Riding the big beasts

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So after passing my exam it was quickly to leave Sihanoukville and meet up with Amie in Phnom Penh. It was quite urgent as her birthday was in a day or two and I felt I should be by her side.

In Phnom Penh we ate cheap cheap Indian food and not much more. I had a package to send home but the day we got there the post office was shut. So was the heart specialist I was going to go to. I instead went to a western doctor who signed me safe to dive and also had a bit of a check-up on me. He said I had some strange white powder on my eardrums. First he thought it was some kind of fungus and then he thought it was some wax but of course it was salt from all the diving! Anyway I asked if I should do something and he said that ears you don't touch if there isn't something big wrong.

He also checked my ulcer scars and said that they were still a bit red but that could have several reasons. I asked why I get them and he said it's a dirty country. Usually you get them through insectbites. A mean infection finds the hole of your skin and attacks. My ulcers in my armpit are now gone. I still have scars on my chest and upper thigh. He said that if they come back I should take really strong antibiotics because what I have taken so far haven really done the trick. I hope they won't come back. He said I should take it for at least 10 days maybe up to a month.

Phnom Penh was incredibly hot. We mainly sat around and watched movies and playing pool. The place we stay have a digital thermometer and it kept ticking up and up. It landed on 41 degrees. Thats too hot to do anything but drinking cold liquids. Thankfully its prime coconut and watermelon season here now so that helps to keep hydrated.

We then decided to go to a place called Mondulkiri, well it's a province but there isn't any big cities. It's at a small altitude so it's much cooler. We stayed at a place called Nature Lodge (www.naturelodgecambodia.com). A really nice place with houses built around trees. There was only one of the owners there because the other one was to buy a new car in Phnom Penh. This ment that we could only eat what she made that evening. It was alright, good food, but I think I missed a meal every day. They had herbal sauna but that's not really my thing. The great cinnamon tea made us addicts in a night. As well three really nice dogs and some cats made it a very friendly place. When I get out from cities I don't talk very much. Just getting into the sense of the stillness. But Amie needs to speak to people so I left her alone with the owner quite a lot.

Being a highland it was easy to sleep. Even when I got really paranoid about spiders (I saw a massive one of the top step to our hut one night going to sleep) I slept good. There wasn't much to do so it was early to bed and that made me wake up early. I've gotten used to it since I went diving a lot in the end and I still wake up 6 or 7 o'clock.

We intended to go on an elephant trek the next day but unfortunatly this was not possible. One elephant had died and they need a mourning period for that. The next day it would be fine. We heard rumours that they sold off the elephant meat at the market. Since this is a special hill tribe everything has to be done their way. They now only have 9 elephants but to breed new ones is a big process. Not the breeding part. But first the elephants have to marry. And that requires sacrifices. 2 water buffalos, 2 pigs, 2 cows, 2 chickens, 2 of everything. So they rather not. They said that if they needed more elephants they would borrow from the next village.

We got to the small village early in the morning. They had a elephant ready for us with a saddle which fits two. We went on a platform to get in and it wasn't much trouble. The elephant is a quite slow animal and won't do instant movements which made it feel safer. It was quite high up. First the trek was 2 hours through jungles, over streams and up steep hills. Then it was time for lunch. After lunch we put up our hammocks and had a read and a sleep. Then again 2 hours trekking to another camp. The elephant is a big animal and it decides when it wants to eat. Which is always. We were constantly stopping so it could get some leaves from trees, bushes or grass to eat. And what comes in have to come out. In big piles. What amazed me was what destruction one elephant can do. He wouldn't walk around small trees, just stamp on them and brake most. And getting those leaves broke many trees. Of course it is good when you have obstructions in your path and you just tell the elephant to get rid of it.

The place we stayed for night was by a small waterfall. We went swimming in the pond and of course I cought a leech (blodigel). To me the worst thing about travelling is all the god damn insects. They are big and evil. The leech was on the back of my foot and to get it off I took a stick and put it in the fire and when it lit put it to the leech which then lost it's grip. Apart from leeches, I dislike cockroaches and spiders the most.

After a massive dinner we put up our hammocks which has a padded bottom and a built-in mosquito net. After two hours it had started to rain so it was time to take shelter under a big piece of plastic. Or course I was sleeping on the edge and it rained in on me. I woke up early, put up my hammock on the outside and read for two hours until breakfast. Then it was time for the elephant to have a bath. We only took pictures of it but it's owner gave it a proper scrub.

More trekking, up and down step hills, over very slippery stones in rivers. The landscape is mainly hills and ravins and really beautiful. In the ravins there is jungle and on the hills it is open land. To me it was more nice to be in proper nature than riding the elephant. We had our final stop at a really nice waterfall where we had a bit of a swim and I studied the life in the river. There was prawns, small fishes, frogs and loads of small things.

We got back to the lodge and had a nice last meal before and early night. This morning it was time to go to Kratie which is on the way to Laos. Our Cambodian visas runs out today (7th) but we will go tomorrow and will have to pay a 5 dollar overstay charge.

The trip from Mondulkiri to Kratie was interesting. The first 3-4 hours we spent on a pickup truck. They loaded all these things on the truck and then we sat on the stuff. It was very hard to sit comfortbly and the potholes made the truck boucing up and down and almost made us fall off. It was definatly an experience. In the beginning it was cold but the further down the mountain we got and the longer the day passed, the warmer it got. The worst thing might be the branches that hangs over the road and when the truck goes underneath the branches touches your face. And at a speed of 70km/h that is a hard whip. The roaddust is now everywhere but during the trekking we had mud everywhere so I am quite used to being dirty. To make it easied I out on of my hairbands on the top of the cabin of the truck and used it to keep balance on the top of the package. It was like riding a bull! And on top of that it broke down twice. The spring suspension had broken and been fixed....by a rope. On these roads a rope won't do much good. At least he slowed down after the last time we stopped.

The next part was much better. Again a pickup truck but converted so it had seats at the back. The road was proper so it wasn't a too hard journey. It was quite hot but that's life here. To me it's not a problem until it turns 35 degrees. Over 40 degrees I'm not moving.

Arriving in Kratie we took the first guesthouse we found. They also sold us tickets to Laos the next day. Now it's just getting ready for a new country. It will be weird.

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