World Adventure

Hi All,

When we booked our bus ticket to kratie it include tuk tuk pick up from our guest house to the appropriate bus station but as time ticked on and the time for pick up came and went it become apparent that no one was going to show so we had to get to the bus station ourselves.Usually tuk tuk drivers are constantly in your face but this morning they were no where to be found so we had to get the guesthouse staff to try and locate one for us which they eventually did but this time we only had 20 minutes to get to the bus station which was about 15 minutes away.Thankfully we managed to get there with only minutes to spare only to face our next challenge where was our bus at the busy station? A few more minutes of confusion and after a few futile attempts we managed to get pointed in the direction of the bus only to learn that it wasn´t going to leave at its scheduled time anyway. Phew!

Rural Cambodia typifies the simple life. It seems that not much is being done with lots of people laying around in hammocks under houses. Many of the houses do not have power but just about every household seems to have a motor scooter. The children seem happy and if under about 5 years old generally do not have clothes. The soil in the fields looks almost sandy and worn out and it is dry like outback Australia; there are a lot of gum trees in Cambodia as well. Along the road we saw hundreds of pepper plants growing and in front of most houses in the villages we saw peppercorns drying on sheets in the sun. The same goes for red chilli. There don't seem to be gardens and water seems to be in short supply in many properties. Toilets? step outside the house. Still the people seem genuinely warm and have time.

I envy the simplicity in their life...

The truth is that the people get up with the sun and work until the day becomes too hot and then rest until later in the afternoon. The temperature by 9am at this time in Cambodia is over 30 deg C and by afternoon often rises above 40 deg C with high humidity. So by the time we are on the bus and on the road much of the morning work has been done and it is rest time.

Two foreigners boarded our bus half way along our journey at Kampong Cham only to discover that there are no seats for them. We see them get off the bus to go argue there point but silently we will them to return because it could be many hours before a bus heads to where they want to go.Thankfully they get back on the bus and plastic child sized seats are given to them so that they can sit in the aisle.We overhear the bus assistant telling them that it will only be for 10km but I think that it was a little more than 10kms before the next passenger disembarked was the bus allowing one of the westerners to get a real seat.Thankfully this has not happened to us yet.

Kratie

We arrive with a plan and as per usual the tuk tuk drivers are running beside the bus trying to be the first to meet the arriving passengers and find that many of the guesthouses have similar names. I have a quick look around before committing to our original choice with airconditioning. Later we find later that the owner turns off the power as soon as we leave the room each time which is quite annoying when charging batteries.

Around 20km north of Kratie, at the village of Kampi, the swirling waters of the Mekong are considered to be the best place in the world to see the critically endangered Mekong Irrawaddy Dolphin. Less than 80 dolphins remain in the river -- primarily along a 190km stretch of the Mekong River in northern Cambodia heading towards the Lao frontier. About 25 of these dolphins reside primarily in the area near Kampi. So we arranged a tuk tuk to take us out to the dolphin spotting site late in the afternoon. It was a really nice trip along the river with fishing villages along the way in subtropical settings.

We hired a boat with a new zealand couple and headed out onto the river. I had already seen the dolphins from the shore so knew we would have no problem seeing them. It was quite warm in the afternoon sun on the water but quite magical with the local people on the edge of the river throwing castnets from boats catching small fish. The dolphins came and went and it was quite a game trying to take a photograph. Reminded me of an activity similar to the heisenberg uncertainty principle. The dolphins disappear quicker than the time it takes for a camera to be moved, pointed and focuses on the area where they were seen. We asked whether we could swim with the dolphins but it was not allowed so one of the NZ couple did the next best thing by sticking his head underwater to listen. He believed he could hear them calling. The sun was rapidly setting and turning red. We probably saw 10 or 12 dolphins on our sunset cruise but we have little evidence photographic of what we saw as they are extremely difficult to capture on the camera. Vanessa happened to be taking video when a couple of dolphins headed across the setting sun. Lovely.

We saw a cart of batteries passing through the town and we realised that this was the power for the village being delivered. The batteries were probably charged in Kratie.

More of the simple life. Babies being rocked to sleep in hammocks. No power so no refridgeration in the villages so they actually have ice boxes with the ice being sawn up by hand at the market and delivered in the mornings.

There was little else to hold us in the township so we decided to head off to Ban Lung the next day.

Kratie to ban Lung

One of the journeys from hell...

When I purchased the tickets at the guesthouse they told me that the bus would arrive from Phnom Pehn some time between 11am and 12pm. We turned up at the bus station and they told us that the bus would not arrive until 12.30 pm so we went back to the guesthouse but they wouldn't give us our room back as it was being cleaned. This was not true. So we sat downstairs in their restuarant and watched a movie before heading back to the bus station. 1230pm came and went and no bus arrived. I kept asking when the bus would arrive but didn't get a definite answer. The bus finally arrived at 150pm. Apparently the traffic was heavy coming out of Phnom Pehn.

We went to put our packs in the luggage storage. No room. So we carried our packs onto the bus only to find that the aisle was full of bags of mangoes and our seats were at the very back seat of the bus. There were a couple of spare seats on the back and we stacked our backpacks on them. There was little legroom in front of the seat in front of us and the height between the floor and the seat was about 40 cm. It was the space for a child. I was furious but there was nothing that could be done and we had a 6 hr trip ahead of us. We had loosly supervised children around us and in front of us. The bus was airconditioned but for some reason the assistant kept on opening the air hatch at the top of the bus at the back so that when we moved along the hot air was blown on us.

