Adventures in Cambodia

Well we left Laos pretty much the same way we entered, through a small boarder crossing to the south and into Cambodia. Interestingly we checked out through the passport office to leave Laos, and with passports stamped with our exit we walked back 100 m to have lunch before heading the 500 m down the road to the Cambodia border post. Laos PDR (Peoples Democratic Republic) I had heard in reference to this as Laos Please Don't Rush. And how fitting as we exited in traditional style. And entering into Cambodia we found a boarder to be very well staffed to handle the throngs of tourists. Not sure the full extent of reasoning but there appears to be a lot of people employed by the police in Cambodia. And at times we are thankful.

First stop in Cambodia was Stung Treng, where we found a nice guesthouse accommodation that was an NGO sponsored by a Swiss businessman. "Tourism for Help" is a training center for impoverished children to help them learn English and build skills to work in the tourism and service industry. This was very intriguing as guests we were invited to help the students with their english and the often wanted to roll through the questions the knew and the work at teaching us words in Khmer. Quite a nice place, maybe one to return to another time.

We left Stung Treng with the intention of crossing the Mekong River on a local ferry and then take an overland route to Seim Reap. (You can use the map to the side interactively to see where we went, as well change to map view if needed). Being that our map was of large scale and we thought we could pronounce the town names correctly we sought the help of locals to set us down the right track. And we exited from the ferry crossing town headed north and then knowing the road would take us north and west. And about 10 km we found a freshly worked road and headed straight for it. It was 50 km later that we stopped for lunch entering a small town to the locals welcoming "Saba-de". Wait a minute this was hello in Loas language? And it seemed half the village spoke Laos fluently. As we ate and discusses directions with one gentleman, let's call him "Shifty", we realized that Loas appeared to be right across the river from our position. And yet the town he named, the one we were in, appeared to fit the map? Well sounds good let's carry on. And at 130 km on the day, after several rechecks of the map and confirmation that we had intended to ride 99 km to, Mlu Prey. With no Mlu Prey in sight it was starting to get dark. As we stopped to let a truck pass, and were looking intently toward a few houses on the side of the road thinking maybe we could camp here, the truck stopped and in broken English someone asked out where you going? In our minds it was not much further. As we explained that we were looking for Mlu Prey they signaled that we were very far away. The instructions were to ride 2 km and turn left there is a police detachment. We could ask to stay the night. This was much to our delight as we did not have full camping gear and could use a hand. Entering the compound again brought confusion and concern of where we were going and after explaining our position were invited in for the night. And when I say in, I do not refer to the Inn! As an extra hammock was strung, we were shown the sleeping arrangements for the night. Hammocks nicely strung tree to tree with a mosquito net attached. Quite comfy! Next off to the bathing facilities. This consisting of a water pump, well, on a nice cement pad, with 5 gallon buckets to fill and then scoop the water in washing. I was hot and this was fantastic, cannot get more rustic. After cleaning up time to share "Laos whisky" and a snack. The Laos whisky was a moonshine of sorts served in a plastic Fanta bottle, as one officer referred to it "Laos Fanta". Again I was reminded of the prairies of Alberta that my father must have grown up on. And a few drinks were followed by a fantastic meal. We, Jason and I, ate wild bore jerky, spicy green beans and fish, sticky rice and much to our surprise were able to sleep with a full belly. We shared stories in broken languages and were told of our misfortune in turning right and not left to get on the road to Mlu Prey. Three officers were camp administrators and there was another 4-6 officers. It seemed like the administrators and the captain had a higher rank and ate with us atop an old bedframe placed outside in the middle of camp. Others came and went getting food from the outside kitchen table. At one point the administrator retrieved a book to record our presence in the camp. After taking our first name and recording in English and transcribing to Khmer he then recorded the country. That was enough for official records. And then he told us the story of John from Poland who had previously stayed in the camp. And I thought great we are not the first daft idiots to make this trek. With many thanks we were off to bed.

The morning brought an early start in hopes of beating the heat. After some rice, discussion on directions, and a payment of our appreciation we were under way. Still destine to head for Mlu Prey, as this was the largest center on our map. As I was later to learn, Mlu Prey is not on every map and quite possibly not any bigger than any other town on the map or not. And after some back tracking and heading down a new road darkness fell as we completed some 80 km on the day. Finding ourselves in another small town looking for direction we decided to turn in for the night. The best option being the schoolhouse. The instructor was cooking outside as we approached with our burden. With broken languages we explained where we were going, and he explained it was still 40 km away. As well he provided a warm potato for a snack, showed us to the bathing facility and offered warm rice for dinner. But he could not entertain As the community was gathering at the tv to watch the ending of the festivals. He took us to a small hut he had for accommodation and was off. In the morning he would have no acceptance for payment of his generosity. It's funny how people with so little want no more. This town was 40 km from any location to purchase goods and people lived off the land.

With the memories of our adventures in hand we decided it was time to return down the known road to Stung Treng. As roads were often cart paths we thought it best not to be lost in the forest to long. 100 km on the day and we were back where we started two days previous.