A river, a sunburn and the fabled Cardamom Mountains

Back to Cambodia for a heartbeat...

Along with some other RDI volunteers I took a trip to Koh Kong, a place near the Thai border in southern Cambodia.

It was a really interesting trip that took us across rice paddies with the strange looking water buffalo, rivers that were dredging up white sands to fill in distant lands in Singapore and nearby lakes in Phnom Penh, to bus stops with yummy coconut cakes, and winding through the cardamom mountains, and skirting the gulf of Thailand.

It was a long bus trip, but an interesting one. Oh, and I shouldnt forget to mention that the bus hit a moto and its driver about 5 minutes after we left the station (arguably the moto hit the bus), but it still caused us about a 2 hour delay, chilling outside the police station. It sucked, but the woman seemed distressed, and for all the lack of justice in this country, I was happy that this driver was reprimanded for doing something wrong...he tried to just drive away.

While we were in Koh Kong we stayed at some cool guesthouses and hotels, and took a trip up the river that runs along side the town up for about 45 min on a motor boat to a smooth-rocked water fall...it kind of reminded me of the French River in Ontario, with different vegetation...and rolling mountains in the background...but still. We explored and relaxed on the big old rocks and swam in the water and time just slipped by and got very sunburnt!

It was surprisingly peaceful and deserted even just outside of town. There were a few houses along the river banks, but mostly the banks were covered in mazes of mangrove forests and islands. We didn't see very much wildlife, though on the drive in I saw a warning road sign for elephants...like the ones you see at home for deer or moose. I thought that was pretty cool!

The water was also quite clean, although supposedly upstream they are constructing a damn, so that could change the quality of the water in the future.

While in our hotel we relaxed by the beautiful pool, had some drinks, watched a movie and ate some yummy food. On our last night we had dinner at a lovely french restaurant on piers that overlooked the river, and had a beautiful sunset. There is something about the sky in Cambodia that is just so captivating. I think it may be because its so flat here, there is just so much sky to see...spoken like a born and raised urbanite who isn't used to seeing so much sky!

Warning, elephant crossing!

We swam upstream of this river - it was cleaner there!

Our boat ride up the river

Cardamom mountains in the distance...you had to be there to appreciate it!

our boat

Is that a person in the distance on the rock??

Oui! C'est moi! I swam and climbed all over these cool rocks! Oh to explore

Where the sunburning happened. We also were able to slide down the rocks like a water slide! Now, its not advisable to swim in freshwater in developing countries...I may have schistosomiasis or some such bug now.

The waterfalls

Some of the cool vegetation around us

Mangroves! Mangrove forests are truly fascinating...living in salt and fresh water...mazes of islands dotted the river as we went up, and on the way back we ventured into some of them...super cool...almost uninhabitable, for lack of actual land on these islands. It reminded me of the weird island that Pi comes upon in life of Pi...

And here are some pictures of the main hotel we stayed at - it was fantastic!

Relaxing hammocks...hammocks are very very common in Cambodia, not just at nice hotels but in everyones homes!

And that was Koh Kong. There were also jungle treks that you can do from there in nearby national parks that would have been amazing to do, perhaps another time!

To the market - Lombok

Waking up early to a nice view of Mt. Rinjani, we headed off on horse-drawn carriages to the market. The market reminded me more of the market in Damongo, Ghana almost more than others I'd seen in Indonesia. It was colourful and each seller only sold a few things. The ride was the most fun part! (as usual, the ponies were tiny, and we felt bad they had to pull us as we are huge...but then from the market you see that they pull huge loads of rice and veggies, so i didnt feel as bad)

Andy testing some of the local tobacco, what a guy!
The pink blocks are shrimp paste and I think it smells horrendous!

On the road

Driving around Lombok was almost just as enjoyable as the sites themselves. The road is along the coast the whole way so there are stunning shots of deserted beaches and the Bali Sea and other islands in the distance. And a big old sky. We stopped at this look out point that overlooked the 3 gili islands and there was a whole flock of sail boats headed for Bali presumably... I miss sailing and wanted to join them.

Our ride was this fabulous van that carted us around the island. It was a little cramp, but I always enjoyed it and our drivers were cool...and strong, throwing up our huge bags on top of it!

The sand is black on Lombok because it is volcanic...it was sparkling in the sun - like a clear night sky filled with shining stars

Around the northwest side of Lombok it got very, very dry and rocky. At one point we passed some tents where people lived and sat all day breaking rocks to earn their living. Next time I complain about my job, I'll think of them.



One of our beach side rest-stops.
Along one of our drives the air was so sweet smelling and we were told it was the cashew fruit. Eventually we stopped and grabbed a fruit, you can see the cashew on the top! Very cool.

Long drives are also a good way to get to know your travel companions as you have long stretches of road to learn about someone and learn about yourself in verbalizing your own story.

Artisans on Lombok

On my travels around Lombok we visited some villages that specialized in weaving and pottery. We also had a delicious meal full of my indonesian favourites, including fried chicken, sambal, fried rice, baby jackfruit curry, lots of greens, and fried noodles...oh so much yummy food!

All the artisans were women, it was women's work for generations and generations and they learn from a young age. The men know about the basics though as they help their mom's out when they are young.

This woman is weaving bamboo into various things, mostly various shaped baskets. One of the girls there made me a cute bamboo weaved ring.

The food!!

Our guide was describing how some women dye their own thread, that is what this woman is doing here. More natural colours, are natural, and bright crazy colours are not. Pretty straight forward! But the process is lengthy and impressive.

We were told it can take anywhere from a week to a couple months to finish a length of cloth, depending on the complexity of the pattern and the thread count. They either choose the pattern themselves or people can request one. Sometimes the younger ones make mistakes (no surprise there, it would be impossible not to with thousands of different little strings) and there is a 'cloth doctor' who is an older more experienced weaver who could be called upon to help correct errors.


We also wandered around a town where their main trade was pottery, and it was impressive to watch this woman at work. She can make about 20-30 of these pots in an 8 hour work day. Check out the video below to get a glimpse of her finishing this one off.

These communities were quite poor in comparison with many I saw in Bali. Despite these great skills that these women possess, it doesn't generate a huge amount of money, especially because tourism hasnt really taken off the same way it has in Bali. They are expecting it will increase in the next couple of years with the development of an international airport, which will come as a mixed blessing.