Apr 16, 2012 - A Day on the River

My last day in Ratanakiri was also my favorite. For the second time I hired a driver for the day. This time it was Sok, the man who brought me to the guesthouse the night I arrived. Sok drove me 40 km (25 miles) to the San River and as we traveled the curvy dirt roads by motorbike it was my best chance yet to experience rural Cambodia. 80 % of all Cambodians live outside the cities and the only source of food for many is what they can grow or harvest from the surrounding land. The United Nation's World Food Programme estimates in dry legal...

Apr 16, 2012 - Wild West

Enroute to Ban Lung I was a bit worried about finding accommodations. I knew it was a small city in a remote province and it was the New Year holidays. I had been able to find only two guesthouses online and both were booked. My host family assured me, however, that I would be ok. When the bus broke down I was even more concerned; afraid we would arrive to rows of locked buildings in the middle of the night. I needn't have worried. As I stepped off the bus at 8:00 pm a crush of moto taxi drivers surrounded me. I quickly scanned the crowd...

Apr 16, 2012 - Ratanakiri

For my first major excursion outside of Phnom Penh I chose the province of Ratanakiri which lies about 600 km (370 miles) northeast of the capital. Ratanakiri borders both Laos and Vietnam and is one of the most remote regions of the country. The hilly terrain is covered with dense jungle and is scarcely populated. Nearby Virachey National Park is home to elephants and even tigers--one of the last areas of Cambodia in which those animals still live naturally. I reached my destination, the city of Ban Lung, with one of the cross-country...

Apr 16, 2012 - The Sights

The best way to explore Ratanakiri is by hiring a moto driver for the day. My driver from the bus station was busy my first full day in Ban Lung but he recommended a friend who indeed showed up at the guesthouse at 9:00 am. For $15 he agreed to take me wherever I wanted to go for the rest of the day. We set out for the three waterfalls which are scattered about the surrounding countryside. Each waterfall was unique and, while they were relatively modest, they each possessed a certain charm. One was peaceful; another was particularly...

Nov 8, 2011 - Jem 2 - Ratanakiri

We are taking in the culture at the moment and I’m not only referring to what’s green and growing at the bottom of my noodle soup bowl. You really do get a sense of connecting with the real Cambodia up here amongst the Ethnic Minorities of the Ratanakiri province. Now that’s their choice of words as they do not like us referring to them as tribes, or hill tribes. As is the case in many countries the minority peoples of the Cambodian highlands such as the Tepun and Jarai are being shafted by the dominant Khmer’s of the lowlands. Their only...

Nov 6, 2011 - Kids 1: Ratanakiri province, Cambodia

Hi All This blog is really from the kids though I thought I'd jot down an few notes by way of introduction or explanation. We have hardly stopped since we arrived in Cambodia so two days ago we made a conscious decision to stay at the hotel all morning and let the kids have some computer time each so they could write a blog and email their classes as well as chill out a bit, but we all know kids don't chill do they! What comes below is their own words, unaltered! The photos will come, in fact I think Jem wants to upload a video of us on the...

Jan 17, 2008 - La cambogia in motorino

120-150 km, difficile da dire con precisione. Avevamo una mappa, ma non c'erano vere e proprie strade che univano noi alla nostra meta a nord. Non sono sicura della strada che abbiamo percorso. Dopo lunghe ricerche in paese in cerca di volenterosi che ci portassero in motorino abbiamo trovato quattro ragazzi che non parlavano praticamente inglese, ma disponibili. Abbiamo indicato la nostra meta sulla mappa ma loro non guardano mai le mappe che diavolo ne sapevano. Alla fine tra gesti, nomi pronunciati male e qualche disegno di motorino...

Jan 16, 2008 - Northeast Frontier

We have moved into Rattanakiri, the northwest province of Cambodia. We are close to Vietnam on the east and Laos on the north. We had a great day that I will leave to Barb and Ruth to describe. Peggy From Barb I am sitting on the terrace of the "Nordic House", a guest house that Ruth and I found as we were out walking last night. We had checked into the Yaklom Hill Eco Lodge, three cabins. Ruth found ants in her toilet with only half a seat. Eletricity came on at 6pm and off at 9pm. I found it charming, much like Jewel for those of you...

Jan 11, 2008 - Far Est (a Ban Lung)

Una cittadina completamente coperta di terra proveniente dalle strade non asfaltate e percorse da decine di motorini e macchine e trattori e camion e mucche e bufali... Letteralmente coperta. Si respira terra. Una sensazione strana. Le piante sono rossoarancione. Le case, i tetti, le macchine, tutto e' rossoarancione. Incredibilmente (perche' non credibile) bello. Ora sono a Stung Treng, sempre con i 3 ragazzi. Prossima tappa: i templi di Siem Reap. Ma fra qualche giorno. Non ci saranno altri internet point sulla via, quindi non mi faro'...

Dec 14, 2006 - bang lung... the beginnings of the cambodian madness

hi all, i know i'm a month behind. please forgive me. i'm going to piece things together for you one step at a time, so as not to overwhelm you. after lazing around laos for a few weeks we felt it was time to start being productive. we crossed the border into cambodia by bus and boat. the bus dropped us off at a town called stung treng and then we had to get a shared taxi out to bang lung in the ratanakiri province because the roads were too bad for buses. by shared taxi i mean a small car with eight of us squished in. i really didn't...

Mar 20, 2006 - To Banlung

20 March 06 - To Banlung A taxi arrived at our guesthouse before 0730 but as Pierette and I were ready, we put our luggage in and walked over to the other guesthouse. We had breakfast there and met up with a French couple (we'd briefly met last night) and a nice English couple I'd chatted to who were coming with us. I was rather perturbed to see our taxi driver drive off with our luggage in the boot, but was told not to worry that he was coming back! At 0800 we were told that we were going in separate taxis. There was some confusion as we...

Feb 1, 2006 - CAMBODIA, Ban Lung

1 Feb Wed Si Phan Don - Ban Lung A wonderful sunrise above the Mekong from my hammock on our terrace - a good start for a day. Breakfast, then the long journey started. A boat to Ban Nakasang, then a tuk-tuk to the Lao customs, then another 30 minutes ride to the Cambodian border (the Lao customs office is at the river crossing but we wanted to go on land as the boat to Stung Treng is a rip off: at least 10 USD for an hour ride). We had the usual interesting company, like the Swiss girl who was in her 6th month of travelling alone (1 month...