Saturday, March 15, 2014
We had rain and thunderstorms overnight, which was a little exciting. We got a late start, but the plan for the day only called for 3 hours of driving. And the plan was right for once. The road was in excellent shape and we made good speed to Sen Monorom. The drive was very pleasant and it was very nice to see the forest and jungle again. The plains of central Cambodia are not nearly as pretty.We soon checked into the number 1 rated hotel on trip advisor. Although this town appears to be on the move with lots of fancy new buildings and other construction, our hotel (Mondulkiri Hotel) was not. But it had adequate Internet (only in the lobby though, which unfortunately was constantly occupied by smoking guests) and the bed was not too hard. We did find a great cafe/bar/restaurant (Sovannkiri Guesthouse and Restaurant’) where we had both lunch and dinner. The place is run by an Australian/Cambodian couple and seems to draw in many of the western tourists. The burger was awesome and we washed it down with a $13 bottle of Chilean wine. We talked briefly to the Aussie owner, and he confirmed the northern road is bumpy and dusty but doable. Always nice to get the local information. So game-on tomorrow.
Sunday, March 16, 2014
We had breakfast at the same cafe where we had lunch and dinner the previous day. Over breakfast we met and chatted with 2 trail bikers, part of a group of 4, from Belgium. They were riding rented bikes and exploring Cambodia. Like us, they were taking the back road to Ban Lung. We left before them, but knew they would soon overtake us. At the 40 km mark they did.
The 179 kms of the back road was under construction. But actually, it was in pretty good shape all considering. Having a high clearance 4WD helped, but it was passable in a regular car (would be a tad more challenging though). The road itself was fine, it was the temporary bypasses around the construction sites that were bumpy and dusty. In the end we completed the journey in around 5 hours.
After a little searching we found a clean and comfortable $15 hotel (Lakeside City Guest House) which was an upgrade from the previous night. During our early evening walk we stumbled upon the flash hotel in town: Terres Rouges Lodge. Although we were not going to change hotels, it did provide an excellent location to watch the red sun set over the lake and wash away the day’s dust with a few drinks.
Monday, March 17, 2014
Before setting off we enjoyed breakfast at Terres Rouge.
It was a short drive to Stung Treng. We almost stayed an extra day in Ban Lung, but in the end decided to push on. Our exit date from Laos is set for April 17th (because of the fixed Chinese itinerary), and, as we will get a 30 day visa upon entry, the earliest we can enter Laos is March 19th. Therefore we had a few days to kill in Cambodia, and we were running a few days ahead of schedule anyway. We couldn’t decide if Stung Treng or Ban Lung would be a better place to spend our 1 extra day.
The road was fast and completely pothole free so we arrived in Stung Treng just after lunch.
