The Cardamom Mountains

The last three days of our trip we spent in the Cardamom Mountains. Bordering with Thailand to the West, this is one of Cambodia's wildest regions: enclosed by the sea to the South and by a mountain range to the North and North-East, it is said that the Khmer Rouge never managed to conquer it because of its difficult access.

Mountain landscape in Koh Kong

On our first day we stayed a backpackers guesthouse where we were greeted by a tribe of bedbugs. The worst thing was that we actually knew from a fellow traveller that the place had recently had a bedbug problem. The owner said they had got everything disinfected, but, sadly, such visitors are the kind that won't go away that easily... and they feasted on Juanjo really badly.

The next day we arranged a two-day trekking excursion to experience the wilderness in all its might. And we sure did! As we were merrily sailing away towards the starting point of our trip, little did we know what was waiting for us on the other side.

A boat took us through the lush mangroves to the starting point of our trek

Day One was just exhausting! And I have done some treks before. We went literally up the forest following the path of a ravine, climbing like mad goats over rocks, tree roots and beds of dry leaves. Me, of course, without proper footwear... All that at 35 degrees and a humidity level that made us sweat buckets.

Note for the future: Get some proper gear to hop on the mountains

After about two hours we reached the top and we stopped at a clearing for lunch. Our Cambodian guides cooked delicious fresh fish with cabbage and lemongrass while we, the pale weaklings, indulged ourselves in the pool of a nearby waterfall... full of "pedicure" fish! Did I already mention that I love them fishes?

Juanjo, our fellow trekker Jens, and our Cambodian Sherpas

After lunch we tackled the second half of the trek. Since we walked downhill most of the time, it wasn't as strenuous as the previous part. The way down was twice as tricky though, as we had to be extra careful not to slip off and break our skulls. Fun fact: Yin, one of our guides, who used to walk behind me, kept on holding up my backpack when I had to step down a slope. I guess he didn't like the idea of me reaching the bottom too fast.

Right before sunset we arrived at the farm where we were meant to spend the night. Well I think that was someone's spelling mistake, because that was certainly not a "farm", but a "barn". Our lodging was a mere stilted structure without walls equipped with a bunch of hammocks hanging from the roof. At the beginning I was glad to find a mattress, but now I think the hammock would have been a much better choice - it was rock hard, like sleeping right on the floor.

Our camping place

The morning after I got the shits, maybe caused by the series of über-natural shocks I had the previous day. I was lucky enough to find an almost western toilet built a few meters from the barn. So, the Day-Two trek was simply a series of trips from hammock to bowl for me. Not a bad plan, considering that the others came back sooner than expected because it was too hot to be walking around.

On our last day in Koh Kong -back to civilisation- we rented a scooter to go to see the Tatay waterfall. Same as with the Kampot caves, some clever countryman who happened to live on the way decided to charge a one dollar entry fee. Now, we didn't regret it at all as you can judge from the pictures:

I think I'll take a shower... 

Free acupressure massage when you sit under the stream!

And that was Koh Kong for us. We would have liked to have gone to the nearby beach after the waterfall, but we got a bad puncture on the way. So we had to lift the bike up into a tuk-tuk and take it back to the guesthouse... with the ensuing argument with the guy from the rental company about who should pay for the repairs!

Next stop: Battambang via Phnom Pehn. The country girl meets the capital! More to come in the next post... 

Kampot and Kep

Kampot, with its wide river and its French colonial architecture, is a relaxed, charming town with a flare of old "grandeur". It reminds me a bit of Battambang, but more developed. Over the past six to eight years, Kampot has become a favourite tourist stopover, and so resorts by the Praek Tuek Chuh river and quirky Western-style cafes have mushroomed around catering for the incoming flood of white-skinned globetrotters.

Our home in Kampot, the Samong guesthouse

 As most of the other southern Cambodian towns we visited, Kampot doesn't have grand, remarkable monuments –the huge durian topping one of the roundabouts is... well, original. The restored, colourful buildings from the French Protectorate age are nice too. There’s a disappointing little museum with panels explaining the history of the city and a handful of uninteresting sculptures.

The interesting sights are actually outside Kampot: the surrounding mountains and lake, its mysterious caves carved out over the years by the rain, its quirky animal figures sculpted into the limestone. 

The "elephant" cave

And of course, there is the salt marshes and the pepper fields -the Kampot pepper is actually of great quality and exported all over the world. The pepper farms can be visited free of charge and the visit usually includes a brief tour -now I know the difference between the black, red and white pepper and which one goes well with what type of food.

Volunteers sorting out pepper grains

As for the salt marshes, one can simply rent a scooter and pull over at the fields to watch the workers separating the crystals from the water and raking them up into little piles. All under the blazing sun. 

Picking up the salt at the marshes

40 km away from Kampot is the neighbouring town of Kep, which boasts a lush natural park and a beautiful coastline. Although the beach bears no comparison to the heavenly Koh Rong or Koh Rong Samloem's, it's still nice and the atmosphere is really peaceful. Along the seashore, gazebos can be rented for the day. We saw several Cambodian families gathered together for a homely meal... and the ensuing collective nap on the hammocks provided.

