The Kingdom of Cambodia

Introduction Cambodia is over now and we have to say we look back at it with a touch of nostalgia. When we first decided to come here it was due to the fact that the country seemed to be rich in culture as well as to visit the world famous Angkorian Temples. We never expected that traveling throughout this country would enrich us so much. We have seen amazing places and met great people. We rode terrible roads and endured long hours of Khmer music. We swam in beautiful beaches and dived in their coral reefs. We were tormented by the tuk-tuk drivers and touched by the poverty of many of the locals. Khmer people have a recent terrible history, dating just 30 years ago, which we re-lived when visiting the S-21 and the Killing Fields. In fact, Cambodia is still recovering from the brutal years of the Khmer Rouge rule. Cambodia is struggling, day by day, to recover from this ordeal, but it’s no easy game. These people should be admired for what they had to go through and from being able, in one way or another, to survive it all. Here comes our story and what we experienced in this country.

Making our way into Cambodia We set off early in the morning on a boat from Don Det which took us to what would be our transport across the Laos border. Our first stop involved getting a departure stamp, for which we had to pay $1. Once we were done with that we walked for about 200m to get our Cambodian visa. We gave in our applications to the immigration police who eyed our passport suspiciously as they had never seen a Maltese passport. They even checked the list of countries which could not enter Cambodia, thinking that Malta might have been one of them! We paid another dollar there for their service and walked another 10m to get our passport stamped for entry in Cambodia…and guess what…we had to pay another dollar! As soon as we got through the ‘border’ we got on a van which was going to take us to Stung Treng, from where we intended to find transportation towards Ratanakiri, more specifically Ban Lung. We had heard about travellers buying a ticket to a further destination and being stopped somewhere else along the way, having to sort out their own transport. We escaped that faith as our stop was the very shortest one on the list when entering Cambodia. On our way to Stung Treng we met a Canadian couple (Chris and Bex) which was heading to Ratanakiri as well, so we decided to share the transport. Another Belgian guy (Sijs) joined in and we managed to find a taxi in the form of a worn out Toyota Camri, to take us there. Little did we know that we were going to spend some great moments with these guys and that we would have become friends…. Chris and Bex left us in Phnom Penh.

We travelled almost all of Cambodia together with Sijs, a great guy, and now a good friend…we will miss him but will surely meet him again, someday, somewhere around the world.

Si Phan Don : 4000 Islands

23.01.2008 to 28.01.2008

Many people said that 4,000 Islands should not be missed as it is an amazing place. Well, we do not really agree.

We definetely do agree that it's a place to chill out and relax. The reason behind this is that, in actual fact, there is nothing to do on these islands apart from swinging in a hammock, reading books, and swimming in the river. Now, don't get us wrong, it's great to be able to do that, but since we have been travelling (and especially now that we are writing this after having experienced Cambodia) we have seen much nicer places.

One thing was definetely great here....the sunsets. Some pictures which we will be sharing with you are simply amazing.

We spent one night in Khong Island, which is the biggest island of all. We find great accomodation in a teak guesthouse and spend some relaxing time with some of the other guests who had just come from Don Dhet and suggested we go to Mr.B's bungalows, which we did the following day.

The bungalow we had was great! Although it only consisted of a small room with two beds and a mosquito net, their location was the best in the island. The best location for sunset, one of the best restaurants, and we also had a landing where we could go down and swim directly into the river...and the hammock were just infront of the river...

So the days went by, lazing off in our hammocks, reading books and swimming. We met some nice guys here, amongst them an English guy, an ozzie guy and Papa Chief, who has been travelling the world for thirty five years now.....he claims to be Indian...

Our plans to go back to Bangkok due to Janet's vaccinations changed as Yakof managed to find out that she could take her vaccinations in Cambodia!

So the next country we were going to visit was the Kingdom of Cambodia.

For pictures click here:

Pakse

16.01.2008 to 22.01.2008

This time the bus ride was a looonggg one... ten hours. Public transport this time was much more comfortable than the last time. Janet slept for most of the trip as she felt sick. We got to Pakse in late afternoon, finding accommodation took a while, eventually we had to settle for an expensive accommodation, as we were too tired to go for guest house hunting.

The following morning we found a cheaper guesthouse, and surfed the internet to make plans on how we were going to travel round Pakse and most importantly the Bolaven Plateau. We found some good information on the Travelfish website, and designed our own tailor-made Bolaven Plateau Loop :) We hired a motorbike for the trip and hoped that everything would turn out for the best.

