Rainbow Lodge was an amazing experience. The Lodge itself is in an incredible setting on the river. You can only get there by boat which is an adventure itself - especially when you consider I missed my transport from Koh Chang, (overslept.....) but decided to leave anyway and 'go local'. When I got the Cambodian Border it was dark and nobody knew anything about dropping a Farang off by the side of the road just before the 'First' bridge! I finally found Janet and Gerard's man and got my lift. When we arrived it was pitch black and there was no boat. I had visions of the taxi driver leaving me there on the side of the road stranded but fortunately he stayed around and soon a torchlight was making it's way towards us. I have to say it was a relief not just to see a friendly face but a familiar face in Gerard's! Interesting boat trip back to the Lodge as we could not see a thing, (Gerard mistook the light from another boat to be the light from the jetty at one point.....!). I'll tell you, that first beer tasted great!

I was there for 3 nights and could of easily stayed longer. My plan of doing nothing but lying in a hammock all day soaking in the views didn't quite go to plan but I'm glad. The trek through the Jungle to the Waterfall for a well earned dip in such clear waters followed by BBQ on the rocks with a beer and then boat trip home was pretty special. My Lei and Sunny escorted us through the Jungle - we saw very little, couple of weird spiders and that was about it. Probably down to Sunny scampering through the trees and scaring everything off! My Lei was very apologetic that we not see anything..... Oh, we did see leeches, lots of them and it was a constant mission to check yourself and brush them off, (land leeches). My Lay's family work at Rainbow Lodge and it was lovely to such a happy bunch, jumping and swimming about in the Waterfall after having cooked us lot lunch. On my second night, just as we'd all decided we would take the boat to the Rapids the next day, all chaos broke loose with Mr Lei and the Rainbow Lodge family running around. Somebody had stolen the boats from the jetty! Gerard and the locals went off in search of what was going on. Eventually they came back to inform us they had found the boats but the engines had been cut from there housing, (chained to it to prevent such theft). This was obviously not good news at all for Janet - we did play doodle dice, (excellent game, I'd never heard of it before), which lightened the spirits somewhat. Speaking to Gerard and Janet about it later and it seemed there was a big coincidence between Janet falling out with a local village leader, (like a Councilor I guess), who was trying to get her to give him money without showing what it was for. Since Janet puts an incredible amount back into the local Community this was a little upsetting as you can imagine.

So, determined to go to the Rapids anyway, Sean, (Kiwi bloke from Wellington travelling to the UK with his Scottish Girlfriend Naomi since they had been living in NZ for 3 years), and I decide to kayak it. This was another amazing experience. The scenery and the river was just beautiful and we were the only two on it aside from the odd boat and little hut on the side of the river on stilts where dogs would run out and bark at you or children would run along the bank shouting 'Hello' over and over. The Rapids were little more than a series of fast flowing water over rocks but the setting was immense. Surrounded by mountains and jungle with a kind of lake that the water has created which is as flat as glass. We ate lunch on the rocks packed for us by the lovely girls at the Lodge, (we had so much fruit,most of it I'd never seen before but we tried it anyway!) and then headed off for the long kayak back. We did stop and drift on a few occassions and at one point we simply floated round this corner, quite near the bank and there was such silence and calm it was pretty surreal. Thoroughly rewarding experience but it was hot and hard work kayaking all that way. Was a relief to paddle round the corner and finally see our jetty!

So, it was time to leave already, I would love to go back. Was a great experience and I like the idea of supporting such an courageous and respectable venture. I hope Gerard and Janet have got things back together now and that the events whilst I was there will be a one off occurrence. They did have one engine when I left since otherwise we would not have been able to get our bus. After the boat journey back down the river, we were dropped off on the side of the road and the bus stops as it comes past - you get some strange looks as you get on in the middle of nowhere!

Off to Siem Reap now for a few days, via Phnom Penh. Hopefully will get the 2pm bus but if not, I still will head up there. Get all the travelling done in a day.....

Until the next entry then - since it was a more chilled few days than Koh Chang, there was no Tuaca, no shot glasses, no 21's, (or any other drinking game) but 'me bird' was out and about a fair bit and we did play doodle dice and s***head with some French. I was the complete s***head which the French loved but not as much as me accusing them of cheating through 'handling' the cards!

Oh, and you may wonder why all the photos of dogs. Well one of the (many) enduring aspects of Rainbow Lodge were Sunny, Jimmi and Phsa Charma (Market Cat). Playing with this mental cat Janet rescued from the market was entertaining, Sunni was the softest guard dog I've ever met and Jimmi had just had 4 of the most adorable puppies I've ever seen. I'm sure a few of you will appreciate the pictures. I know one person in particular who will! BTW - the puppies are looking for a good home......