After Koh Rong I overnighted in Sihanoukville, and hit the road again first thing in the morning. This time I had a relatively short bus ride with no Jackie Chan movies. Only Cambodian melodramatic music videos about doomed relationships. I was headed for Chi Phat, another eco-tourism project – this one in the Southern Cardamom Mountains. The Cardamom Mountains are mostly unexplored tropical rainforest, that are one of the few remaining homes to Asian Elephants, Indochinese Tigers, and other endangered species of bears, gibbons and crocodiles. This is another area where heavy logging, and poaching were threatening the environment. Locals were facing severe poverty, and were doing the best they could with the resources available to them. Unfortunately that meant robbing from their futures, as the rainforest and wildlife populations they were depending on were being depleted. The project started there about 5 years ago, and has become a model for, and the most successful of the ecotourism projects in Cambodia. And it deserves its reputation.

I called ahead to let them know I was coming, and a guy was waiting at the bus stop with a sign with my name on it. We boarded a small boat for the hour long ride to the village. As we set off there were barges and bull dozers, but as we went further on we left it all behind. Instead only small boats, canals through the exposed tree roots on the riverside, and small homes.

Once we stopped I walked into the village, past a couple of local restaurants, snack stands and shops. I couldn’t help being relieved by the complete lack of hawkers and usual souvenirs. The office and hub for all things project related is right in town, and has eating and lounging areas. I visited with some other people just coming back from a 3 day trek, and then was greeted by one of the English speaking ladies in charge. There are a couple different options for sleeping from home stay, to guest house, to ecolodge. I was staying in the ecolodge, but if I had chosen one of the other two options I would have been assigned lodging then. There are several families in the village that want to take part, so they make a point of equally rotating the visitors. With accommodation out of the way, I flipped through the book of available activities to choose how I would spend my time here. You could go out on a boat fishing or bird watching, you could go trekking or mountain biking, there were one day options or multi day camping options. I decided to join up with a German couple next to me, and we chose a one day hike to a waterfall. It all ran like clockwork.

From there, on to the eco-lodge. No romantic bungalow this time, just a very basic private room. Meet the fellow that found his way into my bathroom overnight.

The next morning I went for noodle breakfast at the office, packed my water and lunch, and left with the Germans and our guide for the trek. As we walked I noticed several of the houses had small signs in front welcoming tourists, and displaying their status as home stay. People were mostly friendly, and smiled or nodded as we passed. Some of the kids would wave and shout “hello-goodbye” as if it were one word. As we got away from the village the sun was relentless and I drank bottle after bottle of water. I had bought a sun hat like the Cambodians wear, with a wide brim and cape trailing down the back to cover my neck – and even that couldn’t protect me. We walked by 4 or 5 rickety bridges. My foot went right through one of them. With my catlike reflexes, and fear of heights I managed to save myself.

By the time we arrived it was midday, and I was drenched in sweat. That waterfall was the only thing that kept me going for the last 45 minutes, but it was worth it!

After a swim, lunch and catnap we headed back to the village. On the way we stopped to watch this lady. She was hard at work husking rice with a flat basket while everyone else in her family lazed in the shade. Then sampled some of her husbands rice wine before we continued on.

By mid afternoon I had finished all my waters, plus two extras the guide had brought. My hip sockets and lower back ached, and I definitely felt blisters on my feet. When we got back to the office I belatedly thought to ask how long this hike was. Oh, just 20 miles. No wonder my body felt battered. I had a coffee to keep me awake until dinner, and then promptly fell asleep sitting upright on the couch. I was in bed by 8:30 that night.

I only had 2 days left before my Cambodia visa expired, so I had to go back to Sihanoukville the next day. This time I took a ferry to the other side of the river, and then a moto to the bus stop.

In Sihanoukville I shared a tuk-tuk back with a couple of British girls, and a German doctor that had just arrived in Cambodia. He hadn’t planned much for his trip, and was hoping to meet people along the way to give him pointers, so he drilled me for suggestions. He stopped by to visit a little later, and we chatted for a while. Among the topics – the Federal Reserve. I don’t know what it is, but this was the second well educated foreigner I met in a week that was convinced that the Federal Reserve is a for-profit, private bank. After a debate involving Wikipedia and conspiracy theories, he wasn’t entirely convinced that it wasn’t. This was followed by a very persistent offer of massage, and proposal to spend a beautiful night together. Did I mention there was no alcohol involved, and he was much older than me? Creeper. I was grateful for my room in a sterile hotel with security and good locks.