Champasak (18.01.2008)

The following day we decided to take it easy and go to Wat Phou Champasak, to see the Angkorian temple. We made our way there with the bike without a map and managed to get there at a good time. We took a 'ferry' across Pakse to Champasak. This ferry was made up of a big piece of wood resting on three boats....strange but definitely serving the purpose fopr which it was built . The way to the Wat Pu was fairly easy. As soon as we got there we were quite struck by what we found....we expected a much larger temple... but when we started our visit we soon realised that it was worth the while.

Wat Phou (Vat Phu) is a ruined Khmer temple complex. It is located at the base of mount Phu Kao, some 6 km from the Mekong river in Champasak province. There was a temple on the site as early as the 5th century, but the surviving structures date from the 11th to 13th centuries. The temple has a unique structure, in which the elements lead to a shrine where a linga was bathed in water from a mountain spring. The site later became a centre of Theravada Buddhist worship, which it remains today. The temple was naturally dedicated to Shiva, while the water from the spring which emerges directly behind the temple was considered sacred.

The way up to the temple was a tough but rewarding one as we could see all of Champasak beneath us.

On our way out we stopped at the museum where various monuments of the different gods were in exhibition, including Shiva. We made our way back to the ferry boat where we saw a hilarious scene. A truck full of vegetables was coming down from the ferry and up the road. Given that the way is a little bit steep and sandy, and given that the truck was overloaded, whilst the driver was not a good driver... the truck got stuck in the sand. Both the people on the boat and on the truck spent the next ten minutes trying to move the van, with all the other vehicles waiting to get down. After some pushing, pulling and maneuvering they managed. Some other vehicles shared the same faith but to a lesser extent.

We had an early night that night as we had to wake up early the following morning for our very own loop...

The Bolevan Plateau loop (19.01.2008 to 22.01.2008)

What you can see above is the map we used, coupled with another one, for our tailor-made loop : Pakse - Tad Lo - Ban Beng - Tha Teng - Sekong - Pak Song - Pakse. In all it took us four days but it was so worth it....

Situated on the north east of Champassak province, the plateau covers parts of Salavan, Attapeu and Sekong provinces. The plateau is fertile farmland specialising in coffee, tea, cardamom and fruit. The plateau houses a dozen mainly animist ethnic minorities, including Laven, Alak, Katou, Ta-Oy, Houne, Ngai and Suk communities.

We started off targeting to sleep in Tad Lo for our first night (85 km). On our way to Tad Lo we stopped in Tad Paxuam which had one of the most beautiful waterfalls we ever saw. We stopped there for around an hour, taking in the beauty of the place, and made our way to Tad Lo. We arrived there at around 15:00 and had a very hard time finding accommodation. The reason behind this was a wedding, which was being held the day after, so most rooms had already been taken. We were lucky to find a small, basic hut for 30,000 kip. As soon as we were settled we went to check out two of the three waterfalls in Tad Lo. One of them was very nice and Yakof made a dip into it while Janet laid relaxed on some of the nearby rocks. We closed the evening with a delicious meal at Tad Lo Lodge. Janet's fish with coconut sauce was simple delicious!

The next day we set off early in order to make a good time to Sekong (95 km). The only bad road we found was a 30km dirt road. We arrived in Sekong at around noon and went hunting for an accommodation, which we found pretty soon. We asked around to find out where the waterfalls were and decided to go to one of them : Tad Feak. These waterfalls, due to the season, were not so impressive. We saw some monks getting on the other side and swimming. We did not have a lot of choice for dinner as there was only one place open (again due to another wedding celebration) !!

Our third day was the big travelling day : 150 km from Sekong to Pakxong (90 km of which was a quite challenging dirt road). We managed to find the turning to the dirt road quite easily as there was a huge sign signalling to Pakxong. The reason why we decided to undertake this road instead of backtracking was to see Katamtok Waterfall....a waterfall springing out of the forest. The 90 km dirt road turned out not to be that difficult if done carefully.....and the surrounding forest was amazing. After driving for a while we thought we had missed the waterfall....until at a certain point we saw it......as beautiful as we expected it to be....just out of nowhere this beautiful cascade jumped out of the lush forest to feast on our eyes....at that point we realised that the difficult road was so really worth it!

