Eastward - Mondulkiri Province

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And so, Templed to the max, off we head east to counteract built splendor with a bit of wildness (not quite wilderness) and relaxation. We got an, as usual, early bus (late buses do not exist, its not that we are hardcore travelers...no option) from Siem Reap to Kratie, changing bus at Kompong Cham. This second bus wasn't quite ready for us and it turned out there were too many people for the minibus. But that's simply normal, they crammed us in somehow and off we headed for a nice cosy journey in our neighbours armpits, the boot open with our luggage strapped on as we bounced along a deep red dirt track, dust curling in through any orifice of the minibus to give us a rosy hue. We pulled in to Kratie with our bags a nice new shade of rust. Kratie seemed another nice little sleepy town on the still mighty Mekong with the obligatory covered market in the middle (don't worry, no more market photos....yet!). We decided not to try and see the Irrawaddy dolphins yet (this is one of the key places to see this almost extinct species) but instead to head further east the next day. So again the early morning and a large tourist bus bound for Phnom Penh, with us the only people jumping off at Snoul - what a name. And Snoul looked a bit as it sounded, we had a pretty dull two and a half hour wait (assuming, or hoping, we would eventually be told when to get on the next bus!) in a dirty little bus park surrounded by an untidy market. Finally we were packed in to another minibus, this time only with locals. The road from here to Sen Monorom was in the process of being remade and surfaced, apparently with Chinese money. I wonder how much this will change the region? The road passed through some pretty nice forest, although for 100m or so either side of the road most had been cleared for farming or orchards. Did see some monkeys on the way which was quite cool, and when we were able to see over or through the tree canopy the surrounding hills pretty much seemed completely forested still.

We were quite surprised with Sen Monorom which seemed fairly wealthy - apparently a lot of people had made money during a land grab and there are lots of minerals, whilst quite a few Cambodian tourists come here to get up and out out of the hot and humid lowlands. We got a tuk tuk out to Nature Lodge which was very nice and chilled. They had horses, cows, dogs and cats roaming around (which Rach obviously loved!) its almost park-like grounds (I reckon they could let it 'wild up' a bit - fence off areas so that they are not grazed). There was the main wooden open fronted building with restaurant/bar, and a wooden shelter built around a tree draped with hammocks. The accommodation was a series of very simple, free standing stilted wooden huts. Luckily they had no en-suite huts left - the shared toilet/shower rooms were amazing - open roofed with wooden walls, each built around a tree with the shower attached (and gas water heaters), and squat toilets, and the edges planted up. It was a bit like having a poo in a miniature Kew Gardens - awesome! It was a very relaxed place, with the owners floating around in a sleepy daze and the two kids who mostly worked behind the bar/restaurant pretty much forgetting every drink order we made - got a bit worrying when we gave them our laundry and got them to book our bus out of there (but all worked ok!).

The next day we went on a four hour hike, booked through Nature Lodge, which was pretty expensive at $25. I just hope a lot of the money went to the local villages we went through as the hike itself was pretty disappointing. Our guides took us off on motorbikes and then a walk for an hour or so to a waterfall for a swim. Our guide then disappeared for a bit (!) but when he came back we had another early lunch before heading off again through the forest and grassy glades, before a very hot and sweaty walk up a forestry track back to the bikes. The guides English wasn't great so we didn't find out much about what we saw, although we did see what we later found out to be a civet cat scampering through the tree canopy above us which was lovely - a sleak black and white animal with a long bushy tail. On the ride back we also stopped in a couple of obviously very poor villages and had a look inside the traditional wood and grass buildings - felt a bit like we were intruding, but the adults were very smiley, the kids very suspicious at first! When we got back we both felt terrible and were grouchy - our first stint of dehydration we think! Lots of water and a snooze later we felt a bit better and were picked up by Jack Highwood for a visit to the Elephant Valley Project. We reckoned Jack would be a crazy old bearded American, locked away in the Jungle with his rescued elephants - he turned out to be from Kent, 27 with only a short beard. Never mind!

