Photo Trip Report: Down the Mekong in Cambodia

[DDD]

Enjoying your pictures immensely. Not said lightly as I dont usually go for trip reports.
Excellent and thank you for sharing them.

Keep ‘em coming…

[buksida]

Being 24 years older than I was last time I walked around this immense medieval city, I found the searing heat quite oppressive, especially in March. Having a stout and whisky-induced hangover that was being sweated out in pints didn’t help matters but we managed to see five different temple complexes with some monumental steps and climbs spanning several square kilometers.

The last one, Ta Prohm, was the most popular aside from Angkor itself. This is due to the trees growing through the ancient structures ... and it featured in the Tomb Raider movie. The authorities had built a “selfie platform” and there was a queue of people waiting to photograph themselves in front of the most iconic structure. Even the monks wanted a selfie!

I compared two photos I took almost a quarter of a century apart and concluded that the first one was better when I was the only person in the temple.

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The heat of the day had beaten us and it was time to return to Siem Reap for a cooling dip in the pool and a sundowner. Angkor didn’t fail to impress the second time around, even if it was crawling with tourists, touts, guides, gardeners, vendors, officials, restorers, cleaners, and monkeys - it is a very spiritual place.

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To follow ... Stung Treng

[joelle]

Beautiful photos that bring back fond memories

[caller]

Yes, all great pics and great memories. I think Ta Prohm was magical. As they all were really. As a tourist, it seems silly complaining about other tourists, but too many, at the time - Chinese - in big organised groups descending on an otherwise quite quiet and peaceful setting, was seriously off-putting.

But I loved Siam Reap, also crossed the river to explore, and the Cambodian people that we met. Plans to see more of Cambodia had to be shelved because of covid. Must go back soon.

[buksida]

Yep, definitely want to return. This was a whirlwind two-week trip and I'd like to spend a month or so there to figure out what it would be like to live there when things go to ratshit here.

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[Ratsima]

Thanks. Nice stuff. Makes me a bit sad to have ended up here.

[buksida]

Stung Treng
It was time to get out of the tourist trap and onto the open road into the real Cambodia. However, the journey to our next destination up on the Laos border would be a five-hour slog in a minivan … or so we thought.

Very few people travel from Siem Reap to Stung Treng and for good reason. The road is a single carriageway in various states of repair through remote northern Cambodia so the 300 kilometers would take the best part of a day. We decided to do it this way to save covering the same ground twice up and down the Mekong.

Our minivan, which had seen better days, left at around 08.30 so by 10.30 I was dismayed to see that we’d only travelled about a centimeter (about 50 km) on the map. It was going to be a long day.

Around an hour later the driver pulled off the “highway” and into a field where an elderly couple with their entire worldly possessions were waiting. Over the next 20 minutes, they proceeded to load the already crowded and sweltering van with the contents of their home which included chairs, tables, pots, pans, fans, a motorcycle … and a box of chickens.

It was time to grin and bear it and try to get comfortable for the rest of the journey through the arid featureless landscape. After the lunch stop, the road started to improve a little and distances were covered quicker. We finally rolled into Stung Treng at around 15.00 in various states of pain and discomfort, the worst journey was over.

I was expecting a dusty feral village but Stung Treng turned out to be quite a sizable town with a great riverfront where the Mekong and Sekong rivers converge. Our Chinese guesthouse cost $15 bucks a night and there was a little shop across the road selling meat and Pâté baguettes for just over a dollar. These are the staple food in Cambodia, a remnant of French colonialism, and we enjoyed them.

The main reason for visiting this town, and the highlight of my trip, was access to Sopheakmit Waterfall which is part of the epic Si Phan Don area in southern Laos where the Mekong splits and cascades around thousands of islands.

But first, we had to find bikes to rent or someone to take us there, which was not proving to be easy. Very little information was available and even less English was spoken up here. We ended up stumbling into the tourist and river police office which turned out to be quite fortunate.

These guys couldn’t be more helpful and arranged transport for us to the falls for the following day. With the mission accomplished, it was time to catch a Mekong sunset with a cold Beer Lao.

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Next: Sopheakmit Waterfall

[Motyduke]

i really like this report....waiting for next episode ! Thanks for the sharing

[buksida]

Our driver arrived promptly the next morning and we were on our way north to the Laos border. Once off the highway, the road deteriorated into a bone-shaking strip of rippled red dirt stretching for 40 kilometers. They say the harder a place is to get to, the more you appreciate it and this was definitely the case here.

The epic landscape can only be described as the Grand Canyon of waterfalls, I’d never seen anything like it. A 180-degree vista of cascades ranging from torrents to trickles surrounded us. The sound was immense as was the volume of water flowing through the matrix of islets. I can’t imagine what it would be like in the wet season when the Mekong is in full flow.

Another bonus is that there was virtually nobody there aside from a few bored trinket sellers, a couple of hardy bikers from Malaysia, and the odd local girl selling cold beer by the riverside which I naturally gravitated towards. This place was my primary target for the trip and it didn’t disappoint.

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Next: Stung Treng to Kratie

[Big Boy]

Well, when we discussed your trip before you went, I was very dubious about your trip to the land of stench and rubbish I remembered from about 7 years ago known as Cambodia. Wow, what a contrast to the piles of rubbish on every street corner, the awful smells and the plagues of rats that I experienced. As for the flies

You have found beautiful, untarnished Cambodia. It is hard to believe it is the same country. Very nice.

[Dannie Boy]

Looks fairly wild but inviting - I reckon this waterfalls have taken a few victims over the years!!

[buksida]

Well, when we discussed your trip before you went, I was very dubious about your trip to the land of stench and rubbish I remembered from about 7 years ago known as Cambodia. Wow, what a contrast to the piles of rubbish on every street corner, the awful smells and the plagues of rats that I experienced. As for the flies

There was trash, but not in the proportions you describe. It was mainly plastic strewn along the roads and river sides in rural areas, the same as in Thailand. Cities such as SR, PP, and KC have been cleaned up as Cambodia strives to attract more tourists from Thailand's dwindling numbers. Naturally, the Angkor complex was also pristine.

[buksida]

Looks fairly wild but inviting - I reckon this waterfalls have taken a few victims over the years!!

I'd love to see it in the wet season!

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[Big Boy]

Well, when we discussed your trip before you went, I was very dubious about your trip to the land of stench and rubbish I remembered from about 7 years ago known as Cambodia. Wow, what a contrast to the piles of rubbish on every street corner, the awful smells and the plagues of rats that I experienced. As for the flies

There was trash, but not in the proportions you describe. It was mainly plastic strewn along the roads and river sides in rural areas, the same as in Thailand. Cities such as SR, PP, and KC have been cleaned up as Cambodia strives to attract more tourists from Thailand's dwindling numbers. Naturally, the Angkor complex was also pristine.

Yes, SR was acceptable when I was there. It was really the resort town of Sihanoukville that scarred me so badly. I've considered a short trip several times since, but the thought of Sihanoukville has done for me.

[buksida]

We avoided that place completely, its a Chinese casino town holding nothing of interest to anyone wanting to see the real Cambodia. I guess comparable to Pattaya in Thailand, wouldn't go there out of choice either!