To Kiri Sela and back

6 Jan 2014

I just liked this little fellow who crawled across our balcony the other day. Tufty.

Sunday was to be Roy’s last day with us so we decided an expedition was in order. Dara booked a tuktuk to pick us up from Bacoma at 11 and take us to three local sights – a pepper plantation, the caves at Kompong Trach and the salt flats – finishing at Angkoul Beach for a swim if we wanted.

A tuktuk doesn’t have much in the way of suspension and the “roads” leave a lot to be desired so we felt well and truly shaken and dusted by the time we got back but it was a good day and well worth it.

To get to the pepper plantation we drove away from the coast into the hills, past farms growing mangos, rambutan and other fruit. The pepper is grown on 4-meter-high frames shaded with coconut fronds. They look a bit like hops in Kent.

Pepper vines.

The pepper plantation we visited is in a community called Phnom Voar (Vine Mountain) which was a former Khmer Rouge stronghold. In 1994 it was developed as a reintegration settlement for former Khmer Rouge soldiers. They were given land and training opportunities in exchange for laying down their weapons.

Our guide showed us round, explaining how the pepper plants are started from cuttings and are productive for up to 30 years. The ripe peppercorns are picked by hand every day and each vine yields 2-3kg per year. This is an organic plantation fed entirely with cow and bat manure. The soil is particularly suited to pepper growing because of the high quartz content. Pests are kept at bay using a natural home-grown insecticide made from the leaves of the nim tree mixed with a small nut-like fruit steeped in water.

Corns are picked singly by hand as they ripen.

Depending on the stage at which they are picked, the peppercorns are either red or black. They are dried in the sun in round baskets. If the corns are soaked in water and then dried it produces white pepper.

Black and white pepper.

Who would’ve thought!?

These guys drove past. Unfortunately I wasn't quick enough with the camera and you can't quite see the spirit house they are transporting.

Next on the itinary was the Khompong Trach temple within a cave – again renowned for being one of the very last of the Khmer Rouge strongholds - right into the 1990s. We drove through Khompong Trach town to get there. Never has an Asian town looked more like the Wild West!

By far the best building in Kampong Trach.

The rest is all like this. Mega dusty!

As we bumped and jolted up the track to the caves a young girl – perhaps 13 or 14 – leapt on her bicycle as we passed and cycled furiously after us. She smiled as she came alongside the tuktuk: “Hello. Where you from?”. We then realised that she was carrying a torch. “Kitty” was to be our guide.

Kitty - our guide.

In the event we had four young guides who all pointed out the sights with great enthusiasm one after the other: “Head of dragon” “Head of dragon” “Head of dragon” “Head of dragon”; “Eye of snake” “Eye of snake” “Eye of snake” “Eye of snake” etc. Every stalactite and crystal mass was given a name and said to resemble some mythical or real beast!

Throat of dragon I believe. Oh yes.

Would've been good to explore on our own. Plenty of buddhas and devotional altars. 

Next time I would pay them to stay outside and leave me to explore the caves in peace – but it was quite fun!

Mind you, there were times when it was good to have someone shrilling "Mind your head" in unison when obstacles like this came at you in the gloom at head height.

I’m not a great fan of caves in general but these were not at all scary, mainly because there was always light up ahead. After a few yards of darkness you emerge into bright sunlight in a magical tree-filled hidden valley – completely surrounded on all sides by massive limestone cliffs. It’s a natural formation called a “hong” in Thailand, Roy tells us, where a cave roof has collapsed in ancient times leaving a hole in the middle of the mountain.

Very difficult to convey the magical hidden valley effect of vertical walls and enclosed space in photos.

These karst rock formations are extraordinary – rising abruptly from the flat plains.

Our imaginative guides!

Trevann being very silly!

Yet another wat in construction. The painter in action.

Leaving our smiling guides behind to run after the next group of tourists we set off again, back through the Wild West, down to the coast, passing through vast salt farms.

Karst mountains. Elephant Mountain.

Sacks of salt.

Very flat salt flats.

Salt workers.

Every now and again we come across a gateway - to a village or wat.

Not sure what these children were doing in the mud - searching for some sort of little fish I think. 

Our final destinatioin of the day was to be the beach. We turned off the main road down a dusty track and found ourselves driving through the dirtiest, scruffiest little village. The tumbledown shacks were surrounded on all sides by piles of garbage and plastic. We stopped at what could be a beautiful beach – white sand fringed with palm trees – but it was filthy! While we were standing there a man came with a basket of rubbish and just tipped it on the beach.

Angkoul Beach - so nearly a beautiful destination.

A woman came out with menus to persuade us to have a meal but there was no way we were going to risk our health. What a shame. They obviously desperately need the tourist dollars but just haven’t seen that the first step is to deal with the crap.

It was very difficult to take photos from the back of the tuktuk but I wanted to get a shot of this pony cart and waving farmer. Did my best.

 

Two railways were built in Cambodia in the 1930s but unfortunately they only have one train! In some areas locals use the "bamboo train" or norry - a couple of axles strung together with bamboo powered by a petrol engine. No brakes.

Said thank you to our tuktuk driver, paid him and stretched out our jolted spines.

Oh and this was my breakfast - including milk fruit which I hadn't had before.