary.

Katieng waterfall, the most beautiful with its round pool

Walking around and under the Katieng waterfall

Kachanh waterfall started off amazing with some really funny monkeys (they were chained!!! Call BB!) who nearly raped us.

I must have had some leftover twigs or bugs in my hair from the elephant ride

He took my glasses, tried to put them on and then settled on trying to eat them instead...

Emily's head raided by the monkey...

Then We saw some classical Khmer dancing, which was interesting and quite pretty.






When we finally got to the waterfall we had to cross an Indiana Jones type of hanging bridge which was filled with lightweight Cambodians...and less lightweight "barangs" (foreigners : us).

Kachanh waterfall

The last waterfall on the list was Cha Ong and because of the dry season, it had very little water, just enough for us to take a small shower to get our dusty tan off...or look more dirty.

A nice moment

Washing off...only to look worse

By the time we finished seeing that one, our stomachs were eating themselves, so we went for lunch in the best local place in town (I can tell you they don't have many places to eat there) and I had the most amazing porc Lok Lak! The dish is traditional Khmer and consists of a sort of pork in a caramelized sauce with a fried egg (deep fried) on top and a side of onions, tomatoes and cucumbers. It is served with rice and it is AMAZING...so good in fact that I kept ordering it wherever they had it on the menu...it never was as good though.
After lunch we were off to see the gem mining. After a good 30 minutes on the moto, our bums were starting to get slightly sore and as we got off walking like ducks, we realized: Oops, Khmer New Year, no work today! So we got to see some holes (exciting eh?). These 50 centimeter wide holes are dug deep and only one person can go down and digs as he goes, bringing the soil back up for people to go through it for precious stones.

One of many holes..., the dents in the soil are the steps for the miner to get up from the deeps

Of course I had to buy some gems...

Sophan and the gem lady...hello lady you want buy gem stone????

Luckily there were a few men working at sorting out the dirt and we got to sit with them and get our hands dirty (I would do anything to find my preciousssss!).

The workers

And guess who found a tiny (but still precious) gem??? I did! I did! And I got to keep it...however I don't think anything can be made from it. Maybe a tiny nose or ear stud (no worries peoples, I have no additional piercings...or tattoos as a matter of fact).

Someone once told me that size doesn't matter...

As the day was slowly drawing to an end and our skin was getting dirtier every second spent on the moto, we decided that swim in the quiet and beautiful Yeak Laom Lake would be nice...and we got there to find hundreds of drunk Cambodians on a picnic trip! Khmer New Year again!

Yay, I felt like I was at a music festival...only without the music and with lots of weird smells and happy Cambodians

We struggled a little to find a nice spot to swim and eventually since I was the first to venture out, I set my foot in the water only to realize that the bottom was mud, which I sank into and fell flat into the water screaming at the surprise. The challenge for me though was to get out of there. Spiders were on the the shore and I really dreaded standing in the mud again. But I made it out of there and watched the others struggle to get out of the mud haha.



Day two we got up early again and took the longest moto ride (1h30min) to the river. On the way there I saw plenty of deforested areas and it made me sad to think that what people are saying is true: soon there will be no more forest left in Ratanakiri.

One of many sights that we passed by

The road was dusty and we passed numerous rust colored villages on our way.

The dusty road through the jungle

Arriving at the river was a blessing, getting off the motos and being able to stretch out after feeling every single bump on the road (there are a lot of them as most of the roads there are unpaved and of red dust). We got on a narrow and long boat and were on our way up the river. It was a very nice boat ride and we saw a lot of nice sights.

Our boat driver

Some happy kids with a roasted pig...

We were setting out to explore the minority village at Kachon and visit their cemetery to see how they honor their dead, it was indeed a very special cemetery.

The statues depict the husband and wife burried together. Usually they sacrifice a bull and hang their horns on the hut. One can easily recognize a recent death from an old one by the way the graves are kept. They also believe in the afterlife and that you need possessions with you for your journey. Usually they put rice wine jars and other food baskets.

Some cuties in the village

We were supposed to spend some time in the village but a Cholera epidemic just allowed us to take a quick peek and then we were back on our little boat. while the tribe was bathing and playing around in the water.

