It was a dry, dusty day as we crossed the border into Cambodia. We found a minibus to take us to the small town of Stung Treng where we would get onwards transport into a remote north eastern town called Ban Lung. We arrived at Stung Treng and waited in a small cafe for a number of hours for our next bus. I had a little walk around looking for anything of interest but to be honest, it was a fairly dull town and the most exciting thing I stumbled upon was an old lady frying up banana fritters. There were two types, one was the sweet variety and the other more savoury, similar to a plantain. They were a good, cheap snack to prepare us for the horror of a bus journey ahead.
The bus arrived, there were no seats and nowhere to store our backpacks. We had to climb over piles of pineapples at the front of the bus and push our way through the aisle. Our bags had to go on the floor and we sat on little mini stools in the aisle. We were feeling very sweaty but just relieved to be sitting down and finally, the bus set off. More discomfort was around the corner as the bus travelled along dusty roads, so dusty that the inside of the bus was enveloped in a hazy, grainy cloud. People had their handkerchiefs over their face as the choking dust swirled around and there was an awful lot of coughing!! As the bus arrived in Ban Lung we were absolutely caked in dust, our clothes a mucky brown colour. We were mobbed as we got off the bus by touts desperate for us to go to their hotel, they must not get many foreigners in this neck of the woods. We chose a hotel and got a lift there on the back of a bike. The hotel restaurant menu was dull, my meal of minced pork and aubergine probably the most exciting thing I could see and to be fair, it was pretty good, the aubergine had a nice smoky taste and paired well with the meat. After a very long, refreshing shower, we called it a night.
The next morning we set off in search of some breakfast and were finding it difficult to find anywhere that looked clean enough to eat. We're not overly fussy but there appeared to be a distinct lack of care for the surroundings of the restaurants in this town, last nights chicken bones and dirty tissues littered all over the floors. We thought we'd try the market and I'll be honest, it was the most shockingly dirty place we'd seen on our travels. Flies were literally encrusted onto the meat and fish on display, not just hovering around but nesting in numbers so large you couldn't even see the food! Rubbish tips were piled high next to the stalls and it smelt like... piles of rubbish. Now I know I'm on a mission to sample the local foods of Asia and the markets are usually always the place you get the best stuff, but there have to be exceptions. We couldn't bring ourselves to be in the market for much longer and made a hasty exit, retreating to a guesthouse restaurant we spotted earlier and having a forgettable breakfast. We don't mind eating in simple, even scruffy surroundings, but you have to draw the line somewhere and although the food always comes first, we cannot enjoy it whilst surrounded by filth.
We hired some bicycles and went for a cycle to Yeak Laom, a volcanic crater lake to have a nice swim. After cycling in the near 40 degree heat, we were red faced and sweaty and definitely needed some refreshment!! The lake was blissful and we enjoyed the cool, fresh water in the heat of the day. Cold beers followed shortly afterwards and we ordered some food to go with them. The menus looked a bit more exciting and I ordered some dried squid (a Korean fave) and dried eel to accompany the beer. Both were delicious and partnered by a fantastic salt and pepper mix with fresh lime wedges. We squeezed the lime juice into the salt to create a wonderful salty, zesty dip for the dried fish. Yummy! The other two dishes were pretty good too, a spicy shredded mango salad topped with baby shrimp and a chilli chicken with peanuts. The problem was that we'd ordered enough food for around six people and after eating way too much, we had to cycle back to our hotel, uphill!! It wasn't a pleasant ride in the searing heat with bellies like lead and we were grateful to get back to our hotels without throwing up the contents of the gargantuan lunch.
Trekking through the dilapidated forests of Ban Lung was not all that much fun and what we learnt most was that the region seemed to have a serious deforestation problem. We passed many uprooted trees and heard the violent sound of chainsaws, never too far away. We walked past many cashew nut trees, a major source of income in this area, and sampled the actual cashew fruit which in appearance slightly resembled a bell pepper. The fruit had a peculiar, nutty, creamy taste and left a really dry feeling in the mouth, it wasn't that nice. One fruit yields just one cashew nut and it explains the relatively high cost of the finished product. We tried a few of the nuts picked from the fruit and toasted over a naked flame, you can't really get them much fresher. The highlight of the walk however was sampling some of the local jackfruit firewater which tasted pleasant and blew your head off at the same time. There were two other jars of homebrew which I tried but I couldn't tell you what was in them, only that they too were lethally strong and not too bad tasting.
Slightly disappointed with the walk we returned to our guesthouse and tried out the restaurant next door as I'd promised the lady we'd eat there. The food was being cooked at the front of the restaurant and I chose at random, pointing to what was on display. We ended up with an interesting selection of coconut and jackfruit ricecakes, steamed fish in a banana leaf, bbq'd whole baby bird, grilled stuffed frog and a stinky soy bean paste again cooked in a banana leaf. We really enjoyed the variety of taste and unusual foods, the frog was particularly juicy and delicious, stuffed with chopped up noodles, nuts, lemongrass and minced frog meat. The fish was intensely flavoursome, again using lemongrass, lime leaf and chilli. There was definitely a hint of coconut in there too and the fish itself had a soft, subtle flavour. The rice cakes were tasty and filling and the bird was meaty if a little dry. The bean paste was definitely the strongest and most unusual tasting of the dishes, a little too tasty, in fact Melissa found it unpalatable and likened its aroma to that of stinky feet. I tried my best to finish it off because I don't like leaving food on the table but it was just far too rich. Overall, definitely our best meal in Cambodia so far. Our time was up and it was back on the long, dusty road to a small town called Kratie, famous for its freshwater river dolphins, for sightseeing, not eating!!
