Happy New Year

We ran into a couple of Aussies during our brief stop in Stung Treng on the day we crossed into Cambodia. They had just finished a month in Cambodia and told us that a highlight had been the Mondulkiri province in the east. So, because of the recommendation, and the fact that we were keen to see some of the Cambodia that exists off the most well-worn trail, we decided to go there.

The people we met estimated the trip would take about three hours. Naturally it didn’t (try nine). The first part was three hours in a tuk tuk with two vomiting children at our feet (they shared a bag), then we waited at a town called Snoul for about two hours, then we, 18 other people and LOTS of luggage piled into a ute for another five hours. At this point I’d like to point out that while in Laos the standard budget transport is the tuk tuk, in Cambodia it’s just a plain ute. They don’t worry about the roof or benches, everyone just piles in. We thought the Laos people had mastered the act of fitting as many people as possible in a vehicle, but they have nothing on Cambodians. We stood there in a kind of amused and incredulous disbelief as we watched them fill the ute with luggage (see first picture) wondering how the hell the 20 passengers were going to fit. But we did. (Five in front, three on roof and 12 on the back (see second pic). Niels and two Italians we met, Emi and Andrea, were the lucky ones on the roof.
The scenery on the trip was beautiful – lush rainforest-covered mountains that made way to rolling grassy hills, spinkled with trees, which looked amazingly like home. There were neat pastures and even fences, yet no cows or buffalo. Everywhere else we’ve been, there’ve been cows and buffalo roaming freely, yet here, where there was perfect pastures, none.

We arrived in Sen Monorom, the capital of Mondulkiri in a cold drizzle (What the hell? We’re in Cambodia, in the hot season, it’s supposed to be unbearable heat and we’re freezing?) and wandered through the gate of a guest house that had been recommended to us. We were met by The Madame, who, with a huge hug for each of us, ushered us into our rooms, all the while talking about a big cow: “Tomorrow we have big cow, you eat with me all day, 10 o’clock, we have beer, wine, all free, you eat big cow with me.” ………Okay.

The next morning we got up and had breakfast (as you do). Just as we were finishing The Madame came up to us and pointed to our empty plates. “Why you eat? we have big cow!!” We only had three days in Mondulkiri and an elephant trek planned for the next two, so we wanted to spend the morning exploring the town. We told The Madame that we would go for a walk for a couple of hours then come back. "No (points at clock) 10 o'clock, we have big cow NOW.".......Okay. We wandered over to where the people were gathering and there it was, the big cow on a spit. We got ushered to seats, handed beer and shots of Johnny Walker, which tasted like gold after lao lao (see third pic of Niels with The Madame, Andrea and Emi - note Niels with two drinks in his hands, it was 10am) and helped eat the big cow. We found out that they don't spend every day eating cow and drinking, they were celebrating the Khmer New Year a week early as they were booked out for the actual holiday. We never saw the town.

Andrea and Emi were keen to do a two day elephant trek and as they were fun, and it sounded like fun, we decided to join them. The elephants are such beautiful animals - so much character - it's so funny how they constantly stop to pick up some fruit to eat, or a tree, or pick up a stick and use it to scratch themselves. They also occasionally curl up their trunk sideways and put it in their mouth - I think you may have had to be there, but trust us, it's really cute. The trek took us deep into the jungle, which apparently still contains wild elephants and tigers, we didn't see any, but the fact that they are there gives an idea of how pristine the area is. Our guides were amazing, one was a young boy, whose skill and rapport with his elephant was wonderful to see. The other was a young man with a very deformed leg, but his agility and strength were such that you soon forgot about his disability - you should have seen him climb up a lychee tree to get some fruit. Speaking of the fruit, our guides picked about four different types for us from the forrest. The best was these tiny green mangoes that were really sour but SO nice... the lychees dipped in sugar weren't bad either. So there we were, riding through the jungle on elephants, eating wild fruit from the forrest - nice - apart from the fact that the seats on the elephants were really uncomfortable, but hey, can't really complain. We slept in a wooden shack that didn't leak too much in the massive thunder storm that night.

From Mondulkiri we headed east. The ute ride from Mondulkiri to Kompong Cham made every other journey we've made seem like limosine rides - we were dreaming of the Laos tuk tuks. We don't know how many people were packed onto that vehicle, but it was well over 20. From Kompong Cham, us and the Italians treated ourselves to an airconditioned taxi for the last 150km to Kompong Thom, where we spent the night.

In Kompong Thom we checked into a plush hotel for the grand price of $US4 a night - there was sky TV and an ensuite - sweet. We handed the receptionist a $20 bill which he looked at, said "can't accept" and turned away to serve some other people, ignoring us completely. When we finally got his attention again, he pointed to a tiny tear in the note. As we were tired, Niels made a bit of a scene, melodramatically examining a new note to make sure it was pristine. We went up to our room and, the first time we flushed the toilet, it overflooded. Niels went down to ask the receptionist to come and look at it. Half an hour later he did, said "Okay, I get my friend" and left. We assumed this meant he was getting a maintenance guy. Another half an hour later Niels went back down and, after being ignored again, asked the man if we could just swap rooms. "No, we're all full". So he asked how long it was going to be. "How long until what?" "Until someone comes to fix our toilet?" "Sorry, can't fix." "Well can we have our money back?" "You can have half because you broke my toilet." Needless to say, we weren't impressed (by this late hour of the day, tired and hungry, Niels was pretty close to violence), but at the end of the day, we were only out of pocket $2 and he got a shitty toilet!