Advertisement
Published: October 18th 2007
I am currently in Sihanoukville having just spent around 5 days in the North East of Cambodia. It seems that most people when travelling in Cambodia go to just Phnom Penh and Siem Reap and then leave. There is certainly a lot more to this country.
After leaving Phnom Penh we took a coach up to Kratie. This is where we had our first real experience of Cambodia's bumpy roads. I still cant believe the coach made it! They do pack the coach full of people and two people were sitting on plastic garden chairs in the aisle. How they didnt fall over I dont know but they did slide a lot. Kratie is such a quiet place in comparison to most of where we've been. It was nice to have a bit of peace. Our hotel was 5 US dollars for 3 people! Thats around 83p each for bed, bathroom and cable tv! We only really stopped in Kratie to see the Mekong Dolphins. These are extremely rare and they say there are only around 100 left. Our boat stopped at a certain point in the river and we were able to watch the dolphins who frequently surfaced. Apparently
a lot of these dolphins used to be killed by lazy fisherman who decided to use grenades instead of nets.
Our next destination was Ban Lung in the Ratanakiri Province, where we would spend the next 4 nights. All the roads around Ban Lung are basically dirt tracks and very slippy in rainy season so we decided to hire motos with drivers. On our first day we were taken to 3 amazing waterfalls (Katieng, Cha Ong, Kachanh) and then onto a volcanic lake called Boeung Yeak Loam. The lake is absolutely amazing. It gets quite busy on the weekends but there is a platform where you can dive off and swim in the extremely clear water. You can also hire inner tube rings for the day and just float around. We ended up going to the lake again as we enjoyed it so much. The other tour that we did took us to the Dating waterfall and we visited a Kreung minority village which we walked round. The village was full of stilted huts and pigs, small and large, just roaming about. But on the morning of this tour we took an elephant ride between two of the waterfalls
Easy rider!
Definitely one of the better roads in Cambodia!that we had visited before. It was possibly the slowest form of transport I have taken in my life, mainly because they just kept stopping and eating bushes. With me and Dan on one elephant and Donkey on the other, we trundled down the road for a bit then veered off into the jungle. It was a really relaxing ride although I did feel sorry for the elephants having to carry us fat westerners.
After a really good time in Ban Lung we left and headed towards Kompong Cham which we planned to use as a transport link to Sihanoukville. Im very glad we only stayed here one night. Our guesthouse wasnt the best but the city seemed quite rundown and there is very little to do in the surrounding areas. The next day we took another long coach trip down to Sihanoukville.
Sihanoukville is a developing beach resort and reminds me a lot of Goa. There are different beaches where you can stay depending on your budget. We are staying near Serendipity beach. So far we have only been round the town and on Serendipity beach. It is a nice looking beach although fairly narrow and is lined with small bars and restaurants. We will probably spend another day relaxing here before going to Kampot then Siem Reap where we will finish our stay in Cambodia.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.105s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 11; qc: 52; dbt: 0.0543s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
jon light
non-member comment
I would like the credit for the great pictures
I would like the credit for the great pictures