Crater lake, waterfalls and moonshine
Trip Start
Mar 10, 2007
1
52
153
Trip End
??? ??, 2007
Ban Lung,
Cambodia
Monday, July 16, 2007
First full day in Ban Lung was spent rather actively, even if i do say so myself. Along with Alex and Iona, two very nice girls who i met on the bus, i cycled 5km to the volcanic crater lake here. This lake is amazing. Named Boeng Yeak Lom, its a 3km circumference lake which is practically a perfect circle and encases clear turquoise water with about 5m visibility. It was believed to have been formed over 700,000 years ago. The day was pretty much spent swimming, relaxing and walking round the shaded trail bordering the lake itself. I also ate a Cambodian specialty here:- an egg where the chicken inside is at a varying stage of development
multi lake shot
. I know i know, I'm soo cruel and mean and thats disgusting (blah blah blah), but you have to try these things as your probably never gonna be there again (thats what I'm sticking with anyway). Just tasted like a normal egg really. I was a little disappointed in that sense.Next day was a bloody lazy one, usual brekky run to the market then back to the crater lake for some more swimming and 'tomfoolery' (yes, love that stupid word). We discovered that they sold moonshine in huge urn like jars here, so that spiced things up a little too. A Khmer family were there on holiday too and they invited us to join them eating nd drinking moonshine, which wicked. In the evening we met up with them again for a meal and some more alcohol.
After my laziness the day before, i was determined to be a bit more active today, so i rented out a bicycle with the intention of riding to some of the nearby waterfalls, which were touted as being far more impressive than those in Sen Monorom. I rode down to Ka Tieng waterfall, which was very picturesque as you can clamber behind it, where you can then swing tarzan style from some vines into the pool below.
Was on the way to the next waterfall when i heard 'psssssssssshhhhhhhttt':- my tyre puncturing rather quickly. A three km walk to the nearest repair place ensued, where i waited for an hour in silence, being very patient, till it became clear that the Khmer guy had no intention of helping me but was quite content for me to sit there as he fixed the bikes of numerous other people who came in after me
market
. He found this rather amusing, needless to say i did not. Cursing that guy and wishing terrible things on his family (which i later took back), i eventually found someone who wou;d attempt to help me. However upon looking at my bike, the one lady there who spoke English said 'oh big problem!' A few seconds of attempted repair followed and, judging from their laughter, failed. They then told me 'oh, no problem' i.e, that they couldn't be bothered to fix it properly as it would be too much work. They laughed hysterically again. Not being that fun a day so far. I moved on, feeling quite bitter. Miraculously the bike actually held up after their bodge attempt as far as town, so i decided to cut my losses, return the bike and leave out the other falls. (i would soon see more than enough in Laos). I did however ride around the lake in town beforehand, which was rather pleasant. Spent the evening relaxing with Keira and Leona and Alex before my bus to strung treng the next day.
