Mondulkiri

The next day I hopped in the cab of a pick up with three others and set out to Snoul, to changeover cars to continue to what is meant to be Cambodia's most beautiful province, Mondulkiri. On the way down i was jammed in knees wedged in the seat in front of me, looking backwards at the near empty tray wishing i had bought those seats. But seeing the car we changed into at Snoul made me relish my decision.

The tray was piled about a metre above the top of the cab and then about ten people climbed on top and clung to whatever they could. I was squished back into the cab with a french girl (Babette) , an irish guy (Darren) and a Khmer guy (forgot his name!). Anyway, it was hell on earth and out car blew two tyres on the way. Darren and Babette seemed pretty cool and i thought it would be nice to hang out with people, eyeballing skanky backpacking and laughing at them in Khmer with Cambodians had been fun.

I wasnt planning to do any trekking having done some in Ratanakiri but they convinced me to join one trip they were planning, also with a village homestay. Given my and Babette's bag were somehow drenched in fish sauce, we decided to give a day for laundry and set out the next day.

The vast majority of karaoke video clips in Khmer include at least one shot of the Boun Sra waterfall and I knew my friends would never forgive me if i didnt see it so the next day we set off to see this wonder.

About half an hour later after driving through some amazing country side we arrived at the waterfall entrance. Standing outside was a mixed group of extremely skanky backpacker hippies wearing what seemed to be carnie clothes refusing to enter. They asked the guy driving my bike (who also worked at the hotel) how much Cambodians pay; he said nothing given that this is Cambodia. So they stood there bitching and complaining to the guard at the entrance (who spoke no English and was quite bemused) before this stupid french woman shrieks ' They are charging us because we are white!". I walked over payed the money, called her crazy in Khmer to the guard and walked through. I think they felt a bit embarrased after and duly paid. I ignored them the rest of the time there as they kinda hung about because people with that kind of attitude are complete morons. Oh and the entrance fee? $1. Later that night we ate at the same place and they ate $10 steaks...

Anyway, Boun Sra is amazing. and consists of several levels.

After paddling in the top waterfall, we had to walk across the mouth of the waterfall to get to the track leading to the bottom falls. As always it was precarious, involving slippery rocks, fast flowing water and rotton logs as bridges. What is really hilarious is as we foreigners are walking very slowly and are terrified, the Cambodians are jumping from rock to rock without a care in the world.

Anyway it was worth it and we went for a dip in the freezing, freezing water.


On the way back up to the entrance, i took a wrong turn and ended up at the top of the first falls, which is actually a road.



On the way back we went the scenic route, through coffee planations

Pepper plantations

and up high on the many hills for a view out into the jungle.

The next day we headed out on our trek with Nara, our guide. Nara, an ethnic Pnong, spoke almost no English but was perfectly fluent in Khmer and of course Pnong. So i became the translator for the group and questions kind of went from French to English to Khmer to English to French. Even in just this trip i feel like my Khmer went through the roof. It worked out quite well because me and Nara chatted together in Khmer and Babette and Darren chatted together in French.

This was a much more natural trek than the one in Ratanakiri and involved walking through some rainforest but also a few Pnong farms. We didnt see many animals but Nara and I spotted some monkeys swinging in the branches. Nara then told me that the brain was the best part of the monkey, which was a bit of a conversation killer.

We emerged from the forest at a lovely small waterfall where we took lunch and generally swam and sunbathed.

Nara disapeared and went fishing, including climbing some precarious logs but came back empty handed.

We continued trekking along the river

including some typically precarious river crossings

and up quite a steep altitude and emerged at the top of the hills, passing by some fallowing farms.
Before arriving at the village just before sundown. This is a traditional Pnong house where people live with their animals but this one was a bit broken down so Nara suggested we sleep in his front room.

So after a delicious dinner, Nara suggested we drink some rice wine with his relatives, so they all came around and i cant really remember much of it except the full moon and having lots of fun attempting to have Khmer conversations. In the end we drank four litres of it.

The next morning we hopped on Menot, a female elephant more that 60 years old. We cheaped out so Babette and Darren hopped on the actual seat and i i rode on the neck mahout style. As well as being freaked out by being in the position where the guy was meant to be driving this thing (he was walking next to us, but kept disapearing to further freak me out). But the worst of it was that elephants really arent that comfortable so i was bow legged for half an hour after hopping off.

We stopped off at another stream and spent a few hours swimming, relaxing and sleeping while the elephants had a bath and a snack.

The next day i headed back to Phnom Penh in a mini bus , a much more comfortable ride, and abandoned my plans to head to Siem Reap in favour of chillaxing in Phnom Penh with my friends