Hello everybody!

Now then, we decided that we wanted to visit the Rattanakiri area, north-east of Cambodia (touching the Laos and Vietnam borders) days ago...the 'Lonely Planet' travel bible talks of jungle trekking and volcanic lakes, so we booked our tickets and went. Loving Cambodia as much as we do, we thought it would be joyful to go to bed at 2am (liking the choice of dvd's at our hostel and the comfy chairs too much) and get up at 5am to take a 12 hour bus journey! Cost us a bit actually, $15 each in comparison to $5 (2quid 50) we usually pay. We were going to the middle of nowhere I suppose....and at least it was another day bus!!!!

The journey was exactly as u can imagine...took 13 and a half hours, was more or less a local bus, had far too many people on, was terribly hot and noisy, and couldn't catch any shut-eye!! Well, Chris did at first until the Cambodian karoke came on the bus t.v. at volume 1 million and all the local's laughter (or screaming as he described it) kept him from sleeping! Luckily, I had ear plugs and as I had had a bad sleep the night before our departure anyway - busy worrying that we'd sleep in and miss the bus - I completely crashed out! When I awoke, we'd just pulled into a pit stop.......was literally THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE with dusty roads, random dogs, and chickens. I managed to buy some mango for brekkie (tasted like sour granny smith apples) and we got back on the bus to realise that more people had got on! Sat across from us was a family of 5 on two seats, was so sad. They were obviously well well well poor, the two kids were about 4 yrs old and didn't own any shoes, and their t-shirts were so dirty they were black instead of white. The ma and pa plonked them where they could cos they had a baby on their lap, so the kids spent the majority of the time staring at me and Chris. I decided to make peace with them and gave them some of my breakfast (perhaps they were staring cos they were so hungry, they stopped after I fed them and smiled at me!). Aren't I nice?! I felt like I was being a do good-er in the time of Oliver Twist. Either that or I wasn't too bothered about missing out on the taste of 'sour'. Anyway, the parents started staring at us then, smiling and being all thankful, and the women behind were stroking my arms - the south east asians LOVE white skin, and consider their tans ugly (to the point that they all wear long sleeved tops and pants in the blistering heat to stop themselves from getting any darker). Hours later, everyone stopped groping and singing and being hot because it was getting late and we'd hit THE CAMBODIAN ROADS!!!!

Whatever we told u about the roads in Loas being the worst ever to beget humanity, ignore it..........RATTANAKIRI MUST OWN THE WORLD RECORD FOR ROAD INADAQUACY!!! If it'd been rainy season, the tour office wouldn't have sold us the tickets cos the roads are that lethal and impossible to use!

No word of a lie, we'd been thrown to the roman times in a matter of minutes as the 'tarmac' disappeared and the now so familiar red dusty roads lingered on for the remaining 4 hours of the trip. Was quite funny actually, banging your head on the window if u tried to look out of it and being thrown out of your seat as u hit the tenth massive bump in 30 seconds. Was like being on a ride. Chris wasn't as excited though, couldn't read his book with all the bouncing around and people were being sick everywhere and it smelt like hot veg. Sorry. Anyway, despite the bus nearly tipping into a stream as it got stuck on a small wooden bridge, we made it. The views at sunset were smashing as well, little tranquil bamboo huts by the 'road' side with fires burning inside and cows and chickens outside.

So that's that, bit long-winded but it was that much of an experience! The cheap hotel we stayed at was central to Ban Luang - the capital - but we both felt that we'd landed in outback west virginia...it was the capital of the middle of nowhere! Check the pics! We laughed quite a bit, imagining saloons and cowboys with horses and pistols to float by. Went to bed after watching a film in our room, was about 9pm but we were shattered!

The next day we got up and had breakfast at the hotel (the main restaurant in the city, it had 3 tables outside) and booked a trip to the waterfalls and the volcanic lake! We paid $7 each for the afternoon for 2 English-speaking guides and their motorbike tour! Seriously, there is no other way of doing the trips! Was exciting, the wind in your hair and all that, but personally I spent half the time with my eyes closed as we approached the gorges in the middle of the roads where the bike started to waver! The guys were obviously dirt track professionals tho, so t'was all okay! 1st waterfall was Katchan, about 15mins away, and was lovely! Just as Chris was tempted to take a dip in the water he spotted a black and yellow water snake!!!! He was soooo lucky, the guide told him to take a swim and that it would be okay, but as soon as he spotted the snake he was laughing and telling Chris he couldn't tell if it was a poisonous or not! Chris was more thankful that he'd dithered over taking a swim than he was laughing! I missed the whole thing cos i was taking a video of the waterfall, damn. Check the vid and see it u can spot the snake, I can't! After that, we went to the volcanic lake....our favourite place!!! Check out the pics! Was well samrt, so warm and natural, and swimming in the water felt so surreal, very tranquil and beats anything England has to offer. We spent the rest of the afternoon there swimming, like u do in a crator lake, relaxing in rubber rings, drinking a couple of the infamous 'Angkor' beer, and generally chilling out! There was a local community based at the lake which sold drinks and food to tourists, and all of the local kids played in the water all afternoon! They were so funnny...a reminder of what english kids used to be like back in the ol'days! (How old am I?! Actually, almost 23 in 8 days! Yikes!!!) Towards sunset 2 american guys made a rope swing for them and they loved it!!!! Was a grand day out! That night we chatted to a nice english guy called Darrenand went to the local pub with him and his tour guide from that day for a beer.

