Our bus dropped us on the main highway across southern Cambodia at the foot of a bridge, in the middle of nowhere. A helpful mechanic at a near by roadside 'fixing hut' helped us to find a boat which would take us to Chi Phat. He drove Olly to the river front where he could book the boat - a 100m ride down an earthern road - a totally unnecessary luxury, but something we're getting used to in Cambodia - they don't like walking anywhere!
Once balanced with our rucksacks on the tiny fiberglass boat, with a suitably powerful engine, we were off up river through dense jungle, passing only a few fisherman on the two hour journey. Apart from the moment when our boat nearly broke down and it took a good 5 minutes to get the engine started as we drifted into the mangroves, it was a beautiful and very relaxing journey.
As we approached Chi Phat however, jungle gave way to open grassland and the impact of the intense logging and hunting became very evident. The project has been set up to bring income to this remote village and divert local people away from logging and hunting to earn money through tourism. In partnership with Wildlife Alliance, the project seems to have transformed the village. Anyone with the capital to do so has set up a guesthouse or home stay, local fisherman and farmers take you on tours of the jungle and there are several little restaurants and cafes. The village on the whole however is still very poor. Most people live in wooden huts, there's no mains water and electricity is very intermittent. The people were overwhelmingly friendly - especially the kids who never tiered of shouting "hello"!
We stayed for three nights in a very basic guesthouse - think bucket of water to flush the toilet and wash in. They had electricity, but this was primarily for the TV so that the girls could watch their pop music. We were told that the fan in our room used too much power, so was switched off!
On the first night we joined a local fisherman for "lobster" fishing - it turned out that we were actually fishing for large fresh water prawns. Using a head torch the fisherman speared the creatures out of the water as we floated around the river. It was a very peaceful - and amusing experience as the prawns kept trying to make a bid for freedom into Olly's shoes. Unfortunately we didn't get to have a go fishing ourselves, but we did get to take the catch home for dinner the following evening.
On the second day we joined a friendly guide for a trek to a bat cave and waterfall. He was as pleased with us as we were with him - he was desperate to improve his English, so we turned into walking English teachers whilst he told us all about the jungle and his village. Unfortunately we didn't see much jungle through! It had all been cut down for timber and the reforestation projects were not making much of an impact in the area we saw. As a result we baked in direct sunlight - I had a very burnt nose and Olly's trousers turned white with sweat! The waterfall was beautiful though. We thought we probably should have done the two day trek in order to really get into the jungle which was tantalizingly close.
On Friday we hired mountain bikes and went exploring.... until the heavens opened and a tropical storm blew in absolutely soaking us through to the skin. Much to the amusement of the local people who where all hiding under their bamboo roofs, we ended up spattered all the way up the backside in mud and looking like drowned rats!
The rainy season seems to have come early!
We're now back on the coast, heading for those 'paradise' islands tomorrow for my birthday. Hopefully the weather will be better there, but we're planning to spend much of our time under water diving anyway.
Jo x
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