I settled down after a couple of hours and was glad that we got breaks every 2hrs with the bus stopping for 15 minutes or so. The road was terrible as it was under construction and was red dirt. We had to drive around piles of dirt along the way and the bridges we rickety and wooden with ratings that seemed to me to be very low.

It was a long journey for the children. The child next to me was tired and decided to have a sleep with one of his legs across me and then later he and a little girl discovered the thrill of looking under the curtain covering the back window of the bus. She decided that my shoulder was perfect for grabbing for support as she stood on the seat. It was a refreshing example of inocent trust and a great positive from the journey.

We arrived, peeled out of the seats, dusted ourselves off, picked up the packs, stomped on the bags of mangos in the aisles and headed off the bus. I was glad we were met by someone from the guesthouse we had decided to stay. I wanted airconditioning but there was only a fan room but it turned out to be quite nice and surprisingly quite cool. The room was quite modern in design and had 9 small windows on two sides.

Ban Lung

A new scooter challenge. Dirt roads. I hired a scooter for the day so that we could ride out to the volcanic crater and waterfalls. It was slow going and I kept on telling Vanessa to get ready to jump off as there was a lot of sand on the road which is not good for an inexperienced rider. The lake was nice and warm. We went for a swim despite the warnings to wear lifejackets (come on we are Australians virtually born in the water) but found that it was not very clear which was disappointing. We also walked around the edge which was quite pleasant but there was little birdlife and no wildlife to be found. The parks ranger had turned up by the time we were ready to leave and had the rope across the road. I could see a gap wide enough for the motorbike on the other side of the entry box and rode through with great skill :-)  

We headed out looking for the waterfalls in the area. Dusty dirt roads and construction area made it hard work. Rode past rubber tree plantations and dropped off for a feel of the raw latex dripping out of one tree. Found the waterfall and paid the entry price getting ripped off by the national parks person. Waterfall was alright but not stunning. We went for a ride along a dirt track looking for another but found that the road was blocked by a village who were fasting for some reason and requested we didn't enter. We returned to town and the chaotic traffic, picked up some bananas and a watermelon and relaxed for the afternoon.

I laughed when Vanessa took off her motorbike helmet as the red dirt had stuck to her sunburn cream making her look as if she had an unnatural tan and pink lips. We were both covered in fine red dirt.

Next day.

We decided to ride out to the river about 35 km away. Dirt road again. Was fine for the first 15km until we took a break under the shade of a tree. I couldn't get the key to turn the scooter on after the break and we were in jungle with no one around for miles . Fortunately a couple of guides on motorbikes with clients stopped and got the key lock to move. The secret. Bang it really hard with your hand. I thanked them and they asked whether we were going to the cemetery. That rung a bell but I couldn't remember at the time why. We headed off and I decided that it would be a good idea not turn off the scooter until we arrived at the township at the river.

The road deteriorated and had a lot of large dips and sandy sections. The front wheel on the scooter kept slipping as did my swearing from my mouth. I had to slow down to about 10 km/h at a guess as the speedometer didn't work anyway. I still felt uncomfortable and kept telling Vanessa that she had better be ready to jump off any time. We found buffalo escaping the intense heat by wallowing in bodies of water and stopped for some pictures. We were needing to stop a lot as we were getting the 'usual numb bum' from the scooter seat. Finally we arriived at the river and took a look around the town before lunch overlooking the barge landing. The barge was just a couple of wooden boats with boards nailed across them to provide a platform. Yet it was good enough for moving about 30 people and 10 scooter from one side to the other. I watched the scooters being unloaded and decided that I didn't have the skill or inclination to try.

We slowly rode back to Ban Lung and realised that the cemetery was very old chinese with effigies of the dead. The river has been the access point for many races over time. Well worth the ride.

We had a plan to head to the east of Cambodia. The map shows a road between towns but it turned out that they were just tracks and the only way to travel along them was on a motorbike. We had seen how fast locals travelled on the dirt roads and quickly decided that although it would be a great adventure travelling in the jungle along a track the risk was too high. We booked a ticket back to Kratie. We really liked Ban Lung. It was a frontier town and will not stay the same for long. A sealed road is coming and that will bring change.

Ban Lung to Kratie

Early start for the bus. We decided to get there 1hr early to secure good seats but it turned out that our seat allocation was already made. Sometimes the seat number are ignored. We were travelling with the same company that gave us the ride from hell and I had sworn I would never travel with again. So much for swearing. Our seats were above the rear axle of the bus so a slight improvement on last time and we had leg room.

The trip was going well until a large bang under the other side of the bus. The locals jumped out of their seats very quickily. The bus had blown a tyre and the tread was scattered aloing the road behind us. The bus cleared and the most of the locals dropped into the shade as the bus crew changed the tyre. They did a great job and we were underway again in about 30 min.

We arrived at Kratie and tried the other flavour of the guesthouse we had stayed previously but with a fan only. We sweltered in he heat in the concrete building with poor ventilation. It didn't cool much overnight and we got little sleep.

Heading to Siem Reap now.

Bye,
David and Vanessa