The next day (Wednesday) we went with our tour guides again to visit the last 2 waterfalls. We left around 11am, had breakfast with Darren first, but only paid $7 each again which was good. The 1st stop was Cha Ong, a really big waterfall which u could walk behind. Smart! There were vines there too where u cud do the whole tarzan thing and swing from them into the water, but we were told they were too weak at the moment. Shame really, but the water was a bit murky and wild...and there might have been snakes or summat! The guide also said that because it had just been rainy season (we were at the start of the 6month dry season) there was too much water to have a power shower under the waterfall! Shame again, but we've done that in our jungle trek in Chiang Mai, Thaliand, so we wernt too bothered (I remember it felt like some1 thumping u in the head so was def. not gunna go under this waterfall for a shower!) Still a good sight tho - check the pics!

After that guess what we did?????

WE TOOK ANOTHER ELEPHANT TREK!!!! Oh yes - we're pro's now!!!!

Was well good! The guides took us to the Katchien village, near where the elephants roamed (we had to book in advance so that the elephants could be caught and brought down ready for the trek, so we were told anyway, could be true!) and we trekked for 1hour 30 mins to the Katchien waterfall, our next stop. It was a lot more natural than the one we did in Thailand, fair uncomfy being sat on a wooden thing for so long compared to before, but definately awesome!!!! Instead of a circuit, this time the elephants made their own way through the jungle, tearing down branches as they went and us ducking out of the way whilst BITING red ants fell on us from the trees!!! I got a bit worried at one point as the seat was sliding more and more towards Chris' side, to the point that I was central to dumbo's head and he was kinda hanging at the side. He said he wasn't worried tho as we had worse things to think about....there were loads of MASSIVE SPIDERS!!!! We spotted a rather large yellow one just hanging around between 2 trees as we strolled past, but the 2nd spider was so vile we wanted to eat our own heads! Especially Chris who doesn't like spiders! It was big and black and hairy .... and it MOVED!!!! God it crawled so fast down it's web it made it look real and terrifying compared to the last one. The nelly didn't mind though so we soon passed it!!! After that, we used a towel to guard our heads every time we were thrown into a branch by the elephant to keep nasty bugs away!

Half way round when we'd reached the clearing we decided to have a picnic and began eating our cheese baguettes we'd brought for lunch! Never had a picnic on an elephant in Cambodia before!Was quite nice. Towards the end of the trip we were just about ready to get off as our bums were getting really numb, and we thought everything was cool and wrapped up....when the son of the elephant who we were sat on (the guys insisted the son had to follow its mother on the trek) screamed - well did the whole elephant sound - because a local dog startled it in the bushes as it was chomping on tree leaves!!!!! The mother, thank god no harm came to us, then started running...yes, actually running...with us holding onto her shoulder blades with our feet, towards her son! It was so funny, bit scary, but funny! They were both being well noisy and stomping about, we thought we were in Africa with Attenborough it was that surreal! I've never really heard an elephant do the wild cry (what the hell do u call the noise they make?! I know it's not a bark or a meow...what is it please? it's bugging me, and is using lots of words to describe it. Any ideas please post on the msg baord. thanks) was quite amazing really! As they calmed down and the 'drivers' were laughing, we could still feel the mum roaring inside, the vibrations from her trembling were shaking us in our seats, think it scared her. Weird really, the dogs were tiny compared to the sheer size of the nelly's...think it may be true about them being scared of mice anyway! Hehe! What an experience, wont forget it.

Safe on land, knees knocking a bit, we got on our motorbikes and the guides took us to the 3rd and last waterfall in the area, the Katien waterfall. This was pretty big too, and we were informed of the local fruits in the trees nearby used for medicine and got to taste some. So traditional some of their ideas. After that, was about 3pm, we asked to go back to our fave place, yes, the volcanic lake! Set back for tea at sunset and chilled out that night exhausted from teh heat and the day's activities!

So that brings us to today! We were supposed to visit the national park whilst we were up here...jungle trekking and possible sights of tigers and lepards and stuff, but it all sounded a bit raw and untouched so probably wouln't have spotted anything, and we heard it takes days to do a proper trek to even get from around the edge of the park as its so big! Was also an hours trip away on a motorbike...so we didn't do it! Never mind, we've cuddled tiger cubs before! So were just spending the day doing the blog/pics/vids and trying to catch up with everybody (slow 'outback' cambodian internet is a blag).

CONGRATULATIONS TO ANDREW GILMORE (gizzy) BY THE WAY FOR THE ARRIVAL OF HIS BABY GIRL OLIVIA ON MONDAY!!!!! Chris feels well bad cos he can't get hold of u. Hope all is good!

Heading back to Phnom Penh 2moz morn (Friday). Up at 5am for the excellent 12 hour (ish) bus journey back (god help us) so we can get back to our favourite hostel ever and catch the Leeds game on sky sports at 2am Sat morn! Also, it's about time we stayed in cities to finish viewing them before we dash off to relax in the outskirts! What are we like!!! Gunna have tea at the Gecco House tonight and venture away from our hotel, (however we did have mountain beef for 2 last night which arrived raw on the table and u had to cook it urself with veg on a stove thing - was yummy! And a very exciting tea-time!!! ) then we're gunna pack our back packs and get an early night as there will probably be no kipping on the road!

So that's that! Hope this blog was a bit more informative that the last few - been very busy and it was a case of getting it typed up before in the mad whirlwind of events, so wasn't too exciting!

Hope all is good at home and everyone is well, and that the weather picks up!

Lots of love, miss u all, the travellers!

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