December 4th
It has been some time since we have had access to the internet so the blog is not up to date. We have had an ok time in the northeastern part of Cambodia but since my experience with Cambodia has been limited to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat I had no idea how much the infrastructure was lacking. As Allen puts it, “it is so difficult to build or even maintain any part of the infrastructure when so much money is in private accounts of the country’s officials.” I think he is correct in saying that the "C” in Cambodia stands for corruption. We have not had problems except for the roads and the trip from Stung Treng to Ban Lung. This trip took four hours.
Using the word “road” may be a misnomer as it is more of a series of interconnected craters, ditches, gullies, potholes and ruts in red dirt. A short distance from Ban Lung, our destination in Ratanakiri (and the provincial capitol) we stopped to see the Kinchaan Waterfalls. I think we’ve always taken waterfalls for granted, but it seems that in southeast Asia, at least, they are a big deal. This was “just” a waterfall. But the most fun was watching the little kids who followed us down the hill to the falls, strip off their clothes and show us how they could jump from boulders into the water. They were a joy and having a lot of fun. I think we got some good pics of the kids with their showoff, smiling faces. After settling into our hotel, called the Tribal House, we rested a while and then our guide took us to the protected area of Boeng Yeak Lom which includes an intriguing circular crater-lake believed to have been formed 700,000 years ago by a meteor. The minority people living in the area consider it sacred and it situated amid pristine jungle. It is one of the most peaceful and beautiful locations Cambodia has to offer. It was soothing and relaxing and fun to watch the people enjoy the lake.
Ratanakiri Province has played its part in Cambodia’s tragic contemporary history, serving as a base for the Khmer Rouge leadership during the 1960s. Pol Pot and Ieng Sary fled here in 1963 and established their headquarters.
Most everything is very limited in Ban Lung, especially accommodations and eating places. The owner of our hotel, Mrs. Kim, has pretty good English and her daughter is attending Fresno State University in California. The snitzel was very good, but the service was slower than molasses. Tre, Mrs. Kim’s nephew is the waiter and his English is not bad, but he had trouble processing more than one thing at a time. Another character was Grama, who sat in the corner or slept, and another woman of questionable taste in fashion finished out the place. The rooms were adequate but the bathrooms had a unique plumbing system. The shower was fine, lacking some volume of water but at least hot, and the sink had a mirror. The uniqueness came in the sink drain. It just drained out onto the floor of the bathroom. So anything that was supposed to go down the drain, just went onto the floor and into the floor drain. Not the greatest design.
We started the next day with a 1-1/2 hour (to go approximately 18 miles) bone-rattling trip in a 4-wheel drive SUV to an indigenous cemetery which was supposed to be very unique. Well, let me tell you that after the ride over a road with four-foot deep ruts, back and forth, whipping forward and backward as well as the expected up and down and the worst part sideways, it was not worth the brutal punishment. This road was even worse than the road from Stung Treng to Ban Lung. Finally we got to the end of the road and to the river, got on a small boat with no seats, just sitting in the dug-out hull for about 60 minutes and arriving at a dirty set of stairs leading to a small village. Many of the people were sitting around in groups staring at the crazy foreigners wandering through their community. Others apparently were out working the fields in the forest. As the guide was rather unfamiliar with the village, he led us the wrong way and after about 200 yards, we turned around and went the other direction. Finally coming upon the cemetery, if that is what you would call it, we saw about ten graves with little fences around them with carved figures representing the deceased. The cemetery was very overgrown and uncared for and I couldn’t help wondering who made this a tourist attraction. There are many ethnic minorities in this area of Cambodia, many of whom I suspect don’t know or care what country their land is actually located in. The cemeteries are called chunchiet cemeteries and this one was of the Tampuon minority and the village is called Kachon. Typically, when a lengthy period of mourning has passed, the villagers have a big celebration and add two carved wooden likenesses of elephant tusks to the structures. Some of the structures date back many years and the ones in this village had no dates. Our guide told us that the ones in the Lao village have dates.
