Banlung

Sunday, 14 March

UP at 07H00, my eyes are still swollen, but not as much as yesterday, but my legs are still swollen, must be the heat. I decided not to put on make up as we'll just be in the jungle today, will be hot and sticky. Had the usual breakfast, the dogs had some of Dylan's thick and chewy apple pancake. I was under the impression we would be travelling by car, as that's what we were told when we paid $50 for the day. Not so - we got onto the back of a bakkie, together with two French girls and two French guys who were going to stay in the jungle overnight. The moment we hit the dirt road, CLOUDS of red dust enveloped us. The bakkie was kicking up dust and dust was also thrown up by all the passing traffic. At one point we just couldn't breath at all. Dylan got the worst of it, as he was sitting at the furthest point away from the cab. We travelled about 10 kms like that and everyone looked like they had emerged from the Sahara desert when we reached the destination - a piece of open ground next to an open air eating place (definitely not what we would call a restaurant). We dusted ourselves down as best we could and Song set off with the French people in one direction and we followed Riaad and what we gathered was a park ranger (you'd never know, just dressed in old shorts, shirt and slip slops). We walked down the red gravel road for 300 metres, getting covered in dust every time a vehicle went past - the dust is like fine powder, if you stamp your foot or even when you walk, you send up puffs of the powder. Eventually we turned down a path and walked next to a cashew plantation in hot sunshine and after 20 minutes descended quite quickly by about 120 metres and finally found some shade under the jungle vegetation. We followed the ranger along the path and I found it rather frustrating looking at the plants and trees and not knowing what they are. Riaad didn't know. Some were similar to plants they sell in nurseries in South Africa, the bamboo though grows to 3 cm diameter and 6 to 8 meters high. The one palm has thorns on its stems and the one tree has the most beautiful spots on its trunk. We saw lots of evidence of tree felling and cut up planks, ready to be carted away and used to make furniture and build houses and we also came across a fire which was luckily burning very slowly and stretched over a very big area. It seems the fire doesn't get out of control, just the low growing grasses and small shrubs burn and often not entirely. The ranger was completely unperturbed.

We stopped for lunch at 13H00 and sat under the trees on fallen leaves - we were all a bit worried about red ants, all having been bitten by them, but the midges were the only insects bothering us. I was not fast enough to photograph some beautiful large butterflies. Lunch was not great to say the least, small polystyrene containers with lots of cold sticky rice, a few small strips of chewy pork, strips of omelette and a small plastic bag of soya sauce for seasoning. I had a few mouthfuls and closed up the container - I'm sure someone else will eat it. That was washed down with bottled water, I just stay thirsty in this country! We carried on with the jungle trek, I wanted to stop and try and find the birds calling in the trees, but only saw a few small ones, very high up. It was so hot, I was starting to think the expedition would never end. About 1,5 hours later, Dylan was clearly also not enjoying the up and down trek, as his knee was hurting again. The ranger cut each of us a bamboo stick and we started walking faster to get out of there. I asked the ranger to cut me a 2M length of the thicker bamboo, which I hoped to bring back to South Africa and then had to carry that the rest of the way! Dylan was racing to get back, so we all walked fast too and then my head started pounding again! At times like these I really question my sanity on agreeing to such activities. I had just wanted to get into the jungle to look at the flora and fauna - not trek across it in extremely hot temperature!! Both Dylan and I were only too happy to meet up again at the roadside eating place. A Coke and cigarette had never tasted so good! The usual dirty animals were around, brown puppies trying to keep cool under tables, chickens with their chicks and two filthy, dusty ducks, I'm sure with no water in which to swim! Everyone rides scooters and motorbikes in Cambodia, I wanted a 7 year old boy take his 4 year old sister for a ride down the road. We had to wait a while for our pick-up and I was not relishing getting into the back again, but the driver had cargo on the back, so we had to get into a very uncomfortable seat behind the driver, sort of like a double cab without the second set of doors. The driver and his wife didn't bother winding up the windows when other traffic threw up dust clouds, so we still got the treatment, just not as bad.

Back at Lake View, had a refreshing shower and washed my hair, I'm having to wash my hair every day now, thank goodness it's so short. Washed clothes again in the shower, they are always dry in the morning because it's so hot and we hang them in places under the fan. One feels like a million bucks once you've cleaned up. Did some stretches, my lower back and neck are very stiff, I managed to click some vertebrae into place, but I could still do with some physio work. I plan to have a massage in Bangkok before we come home. We will definitely take a large bus back to Kratie, not ever another mini van! Wrote the journal, always seem to stay a day behind.

Chatted to some Dutch tourists at supper, I finally had the batter fried pork and sweet and sour chilli sauce and rice. Dylan had ginger beef and I think Colin had chicken with rice. chatted to Weyne. Dylan went to check on pretty blonde Kelly, who had badly hurt her foot when she pierced the side of it, by standing on a sharp piece of bamboo sticking out of the ground. The doctor had prescribed antibiotics as everyone apparently picks up infections when they hurt themselves badly. Went to sleep at 21H00, very hot! But the fan makes some difference.