Stung Treng

We spent today trying to figure out the best way to get across the border and into Laos tomorrow. We first tried our hotel - but there was no one around who spoke English, just a mother with a young child sat on a rug on the floor. The girl had a drip up, as though it was a makeshift hospital in the lobby. We then tried the street vendors who offered either a bus leaving at 13:30 the next day or a taxi for $40. We continued back to Ponika's for breakfast and to ask here, again a bus leaving at maybe 12 or 1pm tomorrow or a taxi for $35. We ate our omelette with cheese (a cheese square on top) and poached eggs with a baguette, while we decided to think about our options. We then hired some bicycles from Ponika's to enjoy our last day in Cambodia.
The bikes were just about road worthy, except David's puncture which we got refilled before riding on. We cycled parallel to the Sekong River out of town and to a women's development centre which was unfortunately closed until 13:30. We took the opportunity to cycle further and see some of the rural area around the town. We found a tourism sign which we followed but only found some abandoned huts and lots of army ants. At this point we turned around and cycled through some small village areas where the local people, especially the children, were very friendly and waving hello at us.
We stopped for lunch at a cute restaurant with huts looking over the river. We were shown the first hut which Kerry quickly exited as she was faced with a green snake (no screaming involved!). The second was occupied by ants, but luckily the third we deemed safe and sat down in. Again the staff spoke very little English so we ordered chicken rice and some drinks. We were surprised to actually get a large plate of fried rice and chicken (no bones) with a side of chilli sauce. After a relaxing lunch and chill out in the hammocks we set back on our bikes.
We cycled back to the women's development centre which was now open. One of the ladies showed us around and explained the main industry was silk but they also had programmes for cleaning, cooking, English and computer science. We were able to walk around the centre, seeing the workers spin, dye and weave the silk into beautiful fabrics and scarves. At the end of the tour we were shown the gift shop but the silk was very expensive so we opted for a donation in the box and a drink instead.
We cycled back into town and dropped the bikes back (having to remind them we needed to pay and how much) before heading back to the hotel to organise the taxi for tomorrow. We decided a taxi would be the safest option given we had to catch transport the other side of the border.
We had dinner in the hotel restaurant which we thought would be a good option, opting for fried chicken and chips and lok lak with chips. (We were really craving chips). But with the small portions and dubious pieces of beef, we ordered round two consisting of a noodle dish and some more french fries. Feeling utterly full after this we decided to call it a night.Read more