Back to the boat and back down river to a typical Chinese village. These houses, which were supposed to be typical, were actually unique in this country because they were so clean and tidy. Everything was neat and orderly and the trash was in the trashcans, not like the typical Cambodian house where the trash was all over the place. Somehow the Cambodians just don’t have much pride in cleanliness. After getting something from a roadside stand, they just throw the wrappings on the ground, thinking maybe someone else would pick them up, but alas no one does. The Chinese homes were very clean. And most have a shop where they sell goods to their neighbors in the next village, the Lao village. At one such shop one of kids had just brought in a python captured in the forest. It was really quite big and fortunately was contained in a netted bag. They will take it to the market in Ban Lung and sell it. We walked further to the Lao village, but didn’t go all the way.
Back on the boat and to the shack by the end of the road which was a makeshift restaurant. Fried rice was about as brave as we were able to attempt, which was actually quite good. Back into the car and another 1-1/2 hours of bad road back to the hotel.
After questioning the tour guide, Ra, we determined that the next day would be to see the gem-mining operation, again about 1-1/2 hours away with even a worse road, according to him. I elected to pamper my back and stay behind. This was a very smart move because my back felt a bit better. (Allen) I found the gem mining interesting. It is only about a 1 km walk from the road. It was interesting to see people under awning digging holes in what looked like a quarry. Everything is done by hand and apparently anyone can come here and dig for gems. I could never determine who actually owned the land. I kept thinking of blood diamonds from Africa, but here there is not a company involved as a slave driver. It is the individual’s choice to dig and with their fingers comb through the dirt, or not. Ratanakiri is one of the three gem rich areas of Cambodia and produces good quality zircon (blue and yellow, depending on the length and intensity of heating) as well as amethyst. Many of the stones are cut and polished in Ban Lung. There were several women digging while holding their babies or while their small children played close by. Everyone was very friendly and smiling. All of the stones I saw in Ban Lung were set in gold or gold plated metal or some other gold colored metal that no one could explain to me. It looked and felt to me like brass. We didn’t buy any jewelery there as both of us prefer silver to gold. However, in Phnom Penh we bought ourselves blue zircon silver rings as a 42nd anniversary present. Our anniversary will be December 29.
My hurting back and Aek’s waining interest in another 10-15 hours of bad roads unfortunately brought to an end our touring of the northeastern part of Cambodia. I think Allen would have gone on had it not been for us but I think he is OK with the decision to cut our touring by car and grab a flight to Phnom Penh. The bustling airport in Ban Lung presented another problem. Only two flights a week!. Monday and Wednesday and only when they have enough people to make the trip worthwhile. Our tour ended on Saturday so we had two extra nights to spend and then to the airport and to Phnom Penh. Our guide, Ra had already returned to Stung Treng, but had arranged for our driver, Mr. Hai, to pick us up and take us to the airport. He had already called us to say goodbye on Saturday afternoon when he left, but called us again to be sure everything went OK to the airport. He has also called us while we’ve been in Phnom Penh just to say hello. The dirt landing strip at the airport is crisscrossed by walking young kids and motorbike drivers before the plane arrives. Then the drivers for the tourist arrive and it’s quite the occasion. Needless to say, there are no security measures of x-ray machines, which is quite a nice change. The flight was fine, though we’ve never heard of the manufacturer of the plane. It had 44 seats and was about 1/3 filled.
We were met at the Phnom Penh Int’l Airport by a young man named Timao. He’s been a wonderful help to Allen in getting a passport and a visa for Thailand for one of our three foster sons, Hip. The need for the Thai visa came up rather suddenly in late September and he fronted the money for it. He also made two long distance phone calls to me during the process and they are expensive since he called from his office. Just 3 months ago he started his own tour company and I think his business is struggling, which makes his generosity all the more noteworthy. It was nice to finally meet him in person, as I had only met him quite by accident, via email during my inquiry regarding the passport for Hip.
He had made reservations for us at the Okay Guesthouse – a backpacker’s haven, for sure. Only problem is that with 18 pieces of matching luggage , we’re not exactly the backpacker type. They do provide toilet paper (with additional rolls costing 15 cents), but you have to provide your own soap. We did have aircon and hot water, but my room had no TV…and it had 3 beds – 2 doubles and 1 single, which meant there was hardly room to turn around. That lasted one night and we moved the next day to a very nice 2-bedroom serviced apartment that I had gotten information about from the internet and the manager.
