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Published: December 7th 2008
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Ho Chi Minh Trail
Neil having a lock stock moment with some guns left on the side of the trail, probably Viet Cong supplies Once we got in to Cambodia we decided to once again get of the main tourist trail and head to the wild North East to the province of Ratanikiri. We arrived in the provincial capital of Ban Lung. This place was a bit intimidating at first due to the large ditches at the sides of the "roads?", there were fires in the streets from people burning their rubbish and orange mud caked over everything. When we got off the bus we were set upon by a few guys desperate to get us to stay in their hotel. Neil forgot that we had entered a new country and didnt understand why this part of Laos was so different!
On our first day there we went on a motorbike tour with a couple of guys we hired in the town. The ride there was a pure adrenaline rush and more exciting than the waterfalls (we had been spoiled in Laos). The guys were ziping along at speed on peices of road about 10 inches wide with deep ditches either side, meaning one wrong move would result in us eating dirt.
We booked a 3 day 2 night jungle treking in the
Leeches
After removing our boots we found lots quickly making their way up our legs Varachey park which is still unexplored in some parts, so how could we resist. Another tough moto trip and 2 hour boat trip we arrived at a minority village. The following morning the village chief and another young female villager joined us on our treking. We were provided with leech socks and it didnt take long to see why (2 minutes!) and then another few minutes more before Neil received the first bite of the group thus setting a theme for the whole trip. Neil ended up looking like a gunshot victim due to the 20 bites he ended up with. We hiked up river beds and through dense bamboo forest and also on the Ho Chi Minh trail where there was a pile of old guns (probably from the NVA supply lines to the viet cong) so we all dutifully took our turn at posing with our best war faces and some of us enjoyed this more than others! We eventually arrived at the jungle camp and the cheif was already waiting there making string from bamboo to tie our hammocks up with. The chief was really cool. Whilst we were treking covered head to toe to protect us
from leeches and malaria (apparantly IS in this area), he was treking at twice the speed in flip flops and pants with a special potion for removing the leeches (salt, tobacco and soap we believe). The second day of treking took us through some banyan forest and a veiw point across the national park which was quite impressive. Treking on Day 1 was made more difficult by the cheap bottled water that tasted of melted plastic. Water for Day 2 was taken from the river and boiled over the fire and to be fair it didnt taste like melted plastic anymore but now tasted like smoke (real fire water!).
Returning from the jungle treking absolutely knackered we decided to have a day of rest in the lovely Ban Lung. This time taking it in a bit more and actually growing a bit fond of this interesting town. We headed off to Phnom Penh and went to some of the sites their like the S21 museum, killing fields and a local orphanage. We took some food and soap to the kids and got a few games of volleyball with the boys and a good chat with the girls. On our
second night in Phnom Penh, we were introduced to the horrors of Cambodian hospitals. Vik managed to pull something in her neck and was in a lot of pain to breath and swallow so we decided to go and get some help at the hospital. Viks problems paled into insignificance compared to the people in the reception who looked as though they were litterally dying. We were sent to another hospital and there we could hardly find a soul, except some staff seemed to be sleeping in makeshift beds in the corridors and a dog was doing the rounds. Eventually seeing a reluctant doctor, he couldnt understand us so couldnt really help. Going back to the hostel the pain was going away as Vik managed to massage whatever popped out back in. The moral of the story was don't get sick in Cambodia.
Next stop was Battambang. From here we took a trip out to the countryside on the back of motorbikes again but this time with very sensible riders. We visited the killing caves and a temple before going off on the bamboo train. This little train got a fair speed going and every time we hit a
bit of the track that was not connected together so well we got a thud and a shake, but it was all good fun. The second day in Battambang was to be spent on a Cambodian cooking class, which Vik managed to attend but leaving Neil in bed with Man Flu, although Neil thought it might be malaria or dengue or a super virus combination called "malengue" - Vik thought otherwise and sure enough, Neil got better in no time.
Our last stop in Cambodia was Siem Reap to visit the temples of Angkor. We managed all the biggies like Angkor Wat, Bayon and the jungle temple (Ta Prohm?). Also managed a visit to the Landmine museum which was educational.
We expected the road back to Thailand was not going to be easy from what we had heard but this was the least of our problems. Half way there the driver stopped to do some repairs on the brakes at the side of the road but this was obviously a half arsed job as we soon found out. Neil knew there was something up when Vik shouted "Brace Brace Brace" or something like it as we were heading
at speed toward a large pile of gravel and some road construction vehicles. Obviously the brakes had given up again and the driver did a good job at swerving to avoid the obstacles but the situation went from bad to just as bad as he was traveling down a hill towards a river but once again the driver managed just to avoid a catastrophe by swerving the bus again up to the opposite side of the road and continued on as if nothing was wrong. Obviously we were all gratefull for his bus rallying skills but nontheless many people on the bus started shouting to get off. Half of the bus including us (interestingly the front half who witnessed all of this more fully) organised other transport to the border whilst the other half at the back of the bus continued on. Luckily everyone made it safely to the border.
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