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Published: January 21st 2006
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Me on my birthday!
Arrival in Ban Lung. A ride on the back of a pick up truck with Penny..Dusty! In Ratanakiri
Orange pop and some cake too!
It is my Birthday!
What a memorable birthday. We spent the day travelling from Phnom Penh to Ratanakiri in Northeastern Cambodia. It was a relatively short flight in a rather small and cramped plane. Good thing for me and Penny that it was "free for all seating" and we got the first row which meant that we had a little bit more legroom. It was funny. The distance from the terminal to the plane was definitely less than 50m yet they got us all to load up into a shuttle bus to take us to the plane! Too funny! Not too surprised that we did not get a safety demo and I almost laughed when Maria said "where's my in flight magazine?" Um, we're flying PMT airlines...do you think they'll really have a fancy in flight magazine with duty free shopping?
The flight was relatively uneventful. In fact I think the only highlight was the snack box of a sweet bun and a hot dog bun that arrived about half way thru the flight. Before we knew it, we were touching ground in Ban Lung on a dirt runway.
From
the airport we had a short ride to our guesthouse. Penny and I decided to sit in the back of the pick-up truck and sit with all the packs to see what it would be like. Dusty! But I must admit it was pretty fun on those bumpy roads. I'm not sure how much fun it would have been for the motorcycles that were behind us in that dust storm we created though...
Our guesthouse, the Yaklom Lake Lodge, was comprised of a bunch of cute little bungalows. Basic but they did have bathroom facilities in each bungalow which is always a bonus in my opinion.
We all ordered a lunch to go so that we could take it to Yaklom Lake to eat. First some of us went into the lake for a dip. I decided to just dip in my feet since 1) the water was pretty deep and 2) I didn't bring an extra set of shorts to wear in the water 3) I didn't bring my set of empty plastic bleach bottles either. After eating lunch we went on a little walk around the volcanic lake and also stopped off at the cultural centre that housed a lot things used by the surrounding tribes/villages such as musical instruments and farming implements. The walk around the lake was pretty easy...pretty much flat terrain. I think the only danger would have been getting poked in they eye from one of the tree branches.
We then took another short bumpy ride to a local waterfall. A bit disappointing since it is the dry season and the water flow is quite low at the moment. Then most of the group went off to ride elephants. Since I have been on two elephant rides already in the previous 2-3 weeks I decided not to partake in this option and save myself $10US. Penny also did not go because when she was in Thailand she was on a three day Mahout training course and spent her fair share of time with an elephant. So the two of us went back to the Lake for a bit.
Still more activities on the agenda. We were invited by one of the local villages to pay a visit to see some of their traditional music and dancing being performed. It wasn't the most exciting of performances but I think good practice for the girls since they don't get to perform in front of an audience too often. I was however impressed with the gongs...who knew that they could be so mesmerizing!
Then back to the guesthouse for some dinner. I know it is my birthday but I had to forgo the traditional birthday dinner of fried chicken and chow mein. I did however get my orange pop! (Mirinda to be exact!) And I did get to have yummy sweet and sour pork. Oh yes, and the group surprised me with a Birthday cake as well! Apparently when they went off elephant riding Holly and our local guide Simon had preordered a birthday cake and they picked it up before going to the performance. Later it explained why after the performance they insisted that that I go into a specific car...see! I am so clueless.
Anyway, all in all my birthday was very enjoyable...and busy! For all those at home that had birthday dinner in my honour I hope you enjoyed the chow mein, fried chicken and orange pop. BTW, what type of birthday cake did I get? Hope you took some pictures for me to see! haha
Love lots,
Bonz
Forgot to add some of my thoughts/impressions/things seen in Cambodia:
* Friendly, happy people that love to talk!
* Interesting name for night club...Malaria!
* Happy Pizza, Happy Herb Pizza, Estatic Pizza. Can you guess what makes this pizza really, really “happy”?
* Potential Computer School. We couldn't figure out the origin of their name...perhaps they don't yet have any computers. haha
* 20+ people on the back of a pick-up truck is quite a common sight. Pretty dusty and pretty hot ride from the sun too...
* Roads outside of the bigger cities are just terrible.
* The flight from Phnom Penh to Ratanakiri was about 1.5 hours. If we had gone overland it would have been a two day journey! Yowzers!
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