It has been some time since we have had access to the internet so the blog is not up to date. We have had an ok time in the northeastern part of Cambodia but since my experience with Cambodia has been limited to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat I had no idea how much the infrastructure was lacking. As Allen puts it, “it is so difficult to build or even maintain any part of the infrastructure when so much money is in private accounts of the country’s officials.” I think he is correct in saying that the "C” in Cambodia stands for corruption. We have not had problems except for the roads and the trip from Stung Treng to Ban Lung. This trip took four hours.
Using the word “road” may be a misnomer as it is more of a series of interconnected craters, ditches, gullies, potholes and ruts in red dirt. A short distance from Ban Lung, our destination in Ratanakiri (and the provincial capitol) we stopped to see the Kinchaan Waterfalls. I think we’ve always taken waterfalls for granted, but it seems that in southeast Asia, at least, they are a big deal. This was “just” a waterfall. But the most fun was watching the little kids who followed us down the hill to the falls, strip off their clothes and show us how they could jump from boulders into the water. They were a joy and having a lot of fun. I think we got some good pics of the kids with their showoff, smiling faces. After settling into our hotel, called the Tribal House, we rested a while and then our guide took us to the protected area of Boeng Yeak Lom which includes an intriguing circular crater-lake believed to have been formed 700,000 years ago by a meteor. The minority people living in the area consider it sacred and it situated amid pristine jungle. It is one of the most peaceful and beautiful locations Cambodia has to offer. It was soothing and relaxing and fun to watch the people enjoy the lake.
Ratanakiri Province has played its part in Cambodia’s tragic contemporary history, serving as a base for the Khmer Rouge leadership during the 1960s. Pol Pot and Ieng Sary fled here in 1963 and established their headquarters.
Most everything is very limited in Ban Lung, especially accommodations and eating places. The owner of our hotel, Mrs. Kim, has pretty good English and her daughter is attending Fresno State University in California. The snitzel was very good, but the service was slower than molasses. Tre, Mrs. Kim’s nephew is the waiter and his English is not bad, but he had trouble processing more than one thing at a time. Another character was Grama, who sat in the corner or slept, and another woman of questionable taste in fashion finished out the place. The rooms were adequate but the bathrooms had a unique plumbing system. The shower was fine, lacking some volume of water but at least hot, and the sink had a mirror. The uniqueness came in the sink drain. It just drained out onto the floor of the bathroom. So anything that was supposed to go down the drain, just went onto the floor and into the floor drain. Not the greatest design.
We started the next day with a 1-1/2 hour (to go approximately 18 miles) bone-rattling trip in a 4-wheel drive SUV to an indigenous cemetery which was supposed to be very unique. Well, let me tell you that after the ride over a road with four-foot deep ruts, back and forth, whipping forward and backward as well as the expected up and down and the worst part sideways, it was not worth the brutal punishment. This road was even worse than the road from Stung Treng to Ban Lung. Finally we got to the end of the road and to the river, got on a small boat with no seats, just sitting in the dug-out hull for about 60 minutes and arriving at a dirty set of stairs leading to a small village. Many of the people were sitting around in groups staring at the crazy foreigners wandering through their community. Others apparently were out working the fields in the forest. As the guide was rather unfamiliar with the village, he led us the wrong way and after about 200 yards, we turned around and went the other direction. Finally coming upon the cemetery, if that is what you would call it, we saw about ten graves with little fences around them with carved figures representing the deceased. The cemetery was very overgrown and uncared for and I couldn’t help wondering who made this a tourist attraction. There are many ethnic minorities in this area of Cambodia, many of whom I suspect don’t know or care what country their land is actually located in. The cemeteries are called chunchiet cemeteries and this one was of the Tampuon minority and the village is called Kachon. Typically, when a lengthy period of mourning has passed, the villagers have a big celebration and add two carved wooden likenesses of elephant tusks to the structures. Some of the structures date back many years and the ones in this village had no dates. Our guide told us that the ones in the Lao village have dates.