In the morning, another bus. This time to the border of Vietnam, into the Mekong Delta, and to the city of Can Tho. What was supposed to be a standard trip on two long distance buses, turned into 2 AC buses on the Cambodia side with a stop for coffee, then the border, then a van to a local bus without AC. I was going with it at this point. We drove past rice field after rice field. Some local ladies working the fields got on in a swarm, brought a laugh riot, then got off 15 minutes later. All was good until I started to have to go to the bathroom. Finally we stopped, and were ushered to another bus. I asked to used the bathroom with my guidebook translator, and got screamed at in Vietnamese, followed by violent gestures which I took to mean “Get your ass on the bus, we’re leaving now!!”. Again no AC, stopping every 15 minutes to pick up or drop off, no breaks, and this time people smoking out the windows. I sat at an angle the rest of the way to Can Tho to take pressure off my bladder. If it wasn’t for the fact that I sweat the whole time, I probably would have wet my pants. By the time we got there I had spent 12 hours in transit without food. The last 6 hours without AC or a bathroom break.

I finally got to my hotel and into private AC room. My room service order got lost, so I ended up having two bottles of 7-up for dinner. Turned out to be a blessing, because relaxed in the comfort of my room, I developed stomach issues. I hadn’t eaten anything all day – how was this possible?! Oh yeah, I had a coffee with ice at the border. I made it all the way through India without Delhi Belly, and I got hit in Vietnam.

Next day – mostly sick in my hotel room, with only short excursions around the neighborhood.

Can Tho is a small city, and there really isn’t much to see there. The primary reason to go is to use it as a jumping off point for exploring around the Mekong Delta, taking a boat tour, or visiting the floating markets. Since I only had one day left I chose the floating markets, and left bright and early the next morning (5:30). The markets get going at 6, and start to wrap up well before noon. On the way to our boat I asked my tour guide (a college student whose name I’m embarrassed to say I can’t remember) if we could get a take-away coffee. She was happy to, but made me wait at the corner so she didn’t get charged tourist prices. With coffee in hand we boarded our boat, and set off down the river.

Pic of our boat driver. Notice how covered up she is? It’s easily in the 90+ degrees here. That’s how a lot of the ladies dress. Often the only visible skin on their body is the sliver between their hat brims, and their surgical masks. They try to keep their skin as white as possible.

We drove past the larger floating market Cai Rang (which was supposed to have as many tourists as locals), and stopped for breakfast at a local floating cafe. My guide ordered us two bowls of noodle porridge. In addition to the noodles and porridge, it had what looked like beat colored tofu and calamari. After several bites I realized that neither was what I thought it was. I asked what the tofu like stuff was she said “Do you want that I tell you?”. Yeeessss….. It was congealed blood. The circular things? Intestines. Oh. Kay. I was not prepared for that. My stomach turned, but I tried my best to remain expressionless and keep eating. My stomach didn’t fully recover for the rest of the day.

After breakfast we went to the smaller floating market Phong Dien. My guide explained along the way that most of the boats only sell a couple of fruits or vegetables. The markets are packed tight with boats, and it can be hard to tell which one has the foods your looking for – so they advertise what they’re selling by tying examples on a stick and displaying it up in the air. There were pineapples, watermelon, bananas, tomatoes, green onions, coconuts, and more.

From there we stopped at a noodle making factory. They first make rice into giant pancakes, and then feed it through a slicer to cut them into noodles.

Floated through some small canals, then got out to walk by some rice fields and visit an orchard.

Couple things that came up along the way:

– Most of the boats have eyes painted on them like an animal.
– Most Vietnamese prefer fish as pets instead of cats or dogs. They think fish are elegant, and can be a sign of wealth since some can be quite expensive.
– Vietnamese women have no problems pattern mixing (as you can see in some of these pics)

I spent the remainder of my last day in Can Tho resting in my room, and trying to settle my stomach. Vietnam has not been easy on my digestive system so far.

Other pics from the boat ride: