Ban Lung: Land of Scorched Red Earth

Chaa Ong Waterwall

Our journey to Ban Lung was another long day of bumpy roads, speeding drivers and overcrowded personal space. We were dropped off inconveniently outside a hotel on the wrong side of town for us, as we had planned to stay elsewhere. Annoyingly, the fact that we had a bit of a walk ahead not only refused to move the driver to drop us closer on his way out again – they also tried to manoeuvre us into staying at the hotel we’d been dropped off outside! Despite our protestations of already having a booking elsewhere, the owner also joined the conversation – which made us all the more determined to find our pre-booked hostel of choice and leave these schemers behind. 

We walked away from this hotbed of activity (several other people from our bus were also extricating themselves – or not – from all this) and quickly realised it would be too far to walk, especially in this heat and humidity. We decided to chance calling the hostel to see if they could help, or order us a tuk-tuk (weirdly, we couldn’t see a single one on the streets of Ban Lung) and he kindly offered to come and get us himself! Chico, the manager and our very helpful driver, shortly arrived in his beat-up purple car, and cheerfully helped us haul our heavy bags aboard before driving us to the Lakeside Chheng Lok Hotel. The reason we’d opted to stay here was the fantastic location, with a view out to the beautiful lake Boeng Kansaign. 

Lakeside Chheng Lok Hotel

We checked into our room, which was basic but great value, and Chico offered us lots of tour advice, and booked a motorbike for us to use for both our days in Ban Lung. I really had to refrain from thinking ‘It’s Chico Time!’ (Shudder.)

'eeeee'

Without further ado, we drove out to the stunning Boeng Yeak Lom, a lake on the outskirts of town, to make the most of the remaining afternoon light. This is a volcanic lake, filled with perfectly clear blue water, and is a popular swimming spot for the local area. However, it is also pretty deep (50m at its deepest point!) so I contented myself with dipping my toes in while Bradley dived in. 

 

I prefer to edge my way into deeper waters… and the beautiful lake was pleasant enough when viewed from the peaceful viewing platform we had settled on. We started chatting to a French guy called Sebastian who was also diving into the lake quite happily – he’s avoided chaotic minibuses by opting to cycle across Cambodia, so he had plenty of good stories to tell! I don’t think we’d get very far on a bike with our luggage, but he’s travelling pretty light so manages to get everything either on his back or strapped onto the back of his bike. It sounds like an amazing way to travel – though finding accommodation (and reaching it before nightfall) is a bit of an adventure!

We arrived back at the hotel for dinner and enjoyed the stunning views out to the lake as the sun set. Once it was truly dark (which it usually is by about 6.30pm here) a storm started up in the distance – the whole sky was alight with sheet lightning and the occasional grand fork across the sky. The thunder rolled in across the water at protracted intervals so it was a fair distance away, making the storm a spectacular distant event to behold outside the reach of the rain and mirrored by the still lake. 

We picked up the same motorbike the next day, this time to visit some of the many waterfalls surrounding Ban Lung. These are reached by some much more remote access roads, and we discovered the reason for the red dust that seems to coat everything here – the ground is a brilliant orange-red, which looks pretty incredible but leaves you filthy by the end of the day! We had a coating of red dust on our faces, arms, clothes – anything exposed as we rode along was left grimy with the dust. It would have been embarrassing, if everyone else at each waterfall wasn’t coated in the same stuff!

The first waterfall we visited, Ka Tieng, did give us the opportunity to rinse the first layer away, as it was possible to swim in a gentle pool at the base. The rocks were a bit slippery as you found your way down to the water’s edge, but it was worth the precarious shuffle down as the water was gloriously refreshing and it was brilliant feeling the teasing spray of water from the waterfall (you couldn’t get too close as it would probably push you under – it was a big drop and a lot of water!). 

Is he dead?

There was a good viewpoint on a rope bridge too so we were able to enjoy several different views too.

After an extended stay at waterfall number one, we grudgingly organised ourselves and jumped back on the motorbike to head to nearby Kah Chhang, which was a twenty minute drive down a neighbouring road. 

Kind locals giving us directions via the 'point' method

More waves and hellos from cute Cambodian kids

This waterfall wasn’t so inviting to swim in (though Bradley gave it a go!) but there was a slippery rock path round to the back of the waterfall that Bradley decided to explore (while I documented the evidence on camera – slippery rocks generally not being my preferred destination). It turned out to be quite an eventful trip, which was terminated by an unfortunate slip on the rocks (just cuts and bruises though, no broken bones!) and was made all the more eventful by the sighting of a violently green-coloured snake sleeping on a nearby rock. After the King Cobra incident in Vietnam, we must be very fortunate to have avoided waking this one up! Not sure what it was though, maybe this one wasn’t so poisonous…

Bradley getting a hair wash

I started chatting to a very interesting lady, Maggie, who was spending a month in Cambodia and was from New Zealand. When Bradley made his way back to us, we were then joined by Sebastian, who’d also decided to tour the waterfalls on a motorbike (leaving the bicycle behind for the day as the roads were very uneven!). 

We all headed back to the entrance, where there was a beautiful elephant tethered (seemingly quite happily). Maggie bought some bananas and we all started feeding her, then we were offered some extra food by her owner to feed her too, so we whiled away some of our afternoon in the shade there, leaving behind a very full elephant!

An elephant, Kerry and a guy with crazy waterfall hair!

Our final waterfall for the day was very quiet – for most of our visit we were the only visitors, and for some reason the ticket vendors at the entrance decided not to charge us (maybe Cambodia time at this point of the day meant anything goes?). Either way, this friendly gesture led us to the least dramatic but quietly impressive waterfall Chaa Ong, also the tallest for some miles. 

Road to Chaa Ong Waterwall

We wanted to reach a restaurant across town, at the Tree Top Ecolodge, for dinner before sunset that evening, as the view of the valley is supposed to be breathtaking. However, we were coated in the aforementioned red dust, so we had to go back via the hotel to change our bronzed clothes and try to scrape some of the grime off (time was short so showers were going to make us miss the sunset). Feeling a little cleaner and marginally more respectable, we biked across town and managed to settle ourselves at a good table in time to catch this valley view. 

Road outside the restaurant

View from our table

We ordered a simple dinner, opting for pizza and garlic bread of all things, before riding back for a few drinks overlooking our other great lakeside view. 

As sponsored by 'Robot'

The next morning we were up early ready for our bus to Laos. It was going to be another day of mostly travelling, as the border crossing was likely to take an hour (though it would prove to be quite straightforward, just on Cambodian time!). It was a Saturday, and bizarrely there was some kind of convention or school event going on – so the restaurant was full of people having breakfast, though we managed to find a table to the side, where we met Martijn and Pien, also travelling to Laos that morning. Despite departing on different buses, we’d meet them again later that day – it’s a small world here!

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Kratie: Dolphins at Sunset

Getting to Kratie in one day was going to be a challenge, but we decided we’d give it our best shot, and hole up in Phnom Penh (again) for a night if we couldn’t connect to an ongoing bus there. Kratie is pronounced ‘kra-chay’ it would seem, as asking for a bus to ‘kra-tea’ wasn’t getting us very far! So bus one left Koh Kong respectably early, and we settled back to a long journey to Phnom Penh, which was due to arrive at around 2pm. And we did indeed reach the city by about then – only to find that pesky US president Obama (yay! Four more years!) was visiting, so all the roads were closed down around the centre. The bus therefore deposited everybody at a petrol station on the outskirts (not sure quite why a petrol station) but there were plenty of well-informed tuk-tuk drivers lying in wait for us all. Realising we were 5k out of town and our options were few, we negotiated a fare (after haggling down from an extortionate price to about a third of the original offer – which was still expensive, despite the detours!) and were shuttled to the central bus station by some wild back routes that relied on us gripping our bags and the hand rail to stop ourselves (or our stuff) making a premature exit from the vehicle.

The bus station is right next to the central market, so it’s an absolute hive of activity to try to navigate when you’re tired, not sure where to find the bus you need, and wondering if the Obama-delay has made an overnight stop in Phnom Penh a necessity. However, the Cambodians are very willing to offer advice or find a way to make things happen, so as soon as we enquired about a share-taxi to Kratie, we had four Cambodians negotiating around us with options for travel, so within minutes we were seated in a half full minibus. We had a few more minutes to spare while they filled the rest of the seats (nothing leaves on time if it’s not full here – in fact, ‘Cambodia time’ is the only unit of time that counts here, which essentially means things happen when all the right stars are in alignment and the time is right) so we took turns to pop to the bathroom at the station – and when I went back to the minibus it had moved, they’d filled up and Bradley and the driver were waving frantically from a lay-by at me! I dashed across the road and jumped aboard, only to find that the half-full minibus was almost full and impatient to leave. Cambodia time had ratcheted up a notch!

We had been promised two seats together, with no more than four people across a row, but after twenty minutes or so and a few more pick-ups the minibus was overflowing with people, children sat on knees and balancing between their parents’ legs, and extra seats pulled out of nowhere and wedged between seats to create a bench. Two kids even stood in the back where they were balanced on everyone’s luggage! All in all, a 16-person minibus was carrying 23 people at one point, which was quite unbearable at times in the stifling heat while speeding along bumpy roads. To resolve our discomfort, we decided to crack open a bottle of wine and drink through the pain, though with every bump in the road this had the potential to get messy! We managed to keep the wine either in the bottle, cup, or inside us, and as the evening approached and Kratie loomed a few hours away, we distracted ourselves with an impromptu silent disco to while away the hours.

The minibus was running late, so we finally arrived in Kratie at around 8.30pm, tired and fed up but in one piece despite the manic driving along ropey old roads. We were dropped off near one of the four hotels we were aware of, which fortunately had a room, so we booked in for two nights, grabbed some crisps (very poor, I know!) for dinner, and went to bed early. Over 12 hours of travel in one day wasn’t ideal, but we’d survived!

We only had one full day in Kratie so we decided to hire a motorbike to explore outside the town (which really is just a gateway to its surroundings, though it has beautiful views of the Mekong River which runs past it). We had breakfast at a yummy café within a youth hostel at the other end of town (they were fully booked, so we were lucky we’d got our room without booking ahead!) and ventured out on our newly-acquired bike. There were a few routes recommended to us along the Mekong Discovery Trail, all finishing with a viewing of the Irrawaddy dolphins, so we headed north to Wat Sarsar Mouy Roy. On the way, we drove alongside the Mekong River for much of the way, which was a beautiful sight, and when we weren’t alongside the river we were passing through small villages, which were interestingly different from other villages we’d passed through. One thing we noticed is that you could buy petrol for your motorbike from virtually every other home – there were miniature pumps siphoning petrol from a barrel outside the front door, and you just had to pull over and refill whenever you were running low – as long as you could find the owner of the house, or one of their kids so they could track down their parents for you! As motorbikes, rather than cars, are the main form of transport here, it’s an ideal way to keep mobile when there are very few petrol stations outside of major towns.

When we arrived at the temple it was approaching lunchtime, so we stopped at the riverside restaurant opposite the temple and sampled some of the local dishes. We’re not quite sure what we ate as only one person spoke broken English, but with some optimistic pointing we picked something that tasted great, though everything we tried to ask for invited laughter from all the patrons, who seemed to all be family or very close friends. It all felt very good-natured though, and they were so helpful, that we didn’t feel we were being laughed at – not too much, anyway! We were offered a coconut each to drink, which was delicious – and never-ending, one little coconut has what feels like a litre or more of water inside. We’ve actually read that it is far better for the environment to drink coconut water when you can than to continually buy bottled water (one or the other being a necessity here for us fragile Brits) so we figured we’d look out for more coconuts when we could. 

Feeling very full and refreshed, we settled out bill and wandered back over the road to the temple – only to be chased by the young man with broken English – apparently we hadn’t paid for our coconuts, as they were from the stall next to the restaurant. The bill for lunch had been very reasonable (pennies really, it’s crazy) so we happily paid the extra for the coconuts – they seemed so genuine that we assumed they were being honest about the extra money. 

The temple was quite small but worth a visit, and we met some very opportunistic children trying to beg from us – one of them chanting ‘money money money!’ at us, which was quite difficult to walk away from. We’ve seen several children begging at tourist sites and it is hard to know what to give, if anything – even though all the tourist information we’ve seen tries to stop visitors from giving money, or anything, it is very hard when you are confronted with people begging, especially children. 

We began the journey back from the temple, trying to take some videos of the roadside as we passed, though they weren’t all very clear – here are some of the better ones:

Our final stop for the day was a late afternoon trip out on the Mekong to see the rare Irrawaddy dolphin. The best time to see the dolphin is early to mid-morning, or mid to late afternoon, so our arrival at just before 4pm was perfect. 

It was a surprisingly peaceful jaunt out on the river, as the engine was rarely used, and each boat only has one or two people, or small family groups aboard, so there seems to be genuine consideration for the fragile dolphin population (the river trips are also supported by the WWF). We were propelled out to the middle of the river using a bamboo pole, and within moments of settling down we began to see dolphins, some just breaking the water with their fins, others jumping joyfully in groups. We were out for nearly an hour and the guide was helping us spot the dolphins, making sure we didn’t miss anything and angling the boat so we had a good view. 

It was a fantastic experience and worth every penny (though it wasn’t all that expensive to begin with) and it was amazing to get so close to a critically endangered species in their natural habitat (a species which is also having a revival in fortune, which is great to hear!).

The WWF recently blogged about a trip to the same place:

http://blogs.wwf.org.uk/blog/wildlife/cambodia-diary-23-irrawaddy-dolphins-and-the-value-of-uniqueness/

 

As the sun began to set, we returned our motorbike, to find that our hotel was hosting a wedding, or something that seemed like a wedding – it may have also been a Buddhist ceremony, as there were a lot of monks and everyone seemed to be exchanging gifts! Deciding to stay out of the way, we went for dinner at the Red Sun Falling restaurant, which is a lovely place with a book exchange lining the walls too, so while you wait for your meal you can browse the walls looking for your next book! Bradley tried their red wine which wasn’t so hot, but the beer (lovely Angkor!) was flowing and cheap, so he switched quickly to the beer and we enjoyed another delicious curry, with a view out to the moonlit Mekong.

The wedding/event was in full swing still when we arrived back much later that evening, so we darted discreetly past the action and went to bed to try and get a good night’s sleep before another bus trip the next morning. When we did head back down to check out at around 8.30am, we were amazed to find that the party was only just coming to a close – we’d fallen asleep to the sounds of celebration, and been woken a few times by continued partying, but assumed that by around 3am or so it had to stop! It seems that the Cambodians are more than capable of pulling an all-nighter – even the older generation were only just loading their gifts and younger family members into taxis and minibuses when we made it downstairs! This was enough to make us feel pretty old as we tiredly piled into another minibus to Ban Lung – our last stop before Laos. We need some of that Cambodian energy!

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Koh Kong: Island Fun

Koh Kong City is a fairly nondescript place, little more than an essential hub for getting out to the nearby islands. The weather was also a little gloomy on day one, so we wandered the tiny city to find some lunch at a noodle bar near the centre (an absolute bargain – egg and vegetable noodles for less than a pound!) and booked up our next bus and a tour for the next day to Koh Kong Island. 

Just as we were eating our noodles, the rain came back again, so we dived into the adjacent market and mooched about in there for a while. These tropical deluges don’t last too long though, so we were soon ambling along the riverbank and considering crossing the bridge with an ice cream… but then the skies began to darken like the end of the world was about to cross the horizon so we ducked back into town again! 

That night, we had a fantastic meal at Paddy’s Bamboo Guesthouse, which was only a few metres away from our hostel in case the rain struck again. They do an amazing red curry, which Bradley had, though I wasn’t feeling 100% so opted for some comfort food in the form of pancakes (also very nice). We were off to Koh Kong Island early the next day so we soon went back for an early night.

We were picked up early by the tour guide from Koh Kong Eco Tours, though we’d been given the wrong departure time so we weren’t quite ready! It wasn’t just us though, as at the next pick-up they weren’t ready either – some ill communication going on there. Eventually, we joined a tour group of ten other people, boarded a small wooden boat, and headed out to sea. 

The tour was due to take us out to Koh Kong Island, where we’d be able to swim, snorkel and relax on the beach, before a freshly cooked seafood lunch and a return trip via the Peam Krasop Wildlife Sanctuary, where they have a mangrove walk. I’d always wanted to see mangroves in action rather than just read about them, so I was quite excited about this!

It took over an hour to reach the island, and along the way we saw some other, smaller islands set against excellent sparkling seas – it was a beautiful day, after a day of temperamental rain! 

The boat eventually approached a perfect beach lined with coconut trees and with a lagoon in sight, and we drifted in and jumped out onto the beach. While the tour guides prepared lunch, we all went swimming and snorkelling, which was amazing as the water was so clear! 

We saw several small jellyfish nearby, which freaked me out a bit but I got used to them – they were quite pretty really, and they were beautiful to watch as they propelled themselves about. These were right along the coast, but a little further out we saw some colourful clownfish, like little nemos. 

As well as being crystal clear, the water was also super-warm, so it was a gorgeous way to spend an hour or two. We were then rewarded with a fantastic lunch from our guides, all cooked using a handmade barbeque and a small firepit. We had steamed vegetables, sticky rice, baked fish, plates overflowing with tiger prawns, chilli sauce and fresh bread, plus rounds of Angkor beer! There were even plates of pineapple and bunches of bananas for anyone who still had room for dessert. 

While the guides cleared away the meal, leaving the beach as we’d found it and reloading their supplies on the boat, the rest of us enjoyed wandering along the beach, paddling in the warm waves and photographing the beautiful bay. Bradley found a coconut and practiced his shot-putting skills too – Rio 2016, perhaps?!

Sadly, this detour to paradise had to end, so we boarded the boat once more and this time made our way to the Wildlife Sanctuary, and the mangrove walkway. This area is part of the Koh Kong conservation corridor, which covers the south of the Cardamom Mountains, as well as this gloriously well-preserved mangrove forest. Much of the mangrove forests of more developed countries in South East Asia, for example Thailand, have been destroyed to make way for new resorts and hotel developments. However, here the mangroves are protected from this mass negligence. 

Mangroves can make some small difference to coastal erosion, as they line the shores and protect them from the impact of the waves, but they often prefer to develop along more sheltered coastlines with fewer heavy waves so have a limited ability to provide day to day erosion protection (though are certainly better than nothing). Where they are invaluable, with regard to protecting the land is when a tsunami hits, as their intricate root system and the mangrove trunks present a significant barrier to a fast approaching tsunami. 

The brilliance of the mangrove forest lies in its ability to thrive in difficult conditions not favoured by other trees and shrubs. Mangrove trees are comfortable with a wide range of salinity levels, temperatures and water heights, and they show remarkable adaptation to their environment, such as their spindly root ‘legs’ with a large enough surface area to help them ‘breathe’, despite low oxygen levels in the water. It was awe-inspiring to see these amazing plants, and to know that they are under protection here to ensure they don’t meet the same fate as other established mangrove forests in this part of the world.

 Video from top of the 'lookout'

On the way back to Koh Kong City, we were chatting to an interesting man who was telling us some great stories about his Cambodian wife (who knew the tour guides so was busy chatting to them) and his extended family in Cambodia. Conversation turned more serious when he began to tell us about how she survived during Khmer Rouge rule – we heard some terrible and shocking stories, including one where she helped a woman give birth while a group of them were on the run through the jungle, trying to escape to nearby Thailand. Somehow she had to stop the woman screaming and her newborn baby crying in case they were heard and then captured, or shot dead. Within an hour of delivering the baby, she had to help and encourage the exhausted new mother to keep moving into the jungle to evade capture, as they were being pursued. It is still incredible to us to imagine these terrible things happening, and within relatively recent living memory. Our new friend seemed to feel the same way – as he spoke about what she had experienced, he seemed quite bewildered about it too, and explained that she still wakes from terrible nightmares, which is of course to be expected. His dedication to supporting her through this, and the joy they shared in their new life together, was so lovely to see after everything that happened here.

Once the boat arrived back in Koh Kong City, under an ever-darkening sky which once again threatened rain, we headed back to Paddy’s Bamboo Guesthouse for a curry (feeling much better today, I chose the curry too, which was delicious) and we returned to our hostel for a film and to pack our bags before the bus out of town the next morning.

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