Hello again! We are off on another period of touring in our Earthcruiser. We break the trip from Australia to Europe these days, taking the opportunity to visit some part of the world that we can't do in the Earthcruiser. This time we are visiting Cambodia and Laos.
My brother Neville lives in Cambodia with his wife Phallin and their two kids. We decided to visit them And our other brother Doug and his wife Jenne decided to join us, for a car trip to northern Cambodia and then on into Laos.
This northern part of Cambodia (Preah Vihir) is the birth and death place of Pol Pot and his henchmen. We found his burial place, and some of us took the opportunity to spit on his grave! It was suitably uncared for and derelict we thought.
We also saw the communications centre and headquarters of the Khmer Rouge and Ta Mok, Pol Pot's right hand man. These cages were used for prisoners during their interrogation and torture.
We travelled northwards on surprisingly good roads. The countryside is terribly dry, and there has been a lot of burning off. The air was filled with smoke. We noticed quite a lot of farming along the roads, including tapioca growing, cashews, and rubber plantations. The roadsides were lined with drying tapioca, and groups of people were chopping it up and bagging it. Even little kids had very sharp cleavers and were doing their share of the work.
We stopped in a cashew plantation where we met a young woman (Mon) who had bought rights to harvest the cashews and sell them. She and a few friends were camped in the plantation for the harvest. Picking the nuts is dirty work and the sap is very irritating. The fruit is packed up off the ground and the nut broken off.
Doug and Nev gave her a hand, piling up the left over fruit, which is given to the pigs. The nut is then roasted to make it safe to eat.
A day earlier Doug had decided to bite into a raw cashew nut and experienced severe burning and then numbness on his lips and tongue. He did not swallow anything and had minimal exposure but he really regretted it. He says he thinks it could have been quite severe and possibly fatal if he had swallowed any of the raw nut.
Mon roasted some nuts for us that night over her campfire and we came back in the morning for them. It was a great experience!
Needless to say roasted cashews are served in all of the hotels around here.
With Phallin in the party we had no trouble finding Preah Vihir, the 9th century temple on the Thai border. This temple has been the centre of dispute between the Thais and Cambodians, with shooting occurring periodically. The last shooting was a month ago. We could see the Thai soldiers across the valley and the Cambodian soldiers watching them through telescopes.
We made our way to Ratanakirri province where there is a crater lake, quite like Lake Eacham in Qld. It has beautiful clear water and is surrounded by rainforest. We enjoyed walking in the cool shade.
Then it was off to Stung Treng and the Mekong. Nev and Phallin were to leave us here while we continued on into Laos. We found a great resturaunt on the Mekong for our last meal together. It was especially nice for us because the Spanish chef cooked us vegan dishes!
The Mekong sunset was particularly striking no doubt because of the smoke-filled air.
Next day we said goodbye to Nev and Phallin and boarded our long tail boat for a trip up the Mekong to the Laos border. Except for the loudness of the motor (average 95dB and peaking at 110 dB) and the hard wooden seats the trip was very enjoyable and scenic.
We were met by the minibus we had arranged in Stung Treng and taken the short way to the border. We were glad we had arranged our Laos visas in Australia when we saw the backpacker crowd milling about trying to negotiate the fees. And the air conditioned late model minibus was a welcome retreat from the heat as we left for Laos.
