The Village

Arrived in Ban Lung, the north of Cambodia. Added photos and videos to this entry.


Chi Phat

Chi Phat

Getting to Chi Phat was fun. Leaving the sleaze of Sihanoukville behind, I hopped off the bus to Koh Kong around halfway and wound up in a town called Andoung Tuek. There I was welcomed by one (ONE !!!) motorcycle driver who offered me the ride to Chi Phat for 5 dollars. The result was 45 minutes of bumpy dirt track riding through rainforest and grassland. Chi Phat used to be famous for its loggers and poachers, but now it is part of a Community Based EcoTourism program in which tourists are welcome to live in the village, socialize, learn and do some trekking. They can do this in fancy ecolodges (not that immersive), guesthouses (sort of immersive) and homestays  (the real deal). I choose the last option, as it was also the cheapest.

This is what you work with, so improvise

Chi Phat is in the Cardamom Mountains, which aren't really mountains, but the pictures that will be added to this blog will provide further clarification. This is again pretty protected forest, but it didn't stop a Chinese, Singaporean and Cambodian conglomerate trying to build a titanium mine dead in the center of this thing. That was prevented by the Wildlife Alliance, more on these people later.

Forza Italia

Adventure!

All you need to have some crazy kind of fun on a jungle trek are, as it turns out, a Cambodian guide, a Canadian girl and  four somewhat crazy Italians. Acting completely on impulse in joining this lot, we nailed a 22 km full day trek in half that time, because the Nell (the Canadian girl) and Matteo, Marco, Paulo and the other guy (who's name I keep on forgetting - sorry -) had to catch their bus in the early afternoon. The result was, among other things, a leech on almost every one of us - all of us live to tell about it - swimming in/under/behind a waterfall and getting the roughest massage shower thanks to another one, which also had bats.

Dropoff

We went into the jungle, were ferried across a river in a water hungry wooden boatlike contraption, walked in the tall grass and waded through all kinds of stream, ponds and waterfalls. Add some pigs, cows, birds, butterflies, waterbuffels, bugs, leeches and a chicken or two and you've got yourself the whole package. Oh, and a thunderstorm.

Taking showers

Wildlife Alliance

Logged

This NGO is behind the CBET program in Chi Phat. I need to read up on these folks and, in the meantime, suggest you do the same. I've spoken to one of the employers of this in France based NGO and they do what they can in this - to put it lightly - unpredictable country. They have a reforestation program -although primary jungle is lost for good-, train poachers and loggers to become guides, train rangers and enforce the law, as the Cambodian government is unable to do it themselves. I've also met Jimmy and Helene, the former from New Zealand, the latter from France, who've been volunteering in the village for a while now. A big part of our conversation involved documentaries, being vegetarian/vegan and Paul Watson, who's still nowhere to be found, apparently. Anyway, I keep on meeting great people on this trip, keep doing great things on this trip and I'm getting my hands, legs and feet dirty so I'm completely happy with this trip.

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Video's