Home Stay in Cambodia

I try to lay perfectly still in the hammock with my eyes closed, the sound of pigs, chickens and dogs evident all around me, I have a BIG headache for the heat and I am trying to get it under control. I shift around and hear a murmur of voices speaking a different dialect. I open my eyes and peer to my left. About 20 children and adults are standing around staring at me, watching my every move. If I didn't have such a bad headache I would think this was really awkward, but at the moment... I don't care.

Wes and I and our guide, a local from Ban Lung had made the trek in the sweltering heat of the jungle, I thought the dry air of Colorado was bad but here... you sweat a gallon of water just walking a few steps. We passed through many types of terrain on our trek, through dense primary forest, secondary forest, farm land, orchards and of course rice fields.


We stayed in a small village about a 4 hour walk from the ferry crossing we started at. There was no electricity, no running water and apparently not a lot of blond haired individuals that passed through this area because the people keep their distance. But everyone is very curious. 


When we arrived our guide told us to go have a shower (which means to go throw water on yourself using a bowl.) The old village chief guided us down to the watering hole about a 15 minute walk from the village. The villagers had dug a wide hole into a hill, there was an underground spring feeding this hole, so the water was, ehh, cleaner than the water flowing through the streams... we think. The chief handing me the bowl and pointed to the stream. Our guide had said we would have privacy, but this wasn't happening, there was a small line of women and children waiting to use their bathing hole watching us. I didn't want to be improper, so I used the bowl to wash my arms legs and head, the chief laughed every time I rinsed an arm or leg, he then stripped to his underwear, squatted by the hole and poured water over his head. Wes did likewise... men have it easier sometimes! Through a lot of pointing and hand movements we figured out that their rice crop was not doing well this year, the rain had not come yet and they had to replant again.


After our "shower" I took a nap while Wes went around the village. Wes walked around the village, taking pictures (when the children were not running away from him) and talking to our guide. Our guide had brought a bottle of whiskey and Wes ate dinner and drank with the locals and had an awesome time.

During the night the sky lit up, you could see the Milky Way perfectly. I laid in my hammock and took in the scenery. I heard the quiet hum of something flying over me, a beetle. It was the size of my fist, no joke! I was glad of the mosquito net over the hammock. At about 4 a.m. Wes and I and the guide were awakened by the sound of a bell, the cows, for whatever reason had wandered under the house and were standing right next to use, their bells rattled. Our  guide got up and shooed them away.


The next morning we ate noodle soup for breakfast with the normal crowd of gawkers. What we did not eat the villagers heated back up and added to their small meal of rice. 

We packed up and headed out of the village. Along our route we encountered three more villages, all these villages are animist, they do not practice Buddhism, but instead believe in different spirits. They also believe in making sacrifices. Our guide told us they used to sacrifice people, but now just they wary trekkers they can snatch, just kidding. They sacrifice animals, they do this for a good crop, the start of a new year (which is determined on the start of the rainy season), for guests and also if a family is having bad luck. We saw evidence of this at every village we stopped at.

We finished our trek at the river. Our guide pulled out his mobile phone and called the boat driver to see if he was waiting for us... so much for being in a remote area... We took small boat down the river 45 minutes back to the ferry crossing. Our experience trekking in the area has really been a highlight from our trip, something we will never forget.