Banlung to Kratie

Monday, 15 March

Today we leave to go back to Kratie and got up at 05H00 to get ready and there was no water! I had to use the purified water to wash my face too. I think they pump water from the lake nearby and only switch it on during the day. When I woke Colin and Dylan at 05H30 there was water. Had breakfast at 06H00 and raced to the bus station on motos and the bus only left at 06H50. This was definitely going to be a more comfortable trip than the mini van. The bus stopped to load some more passengers in small villages and then put some planks in the passage and we thought oh boy, here we go again, but that was the lot. The driver really motored and hooted other small traffic out of the way and we reached Kratie at 12H15. We bought bus tickets to Phnom Penh tomorrow, I think a 5 hour trip and checked in at the Heng Heng hotel again.

We immediately jumped into the shower and washed some clothes and then had the usual noodle and vegetable soup and Coke at the U-Hong restaurant at 14H00. Posted another blog from their PC, I still hope to try and sort out the issue with loading photos. Chatted to a Czech couple who recommend Muine beach in Vietnam. We've been racing through this trip so we have a few days spare. I was thinking of visiting Sihanoukeville and travelling up to the DMZ (demilitarised zone) in Vietnam to see the real Vietcong tunnels at Vinh Moc, which is probably a day's trip from Ho Chi Minh. Everyone says Ho Chi Minh City is not pleasant, just a huge, dirty, busy city.

Went to check on the tiger cub at the Star restaurant and the owner/manager tells me it was killed when some tourists walked in the bathroom where it had been sleeping and stepped on it!!!!! I don't believe it for a minute, but don't know what to think, I'm quite devastated. I had looked up the email address of one of the WWF offices in Cambodia and was going to send them an email with the info and the address of the Star restaurant so they could get involved and collect it. I suspect that they couldn't get it to drink milk or that the milk didn't agree with it and that it died of dehydration or starvation. Colin believes they sold it as it was probably quite valuable. I just can't forgive myself that I didn't do something before we left for Banlung. I can still feel it in my hands and hear it mewling. I went back to my room to carry on with the journal and have a big sobbing cry about the cub. I've come to the conclusion that this is a very unforgiving and merciless country, where all life, particularly that of animals, is very cheap. Dogs roam around and many seem to have homes, but they are extremely filthy, unkempt, scrawny and clearly not cared for, mostly used as watchdogs, full of fleas, not pets as we know them. The females breed uncontrollably and have litter after litter of pups - demonstrated by their long and stretched nipples, which are often 1 cm long. The dogs are mostly small, black or tan or a mixture and often look like Dingos with large ears. I've not seen many cats and the ones we've seen are quite wild, often with pieces of their tails missing and generally ill fed and mangy.

And the people don't have it much better either, if they have jobs, it is menial work or running small shops or selling crafts. The people in cities seem to do slightly better, but the rural people mostly don't have much education and live under terrible conditions in dust and filth, trying to stay alive by growing some crops and making crafts and running small roadside shops and eating places. They collect water from wells and use oil lamps and candles. But cellphone reception is very good as there are loads of transmitters, even in the most remote locations. Joe (American who owns Mekong Crossing in Kampong Cham) had said that corruption is rife and that everyone pays bribes to get things done. I'm starting to miss home and my cats, who will be smothered with love when we get back. I plan to find some Western food in Phnom Penh as the Khmer food - pork/chicken/beef and bits of beg with fried rice or noodles or pork/chicken/beef, veg and noodle soup are becoming very monotonous now. I guess we'll have to try the bugs in Phnom Penh for a change.

When I'd composed myself a bit, we went to the tiny Internet cafe next to U-Hong as they only had one PC free. I wanted to try and upload photos to the blog from the DVD, but the PC only had a CD ROM. Went to U-Hong for supper, I had fried pork spring rolls and French Fries for supper, too much food, I'm actually not used to eating much food now, Dylan finished them. Went back to the guesthouse at 22H00 and Colin and Dylan discovered that between the two of them they'd left their key at the Internet cafe and it was closed. The manager had to open their door, not impressed with them.