It's dark, the air
rushing past my head is warm and full of flying insects. I'm wearing
my sunglasses to protect my eyes, but it means that I can't see a
thing. Between the driver and I is Nicky. All three of us are
squeezed on this tiny 125cc motorcycle and Tom is riding next to us
with our bags. The road is nicely paved, leads out from the centre
of Banlung and eventually reaches the Vietnamese border. Of course
we are not going that far. Nicky had booked us some beds in an
eco-lodge a couple of kilometres out of Banlung. The street lights
disappeared and the stars brightened in the sky above.
The town centre had
long disappeared and we were now cruising in silence. The motorcycle
lights struggled to illuminate the road ahead. Tom's motorcycle
pulled off the road in front of us onto a gravel driveway entrance
and we pulled up beside them. “Is this it?” The gate was
closed. Initially I thought the motorcycle drivers were trying to
fool us by bringing us to a closed place so they could take us to
their alternative hotel instead. We hoped off the motorcycles and
inspected closer. The Cambodian riders warned us to be careful as it
was dark, so I retrieved my wind up torch from my bag and lighted the
way. There was a sign on the gate to prove that we were in the right
place but having looked through the gate, we saw no lights nor life.
The three of us stood there for a moment in
disbelief. The motorcycle engines had been cut off and darkness
enveloped around us as the symphony of crickets and insects buzzing
and clicking filled the air. How could this journey become any
more aggravating!? Nicky had booked this place the previous day
on the internet and had been assured that they had a 24 hour
reception. By the looks of it, the reception hadn't been open
for a long time. Our shouts and pleads to open up went
unheard. Nicky had enough and grabbed my wind up torch and
climbed over the fence to the disbelief of the motorcycle riders who
warned him to be careful of animals. Tom and I stood watching
through the gate as the light from the torch grew dim and
disappeared. Nicky was on his own.
The minutes passed slowly by as we waited for
Nicky's return. We held on to a hope that the day's events may
just turn around into a positive and the gates would open to a
paradise beyond. In the distance an intermittent whirring sound
could be heard, I looked through the gate and could see a white light
flickering and growing stronger as it got closer. It was Nicky
winding the torch to keep it powered. He was alone and a little
bit angry. I looked over at Tom in anticipation of a barrage of
Fs but there was only hushed remarks, however, I could tell that
internally he was visualising BBTs (Baby Bashing Trees). We had
to get out of there before someone got hurt, before the anger boiled
up and started spilling over the edges of his self control.
 |
| Banlung - Main Street |
Luckily, the motorcycle riders knew of a perfect
hotel that we could stay in for the night so Nicky, Tom and I hopped
back on the bikes and headed back towards Banlung. The
motorcycle with Tom on it had disappeared behind us. I was a
little concerned not for his safety, but for the motorcycle rider's.
Nicky and I waited for him at the Pink Hotel for around five minutes
uncertain of their fate. We were shown a room, quite a long
room with two double beds and a massive bathroom that could fit a
football team in. We had decided that we should just go for the
room as it was far too late and we'd been on the uncomfortable road
for far too long to care anymore.
By the time we got downstairs Tom had just pulled
up into the parking lot. Apparently they had run out of fuel.
Half way back. Of course, it turned out that the motorcycle
riders were very much linked to this hotel by blood. Once they
started bellowing for their Mum who was this short, friendly looking
lady who came downstairs to cook us something to eat just before we
headed off to bed.
CROAK! What the hell is that? I though
as a load croak echoed the other side of the door and woke me from my
sleep. The way the hallway echoed and amplified the croak
temporarily freaked me out a little but I was too tired to have an
issue with falling back to sleep and dreaming of the good old days
lying comfortably in my upper bunk on the Trans-Siberian train as it
chugged through the white deserted Siberian plateau.
Comfortably warm, listening to the Russians joke and laugh whilst
eating and drinking. Even though Yekaterinburg to Irkutsk took
3 days, it now seems like a walk in the park compared to the trip
from Siem Reap to Banlung…. I just hope this volcanic lake we
came to see is worth all the hassle!
The next morning we
grabbed our bags and checked out of the Pink Hotel in search of the
Lake View Lodge. The dust from the road filled the warm, stale air
as we walked in the general direction of the lodge. The streets were
largely empty apart from a few stalls selling drinks and snacks. The
locals smiled as we passed by and were helpful in our bid to find
were we wanted to get to. The lodge was indeed by the lake and we
were greeted by the manager, a friendly guy who showed us to our
beds, Nicky and Tom were in a private twin and I was in a five bed
dormitory.
We had arranged with
the manager three motorcycle drivers to take us to the volcanic lake
that afternoon. It's mad to think back at how concerned I was at the
thought of getting on the back of some crazy South East Asian's
motorbike in Hanoi to now, where it now seems like everyday life. We
arrived at the lake early afternoon just after the midday heat had
been subdued slightly. This was our last day in Cambodia and all we
wanted to do was relax by the lake and have a refreshing swim in the
700,000 year old Yeak Laom volcanic lake. I had been dying to get
into some water for a swim ever since leaving Sihanoukville. In a
way it was worth the journey, the water was beautifully refreshing
and we spent a good couple of hours jumping in, swimming around and
forgetting about the previous days journey.
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