Eastern Cambodia - show us the hills!
CAMBODIA | Wednesday, 10 June 2009 | Views [62]
To Kratie, a little riverside town on the banks of the mighty Mekong, and shit yes it is mighty! The river is massive, and it actually seems to flow up here, whereas in the delta it's a red-brown, almost stagnant pool. Incredible sunsets enjoyed with cold beer and fresh peanuts on the riverfront, lurvely!
Motorbikes again, the best way to get around and explore villages and, yes really, more temples. They are everywhere, though they are usually inhabited by monks. Speaking of monks, those guys are great! We swam with a few locals in a georgeous crater lake in the Ratanikiri Province, in north-eastern Cambodia. They are very inquisitive and always keen to practice their english. Surely the fact that I was in a bikini had nothing to do with it, though when they asked to have photos taken with them I was not so sure! A bit about their day; up at 5am, meditation and prayers, breakfast, more meditation and prayers, some work (education or general stuff such as maintanence of the pagoda) then lunch before 11am. No solid food whatsoever after 11am. So they get around on coke and redbull for the rest of the day!
We stayed in Ban Lung in the Ratanikiri province for a few nights. It's up in the hills and plenty of waterfalls and jungle to check out. Very relaxed up here and we found the most superb private bungalows to stay in, all made of wood and set on the edge of a hill overlooking a beautiful valley. We could have stayed for weeks, but Vietnam was calling.
We took a very low-key and little used border back into Vietnam. A bumpy road through barely populated land on the Cambodian side and we were processed at a little wooden shack. On to the Vietnamese side and it was tar seal road, a massive concrete building and immediately more heavily populated. Back in 'nam.
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