Banlung, up in the northeast corner of the country, is essentially our last stop in Cambodia; we’ve got one more town for a night en route to Laos, but that’s just a travel stop so it doesn’t really count. So far we’re making the most of it here. We’ve walked out to Boeng Yeak Lom, a beautiful crater lake, twice, and biked to a couple of waterfalls. We’ve found two restaurants that we really like, and one great little local bar for after dinner drinks.
One of the most memorable parts of the stop was little VANessa, a six-year-old who didn’t want us to take her picture. Her father is Swedish, and runs one of the restaurants we really liked. Her mother is Khmer and I think does much of the cooking, while her Khmer uncle serves. And she apparently entertains the guests, or at least us on our two visits. She just came over and talked and talked and talked.
What was remarkable about VANessa (besides that fabulous name) was her English. She has an American teacher at an international school here, and she sounds like she’s lived her entire life in the U.S. Her dad said her teacher is from South Carolina – which some people consider part of the U.S. – but fortunately she doesn’t have even a hint of a southern accent. And no other accent either. Never a hesitation for a word; I totally assumed that she’d lived part time at least in the U.S. And her dad says she’s just as fluent and chatty in Swedish and Khmer. Too bad she didn’t want us to take her picture; she was a real cutie.
Here are a few shots of our experience in Banlung. Tomorrow it’s a reasonably short drive to Stung Treng before a longer drive the next day across into Laos.
These two kids were great fun to watch; they just loved playing in the water. The little one up on the railing was just utterly fearless and was throwing himself off anything and into anything he could.
Same lake, same swimming pier, but this lad appeared more contemplative than fun loving
We rode on a red dirt road past poor, isolated villages out to a waterfall
These girls were just getting out of school when we rode by. I don’t know how far they were walking up that red dirt road, but it looked to us that the closest houses in the direction they were going were at least a mile away.
We didn’t realize the degree to which the road was gradually downhill on the outbound. We did, however, notice that the road was distinctly uphill on the return. By the time we got back I was covered in red dirt and dog tired.
So much fun to be had at Balkany after dinner – the highest bar stools anywhere and Chan Vy pours a great drink!