Yaklom Hill Lodge Ratanakiri

(We were actually in Ban Lung in the Ratanakiri Province...)<br><br><br>The description in our guide book for Ban Lung was that it was full of adrenaline-packed activities&#8230; Not quite but still a lot of fun! <br><br>We had a horrendous journey from Kampong Cham; 10 hours in total in a packed bus with no AC or fan. And, it was DUSTY! Seriously&#8230; We were orange by the time we arrived! The province is known as red earth and it's dry season here so you ...

What would you do, or how far would you travel to eat eel, snail or pigs intensines? <br><br> We travelled about 12 hours by boat, bus and boat again from the 4000 islands to ban lung (our first stop in Cambodia) but it was the bus trip and not the food that was the difficult part. <br><br>We got kicked off two buses, then told we were meant to be on the first one the whole time, got stuck in a bus station for an extra 4 hours and finally got on a bus to ban lung (Rattinikiri ...

... Lonely Planet for location. Terres Rouge is much more upmarket and its verandahs, gardens and pool were tempting but we couldn&#8217;t have been happier with the friendly atmosphere at Lakeview Lodge. Mr Sophat manages the place, his English is great as is that of Mr Den, the guide. The rooms are big, the verandah large and comfortable, good restaurant on site with views of the lake, and a good range of treks and day tours available. <br><br>We took 2 motorcycle day ...

... some Chinese villages up there but as we had been in china we were a little bored and headed back to the bike for our 2hr trip back across the dusty red roads.<br><br>The next day we head to Yak Lom Lake which is a volcanic crater filled with freshwater. It was amazing. We spent the whole morning here just lazing about and swimming. I even rented out a tube and paddled out to the middle of it for a photo. We only left as a bunch of local ...

... are lovely. Everywhere you go people smile at you. We explored a gorgeous crater lake, taking a dip in the water and sharing our picnic wtih the locals (they were offering a lethal ginseng wine for our rice and corn on the cob!)<br>We also went to see an unusual cemetry burried in the forest, some more waterfalls and rode on some massive elephants. And in between all these ...

... 30 minutes or so the road was good, the views were interesting and the kareoke was ata tolerable level. Cambodia decided that it would be a good idea to sell basically their entire country in exchange for foreign cash so everything is sponsored by the Japanese, Koreans, Chinese and surely Western countries as well - even Angkor Wat; the tomb raider temple and the thing of which Khmers are most proud is 'sponsored by Japan'. Likewise in order to encourage ...

... out in the provinces...<br><br>The big draw to Banlung is this beautiful jewel of a crater lake called Boeng Yeak Lom. Probably the most pristine water in Cambodia (or that can easily be accessed). Great for swimming, with a nice trail around it. We visited on a weekend so there were plenty of curious locals. I was informed that I had the physique of a wrestler (but then again I'm twice the mass of most Cambodians). <br><br>Had a nice ...