Busrides, waterfalls and crater lakes - Day 70-73

After we figured we had seen enough of Stung Treng (fyi everyone who tried to stop us from going there: we really liked the town!) we took a bus to Ban Lung, the capitol of the Ratanakiri province. After an extremely bumpy bus ride on a little dirt road through the woods, we arrived in Ban Lung in the dark, and were greeted by a hoard of Guest House owners. Somehow we then ended up on the back of a motorcycle (three separate ones that is), and found ourselves at Lake View Lodge.

Ban Lung is slightly bigger then Stung Treng, and full of life and activity all day around. (In Stung Treng you only mostly saw people after sunset, when they'd all gather for a pick-nick in the 'park', ie. sidewalk). The first day we mostly explored the market, but on the second we rented some (semi broken) bicycles, and tried to find somewhere to swim.
Although we had no map, we actually found a waterfall where we could swim, and basically stayed there all day with a couple of local guys. After finally managing to leave the place, although not wanting to, we biked back into town, had a late lunch and showered (the heat...! But especially: the dirt. Red dust gives you an awesome fake tan) before jumping on our bikes again and head for crater lake.

The Crater Lake was very round, and very deep. (50 meters) The best part was though the warm water - we could have stayed in the water for ages. Which we did. Thus having to bike back into town in pitch dark.... probably not the smartest thing to do, but it was an experience.

The next day we said goodbye to our 'siblings' at Lake View Lodge, and got on the 6.30 bus towards Phnom Penh. Yet another delightful 11 hour bus ride with people in front of you throwing up.. constantly. Who said the roads in Laos were bad?? As long as we kept our eyes on the road, and could distract ourselves by eating fresh pineapple and baguette, while making the entire bus listen to our music from our loudspeakers, we had quite an okay bus ride though, and 11 hours on a bus doesn't even feel like a long time after China....

So at the moment we're in Phnom Penh, the capitol. It's big, it's busy and we're on a semi tight schedule. So I'm off to explore the city with Ruut and Sophia now... if Sophia's woken up, that is.

.....and then we couldn't upload anymore pictures since we're over the limit. Mom, buy us more space?

Last Days in Laos & Entering Cambodia - Day 68-70

Stung Treng... Apparently not THE place to be here in Cambodia. Even the locals diss it and try feverishly to sell us tickets out of here. People seem to think we have ended up here against our wills or something. "There's nothing to see there. Buy a ticket to Phnom Penh. I can drive you to Ban Lung. When are you leaving? You should go to Seam Riep."

The Cambodia we've seen so far couldn't be more different from Laos. The people here are a lot more profit oriented and try to make extra cash at every turn. Hence the "stamp fees" at the border which S and I tried to refuse paying, which didn't turn out to be such a huge success. Our advice is: Just pay them or else, prepare for trouble. Oh, and hand the bribe money to them with care, otherwise they'll start whining and whimping. Besides bribing bargaining is apparently also customary, so we'll have to start practicing.

Just when our (read my) longing for Laos was starting to reach epic proportions, a girl at the seamstress we visited (to get Hanna's clothes fixed) invited us to visit her school, Eastern International School. Again we were reminded of how lucky we are in Finland to get free education, and to have everything handed to us on silver plates. The pupils paid for everything ranging from tuition fees to bicycle parking.Some kids went hungry as they had to pay for school and thus couldn't afford proper meals. Bribing the teacher was also common, just another way of getting ahead in life.

The English class we participated in consisted mostly of oral practice. Them talking to us. Us trying to interpret their questions and answering them. The class ended with e-mail swapping and a photo session. The Cambodians seem to be more like the Chinese in this regard. They looove taking pictures and looking at them. Even had to pose with the principal.
The teaching standard  wasn't exactly splendid, but since they were taught conversational English I suppose the grammar was of less importance. It's always fun to spend time with your local peers!

Bye Bye Laos, hello Cambodia. We really should start learning some Khmer now.

//R