Kratie to Banlung

Friday, 12 March

Got up at 06H00, finished packing, U-Hong for breakfast, roll and jam and made my own coffee with boiling water, Dylan had a roll and scrambled eggs, Colin had a roll and cheese.

Put the backpacks in Heng Heng's lock-up, caught the mini bus to Banlung, poor Dylan was told to move right to the back after they had loaded a whole lot of luggage in the back, strapped other luggage, including our bag on the outside of the back door, fastened a motorbike to the back and packed boxes and bags of produce underneath the seats in the bus and on the floor! Including the driver there were 25 people in the bus, two were small children, this was going to be uncomfortable!

The mini bus left Kratie at 09H30, pit stop at 11H30 for some people to grab a quick bite to eat. We were really crammed in like sardines, but until that point we had been on tar and I had opened the sliding window on my side to get some fresh air. From then on we were on a dusty gravel road and had to close all windows. the suspension on the van and the seats had seen better days! Every now and then the taxi would go over a big bump and come back with a bang and I could hear Dylan moan in agony in the back seat. Eventually I said he should take 2 Panados to dull the pain in his knee and we all snacked on the prawn chips and bottled water. He couldn't lean back in his seat because their backrest had been pushed forward to accommodate the luggage, so he just rested his forehead on his forearms on the backrest of our seats and napped a bit. Thankfully the driver had turned on the aircon slightly when we started on the gravel road otherwise we would all have suffocated or fused together from the sweat! The Cambodian music played nonstop, particularly one CD, with one song, which is obviously a pop hit in Cambodia at the moment, I enjoy it, but Dylan's had enough of it.

There wasn't too much to see along the way, just earthworks as they're trying to widen and grade the road, miles of countryside next to the road that has been stripped of trees and some places where they're replanting forests and the usual small houses on stilts. In the one area they were all painted white - crazy because they get covered in the red dust and then all look cream coloured. The detail over doors and windows as we go north has changed to a triangular pattern, with the wooden planks overlapping each other. All the houses in villages along the road are permanently covered in red dust and probably only get clean when the rain comes.

Finally we reached what looked like the outskirts of a town and it was confirmed that this was Banlung. We were suddenly on a super smart new tarred freeway, but not for long. The driver turned into a side road and from there it was clear that all the other town roads were still sand, but quite smooth. Everything had the red haze from the dust, there are lots of industries, many involving bikes, repairs to bikes and many factories producing the extremely heavy solid wooden furniture we've seen all over Cambodia from the beautiful old trees in the forest. We offloaded some people and the driver pulled into the taxi rank in town. Everyone else got off, but we said we were supposed to be dropped off at our guesthouse, Lake View Lodge. He stopped in the main road where there were lots of guesthouses, but we refused and said he must take us where we want to go. Then he took us to Lake View Lodge, old colonial house which has not been maintained, but which the new? owner is fixing up. Apparently it was the Governor;s house in years gone by. It has a lovely rustic, Colonial, decaying charm, lots of large old trees, solid wooden furniture, beautiful wooden floors, swimming pool on the side with a raised pagoda seating area over one side of the pool, half filled with totally green water. There is an outdoor lapa style restaurant. Rooms are comfortable, but the mosquito screen on my window is completely loose and freestanding, I'm sure the mosquitos know their way into the room. Dylan and Colin have hot water, but I don't, but it doesn't matter in this heat. Chatted to the manager, Riaad (Sophat the owner is in Phnom Penh studying and his wife and Riaad run the place). We arranged a tour of 2 waterfalls, visiting a local tribe and swimming in the Yak Lom crater for $25 per person on 3 motos, which would start at 09H30 tomorrow.

We all showered and changed and Dylan strapped up his knee again, then had supper, Colin: sweet and sour pork and rice, Dylan something with chicken and rice. I didn't want fried rice again, which is invariably quite dry, so had the Thai green curry with pork and steamed rice, totally delicious, lots of sauce.

Dylan went to bed and Colin and I chatted to 73 year old Weyne from Belgium, whose wife passed away a few years ago, so he goes travelling in Southeast Asia every year for a few months, on the cheap.