Mar 09-10 - We woke up with the deer still barking, and the gibbons calling in the distance. They have a sort of wailing cry that's quite eiree. We packed up camp, wolfed down a quick breakfast, and set off back towards the main river. Today we wound through huge bamboo forests, which towered overhead. The locals here make almost everything out of bamboo - machete handles from the roots, bowls from the larger stems, woven hammocks, walls, rooves and just about an...

Mar 07-08 - Sightly unable to believe that we'd teed ourselves up for another 4-day hike, we checked out of Tribal Lodge, and got ready to head up to the park headquarters. There was a minor panic when the mangeress Kim called the Ratanak hotel to ask them to pick up the bike and return my passport, and they said they didn't know anything about it! Anyway, we managed to race up there and find the guy who'd hired it to us. My passport was still in his pocket, than...

Mar 04 - On the road to Ratankiri - We woke up, slightly recovered from the four days in the jungle. Had a breakfast of bread and jam, which was absolutely delicious after days and days of noodle soup. Tree was running around the guesthouse grounds like a headless chicken, and we gathered that he hadn't been able to get hold of our moto driver yet. After breakfast, though, he bounded up with a smile on his face. "No problem! On his way now." [PS, as an...

Mar 03 - Last day in the jungle. After the frog hunters had gone to bed, we actually had a peaceful night, with the flowing river lulling us to sleep. We rolled out of our hammocks, and sat by the fire - it had been pretty chilly last night. Breakfast was noodle soup again; I think Srau had finally decided the meat was fully depreciated, so we just made them with the seasoning that came in the packet. As we were about to start, the thatch collecters came over aga...

Mar 02 - We woke up to birdsong - no roosters, which was a relief! We were in US Military-style hammocks, which have a built-in mosquito net. They're actually a really clever design, and fairly comfortable - these hammocks said "Made in USA", but their instructions included: "Make sure this lif-jaket is attached to bodis before use. Do not sit on!", so I guess they were local knock-offs, with the wrong pattern transcribed. I looked up through ...