8th May 2012It's been a few days so here's an update.
We spent our last few days of Laos at Don Det, one of the Four Thousand Islands. We heard that it was an amazing part of Laos and not to be missed. It really wasn't that great but we enjoyed ourselves nevertheless. It was similar in lots of ways to Vang Vieng, lots of tourists and bars selling 'happy' food and drinks. We found a bungalow on stilts hidden quite deep into the island where it was so peaceful and picturesque and hired bicycles to travel around. We relaxed by reading, eating and swinging in the hammock for a few days, knowing that our journey to Cambodia would begin a few days later. We left Laos on a bus that kept on breaking down and so the journey took much longer than expected. Luckily the bus had entertainment and we watched Planet of the Apes and One of new Fast and the Furious films. It definitely beats the music videos that are usually shown. They are so depressing and are almost always about the same thing. The girl finds out that her boyfriend has been cheating on her,there's always a crying competition and lots of arguing, often resulting in a few slaps being thrown around. Sometimes there is a pregnancy involved and even a death, which then results in more crying. So DEPRESSING!!
We arrived in Bang Lung where we hired a scooter and visited 2 pretty cool waterfalls. Oresti swam in one of them, not being put off by the brownish red water colour.
We also went to an amazing crater that was probably formed by a meteorite crashing thousands of years ago and is now a beautifully round lake, at least a kilometre across. The water was warm and green and we really enjoyed that. There were piers scattered on the edges, and Oresti challenged himself to cross from on to another, that was almost like swimming the full width. It took him about 20mins and he really enjoyed that.
It was based in one of the few remaining forests of Cambodia and is now a national park called Virachey National Park. The next day we began our 3 day jungle trek based in one of the few remaining forests in Cambodia, called the Virachey National Park.
It was AMAZING!!!!! I was extremely relieved that there was no actual trekking on the first day... They eased me in gently! We began with a motirbike ride to the river, each of us were on the back of one and it was a pretty crazy drive. I thought cambodia was a flat land but we were going up and down very steep hills on dirt roads. We then had a 2.5 hour boat ride where we stopped to swim in a river with rapids. That was great fun and again Oresti was messing about trying to swim up the rapids whilst being forced down by the water... He loved that too!
After that we were taken to our homestay in a remote village hours from civilisation. This village relied only on the surrounding resources and so used firewood for cooking, river water for drinking and washing. The men would fish and hunt, and the women would do the rest! A great community. We set up our hammock hanging in a wooden bungalow and 'Sou' our lovely guide, who was once a Buddhist Monk cooked a delicious dinner for us. We explored the village on foot and enjoyed spending time with the locals. We played a fun game that I was rubbish at and that oresti was able to play very well straight away. It was with something like a shuttlecock and u can hit it with anypart of your body. The local children joined us too and we all built up a huge sweat.
We sat down to drink fermented rice wine out of a large clay pot with straws. One of the locals spat it out and said that it wasnt good. He told us to go to his house to drink his instead, so off we went. To be honest they both tasted pretty bad to me. Once a cups worth has been sipped, they pour in a cup of water. Therefore there is a neverending supply of wine and it doesnt taste watered down. The local in charge of the wine designated how many cup dulls we had to drink, and they measured this by filling the pot backup and seeing how many cups it takes to do this. Oresti was designated to drink 2 cups along with a german dude, and surprisingly so was I!!
On the way back to our hammocks I realised that the water they used to top up the rice wine was probably straight river water, and felt pretty rough. To top it off I had the worst nights sleep, , probably the wine and uncomfortable hammock. By midnight my joints and back were hurting (i didn't realise it was because the hammock was raised too much at my feet) and I needed to wee (but didn't want to unzip the in built Mosquito net as it would have woken everyone up!). I felt sick from the rice wine and was absolutely freezing ;(
By 2am i decided to bite the bullet & unzip myself. I left the bungalow wearing orestis headtorch and set off for the hole in the floor toilet. I made it back in one piece and caught a glimpse of the amazing starry night sky. There were thousands of stars it was a beautiful sight. After putting on some warmer clothing I eventually fell asleep. We awoke to the sounds of Sou cooking breakfast and a hot cup of coffee each. I learned that morning that oresti was 'boiling' all night and slept with very little on. He's a strange man!!
This was our first jungle trek experience and what an experience it was. It was amazing walking through the twisting trees and vines, where we had to crawl and climb to pass over. We only walked for about 6 hours in total (which would normally be a breeze) but it was really hard work in the heat and humidity. We were sweating constantly and we were drinking water often to try and hydrate ourselves. Our path took us through the famous Ho Chi Mihn trail that was used by the North Vietnamese during the Vietnam war to take supples to the south. This was a massive target for the US bombing of Lao and Cambodia.
Oresti was using a stick to clear the path and can definitely teach Bear Grills a thing or two about living in the wild. He made a fishing rod along with a handmade hook, boiled water straight from the river, and used his catapult to TRY to catch some food.
That night our hammocks were hung up under the stars by a river and next to a termite mound. Oresti spotted a scorpion which Sou tried to kill with a thin stick. It was quite funny the amount of times he tried to hit it before killing it. We slept really well, although i was feeling under the weather after the previous night of rice wine. I have a very sensitive stomach.
The next day we trekked for a couple of hours before our boat ride and then motor bike ride back to town.
Our plan was to leave Bang Lung the next day but we both felt rough and couldn't face a 14 hour bus ride. Instead, we checked ourselves into an amazing guesthhouse called Tree Tops where we had a beautiful wooden bungalow overlooking the forest. We ate burger and fries for dinner and delicious egg and bacon baguette for breakfast... 3 days running!! I even had a pot of tea each evening... How I miss tea!! We really did enjoy our stay there and did nothing but chill and eat. Food wise, we normally eat local food, but as it was there and as it was so good, we had to take advantage. Nothing beats my mums bacon sandwiches though. Mmmmmm my mums bacon sandwiches. Yum yum yum.
After an amazing time at Tree Tops, it was time to wave goodbye to our home comforts and ride a bus to Siam Reap. A 14 hour journey where we would have to change onto another bus along the way. At every stop we asked the driver if we should change there and he kept saying no. We ended up in Phnom Phen where the bus terminated. We missed our stop!! We had to spend the night there and wake up at 530 again to get on another bus. We finally made it to Siam Reap where more adventures were waiting for us.