We happily set off for the rest of our journey. We were aware that the last part of the road was "tarmacked" and we had to be careful as there were a lot of potholes to be found; but nothing prepared us for what we were going to see. It was not that there were a lot of potholes in the road... it was a matter of having a lot potholes with some road in between. And we are not kidding... when the americans said they landed on the moon they must have landed in this road in Laos :) Yakof zig zaged his way through the little road there was available (and please do consider the fact that at times we had vehicles coming head on towards us!).

We arrived in Pakxong safely, and eventually to Tad Fane Resort exhausted from this long ride. It was 330 km since the start of our journey. We were glad we had 'granted' ourselves an overnight stay in this beautiful resort... which was right next to Tad Fane waterfalls....another set of waterfalls which were impressive. We had lunch and rested for a little while, went round the market and got ready for dinner. The food was very good. We made our way back to our bungalow, only to find that some toiletries that Janet had put in the bag where out of the bag, like the deodorants, and she could not understand why. Eventually she realised that some of the clothes lying next to the toiletries bag were stained with some kind of liquid...which she found out to be deodorant liquid. But how the hell could this have happened given the deodorant was a roll on. The answer soon arrived as she picked up the container and saw two distinctive holes next to each other....clearly indicating a bite. At that point the two of us were looking at each other and Yakof went to call the manager.

When he saw the deodorant bottle and the destroyed talc powder bottle (which Yakof discovered underneath the bed), the manager laughed. We could not understand what was so funny and he told us that a rat came into the room and there were many running around...and he laughed again. Still we were not seeing anything amusing in this. We asked him to change the room, which he promptly did. But that was not the end of the story. Yakof was pissed of about what happened as we would have to spend money in replacing the stuff we lost. So we decided to go and speak to the manager to get at least refunded of the things we lost.

The manager promised us to speak to his boss the day after, which he did. We got refunded for the full night's accommodation !!! So, all is well that ends well.

In the morning we set off to our last stop in this loop : Tad Huak Khon Waterfall. Again, these waterfalls were amazing. We spent there most of the morning and headed back to Pakse.

This loop was an unforgettable one....the Bolaven Plateau is something no one should miss as it offers amazing waterfalls, beautiful sunsets and a rewarding experience.

'Nice' welcome in Pakse

We did not expect the welcome we received once we were back at the guesthouse. Janet went upstairs while Yakof went to get back the backpacks from the locker room. But we had a problem. Someone, very smart, had attached his old squarish red luggage to Yakof's backpack with a bike chain. As if this was not already irritating on its own, the guys at the guest house were not letting us cutting the chain!! Yakof refused to removed his strap since it was made not to be removed and he was not sure whether he would be able to get it back in, and, at the end of the day, why should he suffer any damages for someone else wrong doings??!!

So, the guesthouse's owner was called and he asked us many questions to make sure that the back pack was ours, then he asked us to give him our phone number which we did, then he wanted to take a photo, which we refused. Things were getting more frustrating by the minute and we asked for the police to come....at least they would solve the matter. Some people came, amongst them a translator, and some other guys. They all went inside discussing the matter, leaving us waiting....and time went by until finally the 'real' police came, he wanted to remove Yakof's strap, which Yakof refused. End of the story : Yakof was taken to the police station where he had to sign a police report in Laos saying what happened and that Laos police did everything to solve the case !!! Then they tried to remove Yakof' strap which they did not managed, until eventually Yakof gave up and did it himself. He got back to the guesthouse, and the other person's luggage and strap were left undamaged.

After this experience we just wanted to get out of Pakse and so we booked our tickets to Si Phan Don (4,000 Islands) straight away. Lesson to remember: The police will only make matters worse.

For pictures click here:

Thakek

09.01.2008 to 10.01.2008

It's been a month since the last time we updated our blog but so many things happened since then. We were either too busy or the computers we found were too slow to even attempt updating the blog from them.

So what happened next ? ........

We moved from Vientiane to Thakek using public transport, for the first time. The experience was quite interesting. We were the only foreigners on the bus and all the locals were looking at us with curiosity. Given we had missed breakfast, we were expecting to manage to buy something from the bus station, but there were no food stands there....and we soon discovered why. As soon as the bus took off we saw around seven people running towards the bus. At first we thought that they were late and running to catch the bus... but it turned out that they were street/bus vendors... and they had it all : chicken, rice, crisps, water, fruit!