Back to the boat and back down river to a typical Chinese village. These houses, which were supposed to be typical, were actually unique in this country because they were so clean and tidy. Everything was neat and orderly and the trash was in the trashcans, not like the typical Cambodian house where the trash was all over the place. Somehow the Cambodians just don’t have much pride in cleanliness. After getting something from a roadside stand, they just throw the wrappings on the ground, thinking maybe someone else would pick them up, but alas no one does. The Chinese homes were very clean. And most have a shop where they sell goods to their neighbors in the next village, the Lao village. At one such shop one of kids had just brought in a python captured in the forest. It was really quite big and fortunately was contained in a netted bag. They will take it to the market in Ban Lung and sell it. We walked further to the Lao village, but didn’t go all the way.
Back on the boat and to the shack by the end of the road which was a makeshift restaurant. Fried rice was about as brave as we were able to attempt, which was actually quite good. Back into the car and another 1-1/2 hours of bad road back to the hotel.
After questioning the tour guide, Ra, we determined that the next day would be to see the gem-mining operation, again about 1-1/2 hours away with even a worse road, according to him. I elected to pamper my back and stay behind. This was a very smart move because my back felt a bit better. (Allen) I found the gem mining interesting. It is only about a 1 km walk from the road. It was interesting to see people under awning digging holes in what looked like a quarry. Everything is done by hand and apparently anyone can come here and dig for gems. I could never determine who actually owned the land. I kept thinking of blood diamonds from Africa, but here there is not a company involved as a slave driver. It is the individual’s choice to dig and with their fingers comb through the dirt, or not. Ratanakiri is one of the three gem rich areas of Cambodia and produces good quality zircon (blue and yellow, depending on the length and intensity of heating) as well as amethyst. Many of the stones are cut and polished in Ban Lung. There were several women digging while holding their babies or while their small children played close by. Everyone was very friendly and smiling. All of the stones I saw in Ban Lung were set in gold or gold plated metal or some other gold colored metal that no one could explain to me. It looked and felt to me like brass. We didn’t buy any jewelery there as both of us prefer silver to gold. However, in Phnom Penh we bought ourselves blue zircon silver rings as a 42nd anniversary present. Our anniversary will be December 29.
My hurting back and Aek’s waining interest in another 10-15 hours of bad roads unfortunately brought to an end our touring of the northeastern part of Cambodia. I think Allen would have gone on had it not been for us but I think he is OK with the decision to cut our touring by car and grab a flight to Phnom Penh. The bustling airport in Ban Lung presented another problem. Only two flights a week!. Monday and Wednesday and only when they have enough people to make the trip worthwhile. Our tour ended on Saturday so we had two extra nights to spend and then to the airport and to Phnom Penh. Our guide, Ra had already returned to Stung Treng, but had arranged for our driver, Mr. Hai, to pick us up and take us to the airport. He had already called us to say goodbye on Saturday afternoon when he left, but called us again to be sure everything went OK to the airport. He has also called us while we’ve been in Phnom Penh just to say hello. The dirt landing strip at the airport is crisscrossed by walking young kids and motorbike drivers before the plane arrives. Then the drivers for the tourist arrive and it’s quite the occasion. Needless to say, there are no security measures of x-ray machines, which is quite a nice change. The flight was fine, though we’ve never heard of the manufacturer of the plane. It had 44 seats and was about 1/3 filled.
We were met at the Phnom Penh Int’l Airport by a young man named Timao. He’s been a wonderful help to Allen in getting a passport and a visa for Thailand for one of our three foster sons, Hip. The need for the Thai visa came up rather suddenly in late September and he fronted the money for it. He also made two long distance phone calls to me during the process and they are expensive since he called from his office. Just 3 months ago he started his own tour company and I think his business is struggling, which makes his generosity all the more noteworthy. It was nice to finally meet him in person, as I had only met him quite by accident, via email during my inquiry regarding the passport for Hip.
He had made reservations for us at the Okay Guesthouse – a backpacker’s haven, for sure. Only problem is that with 18 pieces of matching luggage , we’re not exactly the backpacker type. They do provide toilet paper (with additional rolls costing 15 cents), but you have to provide your own soap. We did have aircon and hot water, but my room had no TV…and it had 3 beds – 2 doubles and 1 single, which meant there was hardly room to turn around. That lasted one night and we moved the next day to a very nice 2-bedroom serviced apartment that I had gotten information about from the internet and the manager.
posted by LarryKiesel | 6:57 AM
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