Siesta time beside the beach

Cheeky monkey being cheeky

But in my view, the best thing about Kep is... the Crab Market! The feast of delicious grilled fish and seafood is a pleasure for the senses. The crab ritual goes like this: you cherry-pick the freshly fished crab straight from the cage, then off it goes into the frying pan, seasoned with Kampot green pepper a-plenty. Simply mouth-watering!

Crabs: straight from the sea to the wok

The White Lady, decently wrapped up by the locals

Ha Tien

Not without feeling a little bit broken-hearted, we said “bye-bye” to the paradisiacal Koh Rong Samloen to return to the mainland. From there, we went straight away to the bus that would take us through the beautiful rice paddies to Ha Tien, the nearest Vietnamese town. Since our visas had expired some days ago, our best option was to cross the border, stay the night in Ha Tien, and re-enter Cambodia the day after.

Rice paddies on our way to Ha Tien

The trip took almost all day, but crossing the border was quick and easy. Again, you pay an extra dollar here and there for those little extras such as the mandatory “health check” –which is merely having your temperature taken- and so on…

The Vietnamese border crossing

The bus left us very close to Ha Tien’s market, a huge marketplace where you can find anything imaginable. Seafood is big in Ha Tien and you can find stalls with fresh fish from which you can choose what you want and have it cooked straight away at one of the riverside eateries.

Cockles and mussels, alive, alive oh!

Ha Tien itself doesn’t seem to have many attractions though. No pagodas, no particularly remarkable buildings other than some well kept French colonial facades. However, when you walk along the Mekong embankment, the charming views of the watery giant and the forested hills beyond make up for everything else.

The unimpressive Independence monument

Along the Mekong embankment

One thing that really struck us upon setting foot in Vietnam is that it is much more advanced than Cambodia: whereas the prices are still low, the city is cleaner and better organised, and people seem to have a somewhat better standard of living. judging by the quality of the food and what the houses look like. 

Another curious thing is that suddenly all the tuk-tuks, which are ubiquitous in Cambodia, were totally absent from Ha Tien. I can't say the same about the Communist propaganda.

Ho Chi Mihn smiles at you from every corner

The morning after we headed off to the border again, got our passports stamped and continued on to a new adventure in Kampot.

Koh Rong and Koh Rong Samloem

The next stop after Sihanoukville was Koh Rong, an off-shore island notorious for its vibrant backpacker scene. After getting off the boat, the newcomer is welcomed by a dread-locked, tattooed crowd which bides its time sipping on beer at the local pub-huts. Who can blame them? There is not a lot to do on the island apart from "chillaxing" under the sun (which is a great option, don't get me wrong). There is some zip-lining and the unexciting boat trip to watch the luminescent plankton.. There is a waterfall too, but it’s only "operational" during the rainy season.

On the slow-boat to Koh Rong

So, yes; we took the nightly boat trip to see the luminescent plankton. I reckon our minds had created really big expectations as we were hoping to see the ocean illuminated as if someone had switched on a LED light at the bottom. Nothing like that - it's more about little shiny dots scattered around when you move in the water.

The tipsy crew of the night boat was a bigger show than the plankton!

The next day we headed off to the twin island of Koh Rong Samloem, which surpasses its elder sister in beauty and quietness. If we thought that we were in paradise, well... that's because we didn't know about Koh Rong Saloem! There’s hardly anyone around, the sand is the whitest I've ever seen in my life, waters are crystal clear and their forests are pretty much unspoiled. What else could one wish for?

Stop the clocks

Through the forest, on our way to the other shore

Bungalows to let in the forest

On our second day in heaven, Juanjo and I went for a diving/snorkelling trip. We had the most amazing day. There are some breath-taking reefs at the rocky shores, full of swinging corals, buzzing with sea life of all colours and shapes imaginable. We had a really nice veggie curry for lunch and the atmosphere was really good. The only downside is my burnt bum cheeks. Mental note: one's rear needs a generous coat of sunscreen too. 

Ready to snorkel!

 Here are some more pics of the heavenly beaches. Next stop: the border crossing at Ha Tien, Vietnam!

Lazy Beach

The main pier

Selfie on the boat!

Sihanoukville and Islands

On the evening of 4th of February we left Battambang for Sihanoukville, a touristy beach town in southern Cambodia named after the renowned politician Sihanouk, who ruled the country before the Khmer Rouge. After a month volunteering in stifling Battambang, we were ready for some sea and sun!

Otress beach in Sihanoukville

The very slow, overnight journey from Battambang to Phnom Pehn took about seven hours. We travelled in one of the famous hotel-buses -as you can imagine, I didn't get much sleep... you do feel every single bump on the road in your spine. At Phnom Pehn’s bus station, we changed buses and continued to Sihanoukville. Unfortunately, a journey of two-three hours took us almost five as we got stuck in a hell of a traffic jam when leaving the capital.

The so-called hotel-bus... No comments

Actually, from Battambang we should have gone straight to the border as our tourist visas had already expired. But we headed for Sihanoukville because Juanjo had enrolled in the yearly half marathon.
It's actually OK to go around the country on an expired visa: you "only" pay five dollars per exceeded day when renewing your visa at the border.

Juanjo ranked seventh in the half-marathon. Not too bad! :)

In Sihanoukville we spent two days lazing about on the quiet Otress beach, a real paradise on Earth dotted with wooden bungalows and boutique-style hotels. Local women walk along the beach selling a variety of king-prawn and squid skewers, and itinerant beauticians give oil massages and remove your unwanted hair right on your chaise longe... with sewing thread! Same principle as our modern electric epilators, they fold the thread in a double line and move it up and down, crisscrossing the threads at great speed. A real art!

Sunset in Otress beach

The social circus

Cambodia is well known for its huge number of NGOs, and Battambang is home to a couple of really amazing ones. Today, let me introduce you to the social circus and school Phare Ponleu Selpak. I call it "social" because it started as an art school for deprived children and teenagers at risk. The school is still running today with an extended curriculum, since new arts as music and circus skills have been added.

Teenage acrobats found their way

The school and performing grounds are humbly located in the outskirts of Battambang. Surrounded by trees, the first thing you notice -other than the ticket booth- is a stilted wooden hut. Next to it, at the end of a footpath, there is a small marquee, where the magic happens.

The circus opens four days a week with three different shows, all of them featuring live music and traditional Khmer instruments played by the young beneficiaries. The various performances are intertwined with a central theme that brings story together. We watched "Chills", which uses the fear of ghosts -a really common fear among the Cambodians-, as the story theme.

Students peforming the traditional apsara dance

The stilted house holds an exhibition of the works of the art school students. Some of them are really talented and their artwork is even displayed and sold in the downtown art galleries. Judge for yourselves:

Changing topic completely, today is a sad day as it is officially my last day volunteering at the Coconut Water project. I had an amazingly fun and rewarding experience and I can't thank enough all the kind, fun, hard-working people -organisers, teachers, social educators, children, etc. -that made it possible. I will miss you all!

Now I'll be travelling around Cambodia for about two weeks. So the following posts will be mainly amazing sights and stunning sunsets, I hope.

The Floating Village

This weekend we visited the floating village of Kompong Luong. Floating villages started to emerge when Vietnamese immigrants and refugees were displaced to Cambodia. Since they were not allowed to own land, they came up with the ingenious idea of settling down on the waters of the TonLe Sap lake, between Siem Riep and Phnom Penh. I don't know for sure, but it seems like the villagers might preserve Vietnamese as a second language as I saw some books in Vietnamese in the local school.

Floating houses

If you are wondering how on earth a floating village stands together, it's pretty much a cluster of humble wooden houses, each built on a plank on top of a bunch of sturdy mobile cylinders. These allow the owners to tow their homes up and down as needed. Of course, in order to tow your home away you need a vehicle, so every household has a boat that serves as car, bike, pets toilet -yes, people have cats and dogs here too, and they poo wherever they can- or even mobile takeaway.

Grabbing a bite at a floating food "stall"

Now, these blessed villages do generate an insane amount of rubbish that, obviously, goes right into the water -the same water where they bathe, wash their clothes and use for any household activity. From cans to old fishing nets and plastic containers, daily waste piles up at the bottom of the lake and along the shores, building a disgustingly colourful landscape and dying the waters a greyish brown, sometimes coated with a bright green icing :-S 

The little ones are well used to rowing their way from home to school

When in Rome, do like the Romans. So, after arriving at the floating guesthouse we rented a boat for a leisurely ride around. Rowing our way to the local beer store wasn't as easy as it seemed: actually, the night fell upon us on our way back to the guesthouse and we got lost... While we were trying to find our bearings, we noticed that our raft was swiftly filling with water and starting to sink. We rushed to harbour at the nearest house. The family kindly "rescued" us and called the guesthouse to pick us up. The waters aren't deep -knee level maximum-, so it's not that we could have drowned or anything. But the sole thought of falling into the murky water scared us to death. If it hadn't been for those kind locals maybe we would have woken up the morning after with an extra arm from the radioactive waters.

"Rowing" down the lake

After the turmoil of our shipwreck, we had dinner and just chilled at the guesthouse porch. As I have explained in previous posts, in Cambodia there is not much to do when the sun goes down. So you can just image how it is in a floating village. Conversation soon had us wondering how people could live in a water-world and in such conditions. Most of them must have health problems caused by living among rubbish, the lack of physical activity and the long hours squatting on their little rafts... But when you think about it, is that not surprisingly similar to how we lead of lives in our cities, with our good ten hours sitting in from of a computer screen? True, we are not that prone to infections, and the feeling of being confined in a high-security prison may be much less noticeable... But, where do we draw the line? And who actually feels more like a prisoner -one of these villagers, or us?

Bonus track: wherever there's a soul, there's the Church