The whole bus trip took around six hours including three stops :

(1) Pee stop in the bushes

(2) Lunch stop

(3) Market stop, where they unloaded the loads of vegetables which were sharing the bus with us :)

We arrived at Thakek Travel Lodge where we managed to find a good room for 50,000 kip. We spent the remainder of the day lazing out and making plans for the 'famous' LOOP.

The day after Janet spent some hours reading the Travel Lodge log book in order to get the latest information on the Loop. At the end of the day we had all the information we needed, met with Mr. Ku, a very nice man from whom we rented our bike, and studied the map. We were ready to set off the following day.....

The Loop (11.01.2008 to 14.01.2008)

The loop was an ínteresting' experience. We cannot quite say it was the maximum you can get, but looking back at it, it could have been done with so much less hassle (though we must say that it definetely served the purpose of gaining experience on a bike).

We set off from Thakek and ended up in Lak Sao the first day. This meant a twelve hour bike ride.

Our first stop was at Tam Xieng Liab cave, a small cave with water passing through. What made it nice and fun, was the fact that our guides were all young kids who knew the place blindly (have to say they were a little bit expensive as we gave them $1 each, and there was six of them). They escorted us into the cave and posed for several photos.

Our second stop was along the way... we had to stop to look for Yakof's sandals as they fell off from the bike. Luckily we managed to find them both!

Our third stop was close to Mahaxay, where we stopped to have an ice cold drink....and we definitely did get that as Yakof's drink was a can full of ice :) The kids there were great and Yakof showed them the 'finger trick'.

The roads were really heavy as there were a lot of road works going on... so basically roads full of sand, dust, big trucks and holes. Eventually we arrived in Thalang, where we were planning to spend the night at. We had to change our plans when the guesthouse owner did not turn up after we waited for an hour. At four we decided to head to Lak Sao. It would be dark until we reached the place but we had no choice. We got there at 8 o' clock at night, through some rough roads full of pot-holes and having to stop in a village to mend a punctured tyre.

Luckily we managed to find a good hotel where we could have a hot shower....after those twelve hours we had turned brown from the dust....we looked disgusting. We had dinner and collapsed in bed.

Day 2 much nicer (the road being, way better!!). The trip from Lak Sao to Nahin was very scenic... some of the nicest areas we had seen since we had been travelling. There were many small villages on the way, with kids waving out sabaidee at us.

We had two very nice stops. One was at Tha Bak, a small picturesque village where they have bomboats (boats made out of missiles). The second one was at a particular scenic point where we could see Nahin and Kong Lo... impressive! Finally we arrived at Mi Thuna where we stopped to have lunch. The food was excellent, and the place was so nice that we decided to stay there for the night. We spent the rest of the day sleeping, going for a short walk and playing with the monkeys and dogs at the guesthouse. The highlight of it all was JACKY, an amazing 5-month old puppy.

The following day, we set off to Kong Lo Cave. Again the road to the cave was not an easy one. On our way there Janet had to get off the bike as there was a small stream of mud, in which she amazingly enough, managed to slip :) We made it to the cave at midday and headed straight to our cave tour, which was impressive! The cave is 7km long and pitch black dark. The trip entailed a ride with a long boat, which stopped us every now and again to walk walk along the side, as the water level was too low to pass through with our weight on. At first we thought that 100,000 kip was a lot to hire a boat, eventually we had to change perspective, for it was a great experience and money well spent. Our plans of doing a homestay changed, and given that it was too late to get back to Thakek, we decided to stay for another night at Mi Thuna, in Na Hin. As soon as we got there we took a shower and Yakof went to wash the bike as it was full of dirt. During dinner we met Kevin, whom we had met back at Thakek Lodge. He is South African who has been living in England for the past five years. His trip started off from China and was going to end at his native country. He mainly travels with his bicycle and we were impressed that he managed to make such a long way by bike.

[ check out his blog: http://www.explorebybike.blogspot.com/ ]

That night Yakof got very sick and spent most of the night in the toilet throwing up. We everntually managed to sleep at around 4 o' clock in the morning. Though Yakof had fully recovered as yet, we set off for the 140km trip back to Thakek. With many 'drinking' stops along the way we managed to arrive at the guest house at around 15:30. Yakof dropped dead in bed and Janet updated her journal and had something to eat.

The next day we decided to take it easy as Yakof was still a bit sick. We spent most of the day on the internet, reading and relaxing. The day after we set off to our next destination....Pakse.

For pictures click here: