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Entering Cambodia overland from Loas in the North East was a doddle, despite some scepticism on the Internet this really was the easiest of border crossings with Visas available. I heard from another traveller about the awful overland border crossing from Bangkok heading straight to Siem Reap leaving many travellers stood in line for hours, this took minutes.
The transport although cheap was sometimes laughable with overcrowded mini buses and on this route the back door even flung open launching a few ‘well chuffed’ passengers’ rucksacks in to the dusty road.
We arrived in Stung Treng, presently not much other than a market town and transit point for other travellers. After an overnight stay it was on to another cramped 5 hour mini bus journey along a very dusty but now fairly smooth road to the far north east town of Banlung in the Ratinikiri Province.
On the bus I got talking to Max from the US who became my new pal here and down in to Phnom Penh. Due to the remoteness of this region to the majority of travellers who come over from Thailand in the East, we tall white folk were quite a novelty here
and the people were so friendly and inquisitive unlike some at the other main tourist spots. We both enjoyed our stay in this town despite it being so dusty that tankers were out to water the roads. Our main purpose for venturing up here was trekking in the Virachey National Park having opted out from doing one of the over organised treks in Northern Thailand with the masses and not getting around to doing one in Laos.
We relaxed for a couple of days hiring cycles and a moped checking out and cooling down in the big round lake (said to be a meteor crater) and a couple of the waterfalls before organising our 3 day trek along with a French and Dutch girl.
The Virachey National Park is the largest conservation area in Cambodia on the Vietnamese border, much of which is unexplored and has had sightings of large mammals including tigers, although unfortunately most wildlife can sense humans from a mile off and avoids us like the plague.
We set of on roughly an hour long trip from Banlung on the back of motos (with our rucksacks) after popping to the market where our guides
bought our food supplies for the next few days. Then it was another hour upstream in a couple of narrow boats, requiring us to jump out on multiple occasions when we got stuck on rocks heading upstream as it was the dry season. We arrived at a small minority village for an overnight stay although most of the villagers were away farming rice so we just ate and spent the first night in our hammocks in the specially constructed lodge, so not much involvement with the local people. After a rice dish again for breakfast we finally set off on the trek on to the Ho Chi Minh Trail, as used by the Vietnamese in the war with the Americans.
It was certainly good exercise with the packs in the humidity, we stopped at regular intervals and went through litres of water. Being unable to carry enough bottled water for the length of the trek toward the end we were boiling stream water and using a few of Max’s purification tablets, while the local ‘minority village boy’ just drank it.
The greenery was vast and proved to be quite an obstacle course at times. We then perhaps came
to one of the highlights of the tour for me and Max; the stash of rusty old machine guns and rocket launcher - war relics. Max and I posed and took pics while the girls waited for us to finish. We ended the day early, tied up our hammocks, ate and rested for the return trek the following day.
After a ball ache return journey back to Banlung we booked the bus the following day to Kratie, halfway to Phnom Penh to save us doing the full 10 hour plus bus journey in one hit. Not much here just another locals market town and a few tourist places. I remember seeing what I think was an Austrian NATO vehicle pass and wave when we got dropped off as again were some of the only white boys in sight.
The following day we arrived at what was a well organised ‘backpacker factory’ in the capital Phnom Penh and this city was all go. Moto Tuk Tuks everywhere trying to take you anywhere and more than ever the poverty in areas was prevalent. It was an odd site the quarter of a million pound Bentley pulled in at one of
the nearby hotels but as the trusted Lonely Planet Guide mentioned, this was a crossroads of the rich and poor.
There wasn’t a great deal to keep me here but we checked out the bling grand palace, history museum and the S21 Prison, a grim reminder of the country’s past with the Khmer Rouge. We wandered the city centre for a few days taking advantage of some great photo opportunities as well as the variety of the cheap restaurants and bars although it really was very humid at the peak hours of the day and there were plenty of beggars etc including the numerous land mine victims. There was this well kept grass park opposite the royal palace, which came to life only after sundown where the locals gathered along with their variety of odd little food stalls. It seemed quite strange at first as back home it would come to life in the day but with the heat and the locals preferring lighter skin it was this way around.
Next it was on to the Angkor Temples at Siem Reap, which is the main reason for visiting this country really and I couldn't wait!
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