The villagers bathing

Before we went on to see the Chinese and Lao minority villages, we had a nice little lunch at the local restaurant. I tried the Lok Lak with pork but it was not quite as good as the first one I had in Banlung. One of many food stalls

A little princess dancing around

Arriving at the minority village I was a bit let down as I didn't feel like there was much to see. I mean you can see the same in the Phnom Penh suburbs. The houses are all on pillars and usually are made of wood. The Chinese had shops on the ground floor and lived upstairs.

A Chinese house and shop

We got to visit the Chinese school as well, it was empty and seemed like a ghost school.

The deserted playground

No one learning here today

Then we headed to the Lao village right next to the Chinese village where people just lived in their wooden houses and had a lot of cute kids.

An older man and his grandson (most likely)

An older woman at the well

By the end of our visit I think we all just wanted to go home and take a shower and a little rest because the day was long and the heat exhausting. On our way home we passed through a burning forest and my driver was getting weary and almost fell asleep while driving. Quite an adventure...We looked quite gross when we arrived at our guesthouse and the evening beer was more than welcome.

Nice and rusty dust

The gross girls

That night, Sophann our driver (who was in love with me) took us out for dinner to this cool place for dinner. It started out as a promising night since it was the only place we had been to in town that made cocktails and since Emily does not like beer (a pure sin for a Brit) she was thrilled to see a Blue Lagoon on the menu! The waitress came back saying that they could not make it. So Emily ordered another drink. And the waitress came back saying the same thing. After another try and no result, we found out that the person who knows how to make cocktails was off duty...So Emily said she could make it herself...only to find out that there was no Sprite and then she finally gave up. Meanwhile I was having quite a few beers (with icebergs in them) and enjoying the atmosphere.
The next day another early wake up call, where we were going to see some more minorities who were artisans. I was expecting to see something very special but it ended up looking like any other Cambodian village I had already seen.

On the way there we stopped to look at the jungle

The village we arrived to...not much of a difference except for the Community House which I had not seen before

The two odd looking huts you can see between the branches are huts for the bride and groom where they each have to stay for 3 days before they get married. The man lives in the highest hut while the woman stays close to the ground
(cannot remember why though...)

An almost normal sight

Ok this little one was by far the one we laugh about the most. The moment I saw him I wanted to take a picture, he was walking around, lonely and dirty eating a mango. He came over looking at us as if we were the first whites he had ever seen and as I took out my camera and got ready to take his picture he looked totally overwhelmed and lost control of his mango which went rolling under the table...this picture is the moment right after he dropped his mango. He satyed in that position for a few good seconds lookign at us like "whaaaat???"

On our way to the next village, we passed the lava fields...did not look like much but apparently it is a tourist attraction. Can you see the tourists?

The lava fields: woooohoo!

A minority house...looks like other houses here

Some women washing clothes and pumping water while kids play around

That day was a rip off and a disappointment. It was our last day and we had yet to do something on our own like explore Banlung. We still had to see the Reclining Buddah at the top of Banlung's hill as part of our program so we took a quick look around at the life up there and headed back to our guesthouse.

The Reclining Buddha

A casual-looking monk

A woman praying and offering incense to the Buddha

After a shower we had a nice lunch and stopped at the market on our way back and then took a rest. We felt more statisfied than in the morning. After a few beers on our guesthouse street terrace we headed out again for some dinner. While eating a nice little storm developped and it started pouring cats and dogs, fulfilling Emily's earlier wish that it would rain a bit to settle the dust and regulate the heat. It was almost cold after!
A last stop at the Apocalypse bar (the only real bar in town I would think) we went home weary and looking forward to going back to Phnom Penh. The next day we were up at 5.50AM and wandering to the bus stop. The perspective of a 10hour ride was not really fun but we wanted to go home. After maybe an hour, the bus breaks down and we have to wait for about 35 minutes for it to start again. The next 13 hours were going to be a real pain in the behind as the bus kept stopping all the time to either let people on or off and also breaking down.
We were so glad to see the lights of Phnom Penh and even happier to hug our cook and the other girls in the apartment.

That trip was quite an experience and I'm glad I did it, however I would not do it again. The dust, the heat and full days were exhausting and as one says: Away is nice but home is better. It most definitely is!