Abandon All Hope

Arrival in Ban Lung

Spiders in a bucket. Will be fried and sold for consumption.

After ten hours in a bus, seeing Fast Five in Khmer and Apocalypto - what a movie! -  in Mayan, being offered spiders as a snack (didn't do it) and bumping into Matteo again in Phnom Penh, the reception at the 'new' Ban Lung bus station was heartwarming. By heartwarming, I mean the blood boiling, headache inducing kind of reception that makes you squeeze your hands into fists so hard your knuckles turn white.

As the bus station is new, it wasn't on any of our maps, but it didn't take a genius to figure out we were not in Ban Lung itself. This pretty much ruled out walking the way to the village and bypassing the motorcyclists and tuktuks. After a lot of no thank you's and waving of hands, I got into a tuktuk with three backpackers I'd never seen before and was taken to some guesthouse which payed the tuktukdriver a commission to get us there. After the usual formalities of looking at a room and haggling for a price, I turned around and set out for the Tree Top Lodge.

That took me straight through Ban Lung, grumpy and belligerent as ever, but in the end I ended up at the right place.

A gift from the US of A, this one actually exploded

DutchCo

Logging

Having settled in Ban Lung, I went looking for Rik's Café. From there, a Dutch guy organizes highly reputable trekking tours throughout the region. Out here, you can't really do proper treks on your own and it's low season, so I was going to need some luck if I were to do a trek around here. There, I heard that there might be a possibility that I could join a trek two days later. Rik was honest about the whole thing, telling me I shouldn't get my hopes up.

Anyway, I spent some time talking to this Dutchman, as I was curious to know why he was here, what he thought of CBET's, the current state of Cambodia and what the future had in for him. This is one of those times where I don't say much about it and tell you to read my book when I finish it, if it gets written, as what he, and a lot of other people, had to say was quite shocking.

The end of touristic Cambodia in a nutshell, although it needs a dollar bill to finish it off.

Having to wait two days for word if I can go trekking or not, I needed some entertainment. This was provided in bigger quantity than I bargained for.

Cho Ang Waterfall

Road

Renting bikes, the easiest thing ever. Tree Top lent me one for a dollar a day and I set out for the Chu Ang Waterfall, supposedly the most spectacular of  three present in the area. Thanks to Rik from DutchCo, I didn't miss the road that leads to the waterfall which was tucked away behind a gas station. Roughly thirty seconds after a gentle turn to the right I was sprawled out on the dirt road, with my bicycle rolling down the hill without me. Right, wet season! The dirt road was hard and slippery and was kind enough to provide me with the bruises on my butt to prove it.

Onwards it went, coming across a lot of logged forest, a village and a couple of pigs. The entrance was guarded by a girl in a hammock, I paid the 2000 riels and went inside.

Also present in Cambodia: idiots

Now, the rest of the experience through video footage.

Trying to film something ridiculous

Nighttime Visitor

Suspenseful music to be added later.

Boek Laeng Yaom Lake

The lake

The next day, I took another bike to Boek Laeng Yaom Lake. This volcanic lake is supposedly one of the biggest attractions Cambodia has to offer. Expectations were high, so was the entry ticket (1,75 dollars for foreigners on a bicycle, 0,125 dollars for locals). 

I'm a spoiled brat, that must be it. When I laid my eyes on this lake, I immediately thought of the Plitvice Lakes in Croatia. Back in the day, I was an intolerable kid that complained all the time about everything, giving my parents a hard time for dragging me to yet another place in another country I could give a damn about. One of those trips led to Croatia and eventually these lakes and waterfalls. Well, that place blows this place out of the water. They have more trash laying around here, though. Garbage bins are everywhere. These are practically empty as the plastic and garbage is slowly becoming a part of the walking path.

It's so tragic it's funny.

Millipede?

Grasshopper

Two Days Later

Two days after I started writing this post, it has become apparent that I can't go trekking with DutchCo, which is the first real downer of this trip. 39 Days of being here, you could say I was due for a setback. Today I will explore some alternatives, do the math on my budget and for the first time since Angkor, do a genuine attempt to relax, as I'm starting to feel the strain of being up and about all the time. It's also time to let all the information I've gathered over the past few weeks sink in, as there is a lot more to Cambodia than meets the eye. And almost none of it is good.