Feb 5, 2012 - Ban Lung

Hello all, Ban Lung is brilliant!!!!! After the dustiness of Kratie it was a real great way to say goodbye to Cambodia. The 800 metre across Crater Lake was beautiful, amazing and so refreshing. A 700,000 year old volcano filled with fresh water and surrounded by forest. One of if not the best swims we have had on our travels. Then we went to the best waterfall so far and swam there too, we are so lucky it's untrue love it! Petrina fed some elephants with sugar cane which they loved. We are so glad we found this place before we...

Jul 3, 2010 - motorbiking round ratakaniri

sorry, been really crap lately, just been too busy to get round to updating this. spent 3 nights in ban lung (part of ratakiniri province) staying at a place called the star hotel. met some guys on the bus, tiger, sasha and sophia, and was invited to hang out with them for a few days. thanks to tiger, i learnt how to ride a motor bike (!!!) then we spent a couple of days scooting between crater lakes, waterfalls and beautiful countryside. At considerable expense ive now booked a flight from cambodia to koh samui on the 8th (usd $200!!!) so...

Mar 1, 2010 - Kratie en Ban Lung

We zitten nu in Laos, en het internet en computers zijn nog slechter dan in Cambodja dus kunnen de foto's er nu helaas niet opzetten... Misschien volgende keer! 28-02 Tijdens de busreis naar Kratie vallen we, zoals wel vaker, in slaap. Als we wakker worden, is de bus leeg., We kijken naar buiten en zien dat onze tassen in een minibusje worden gezet. Wat blijkt: We moeten overstappen. Na 2,5 uur hobbelen, deels over zandwegen, komen we aan in Kratie. De volgende dag fietsen we 15 km naar een ander dorp, we hebben het gevoel nu het echte...

Apr 4, 2009 - Cambodia - Ban Lung

My first day in Cambodia is best summed up as a good end to a bad day. I prebooked a boat and mini van that would take me from Don Khone across the border, down through Stung Treng (Cambodia) and then across to Ban Lung in north east Cambodia. We took a boat from the island of Don Khone to the mainland, then a minivan to the Laos border exit point/Cambodia border entry. The Cambodian border immigration officials are the sleaziest I have experienced in any of my travels in Asia. Besides overcharging for the visa, they add on various one...

Jan 13, 2009 - Temples of Angkor

The tour guide for our Mekong Delta trip conned us all crossing the border into Cambodia. He told us that he would get us our visas for Cambodia for $22 each while we had lunch, or we could do it ourselves but would have to go 10km with all our bags and get back before the boat left – it wouldn’t wait. Once we had our passports back, we went 30 seconds down the river and got to Cambodian immigration where the first thing we saw was where we could’ve bought our visas for $20! It’s not much, but there were over 20 people and he makes $2 on...

Mar 24, 2008 - Ratanakiri province

In an attempt to get off the beaten track for a while i headed off on a REALLY long bus ride to northeast cambodia and the Ratanakiri province. Luckily one of the girls i had met in Sihnouville was heading in the same direction so I had some company for what was a hot, dusty, long journey into nowhere. It was however all worth it the next day as we headed off with our 2 local guides to see some beautiful sights. We had been met off the bus the night before by Chai a local moto driver who was really friendly and so we decided to hire him...

Mar 7, 2008 - Saigon(Ho Chi Minh City), Viet Nam

Phil's entry: The day began into the Mekong Delta at about 6:3opm and viewing the sunrise and the fishing fleet of individual sampans,commercial trawlers and many tankers and freighters. The steady procession of these ships followed us up the mouth of the river and the entire trip. What was unique was the equal water traffic coming from Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). There was such diversity of watercraft, that at any time there was a continual flow of these vessels as the water coming down the body we were coming in on. Near the water's banks,...

Nov 10, 2005 - The Death Highway Part Two -- The goat trail to Ko Nhek

There is no road-sign noting this innocuous little turn-off as being the main road to Cambodia's northeast capital. Locals know where it is and wary those who are travelling with a guide who doesn't know their way. Miss this turn-off, continue on the main big road (that any sane person would assume to be the correct road) and there is no way you'll do the trip in a day. The road deteriorated rapidly. You know when you're being dragged up to the top of the highest point in a roller-coaster -- the upward climb is slow and smooth, with just...

Nov 10, 2005 - The Death Highway Part Three - Koh Nhek to Ban Lung

After Koh Nhek the scenery changed. Grassy plains, occasional paddies and a mere trickle of villages. According to Mab the whole area was decimated by logging some ten to fifteen years early -- mainly at the hands of Vietnamese logging interests. While Mab mouthed off at the inappropriateness of Vietnamese gutting his country, he had few words for the politicians in Phnom Penh who no doubt gave permission and profited handsomely from the raping of the forests of Mondulkiri and Ratanakiri. Riding through areas with ten years of regrowth was...