After an absolutely spine obliterating journey down a hugely rutted and pitted track in the 4x4 (Jack jokingly checking Rach was pregnant before we hit the track as a disclaimer, and checking our insurance) we arrived at the Project in the dark, but lights were on thanks to a generator. We were immediately massively impressed. A short wooden boardwalk led to a beautiful wooden building, open fronted with a view over the forested valleys, and sections as a dinning room, kitchen and lounge. We had a lovely vegetarian meal before being led down a winding rough stone path down the valley a bit to our hut/bungalow/chalet for the night. The room was absolutely stunning - our best accommodation since the honeymoon suite in Beijing! We were paying $50 for this trip - very expensive for us, but given the accommodation, the experience and the project that the money funds, absolutely worth it.

Briefly, the charity (http://www.elie-cambodia.org/elieecotourism.html) seeks to rescue and rehabilitate injured and sick working elephants. Despite the cost of the elephants ($6000 - $8000), their owners (Mahouts) have a very short term view of their value, willing to literally work them in to the ground and to death to ensure that they get maximum work out of them in the short term, if you are in poverty and your family potentially faces starvation you will always be trying to maximise what you can get now I guess - you never know when hard times might be around the corner. Obviously this is no good for the elephants! In part the project seeks to find sick and injured elephants, and rehabilitate them. This includes those which come in for short term treatment and those which vets go out to as the owners generally wont part with their elephant. The project aims where possible to buy, or at least rent the elephants in the long-term - there are 5 living at the project now (one they own out right, the others are rented) - this means that they can be 'taught to be elephants again', with their routine and the large grounds (including forests, rivers and grassland) allowing them to start behaving naturally again - washing, drinking, eating, scratching - lots of scratching! - blowing water and dust over themselves, uprooting the odd tree to eat the roots etc. We had the day with them, just following them around, not riding them as this would not allow natural behaviour - it was magic. Of the elephants there, Princess was found still working despite a broken hip (now recovering but with a completely mangled back and shortened leg), another was brought in with a massive stab would through to its stomach which they had to stitch up (presumably for bad behaviour?), and another won't drink from a hose to its trunk as the others would because, to make it walk faster as it smuggled goods across the border, its mahouts would pour petrol in its trunk (not sure why that would work!). To try and address all the social and economic reasons for the hardship of the elephants, the charity also runs education programmes, including sustainable forestry and farming, and obviously elephant welfare, health projects for villagers and research programmes. Although the main aim for these is elephant welfare, the benefits should obviously be widespread for the locals. We were very sad not to be able to stay longer, but at that price we couldn't - well worth it for a day and night though. The chance to watch, and also feed and wash, the elephants, whilst also seeing a very impressive charity (well done Jack and the team) was well worth every dollar!

So we headed back to Nature Lodge for another day and two nights (with much hammock action) before getting the obligatory early morning bus back to Kratie. We were on another local bus but luckily a direct one which whisked us through Snoul (a good name for a zombie I reckon). After one more night in Kratie, we headed off to Laos. Must say that Cambodia was fantastic - generally very friendly people, beautiful countryside and some very varied things to see and do. On our last night in Sen Monorom we climbed a hill for sunset and Rach shed a tear to be leaving (I was watching a bird of prey and didn't notice Rach sobbing for some time!!).

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Photos

Kratie
Sunset on the Meking

Sen Monorom
Tokay Gecko

Sen Monorom
Nature Lodge hammock action!

Sen Monorom
Nature lodge bungalow

Sen Monorom
Nature Lodge toilet/garden!

Sen Monorom
Splish splashin'

Elephant Valley Project
Princess having a nose

Elephant Valley Project
Having a bath

Elephant Valley Project
The ladies

Elephant Valley Project
Pardon?

Elephant Valley Project
It must be done, it must be done!

Elephant Valley Project
Havin' another wash!