Off The Beaten Path - Eastern Cambodia

For the next few days, Andrea and I left the tourist spots behind us and instead traveled into the remote areas of Eastern Cambodia. We had little idea how to plan, book or organise trips, as not much information was available online - a sign that tourism has yet to make its way to this part of the country.

Anyway, once we got off the bus, we quickly found accommodation and booked a tour that brought us into the gem mine area, a lake, waterfalls and a hill to watch the sunset from. In particular the gem mine area was eye-opening, as the miners dig their holes (up to 12 meters deep) with sticks, shovels and some makeshift mechanical threat to get the dirt out. It is some dirty, tiresome and dangerous work (no safety rope or anything when going down) and apparently they only earn $1.25-2.5 per day on average (obv more if they find a big stone). After the mine area, we relaxed by a lake for a short while before finishing the day watching a beautiful sunset over green and rural Cambodia.

The next two days were the main reason, we traveled east. We booked an overnight jungle trek with a homestay. While the trek itself was largely okay (interesting bits were river crossings, improvised bridges and some cool waterfalls), the guides we had and the homestay was what was so fascinating - on top of a perfect opportunity for star-gazing and sleeping in a hammock.

Not just to see and learn about the daily life of the people who live here, but the interactions with them were incredible - for example, our guide used to be a child soldier for the Khmer Rouge and his stories about being forced out of their homes into the jungle, having nothing/little to eat and shooting everyone that passes a particular road on the way to Saigon was shocking, but provided an insight into what people here had to go through during the Khmer Rouge. We also met a local who was very proud to have met Gordon Ramsey and showed him how to make a traditional Bunong (local tribe) wedding meal.

On the last day, we headed to Kratie, to see one of the six last remaining species of river dolphins during sunset. These Irrawaddy dolphins are some funny-looking creatures and provided the perfect end to our little adventure into eastern Cambodia.

To sum it up, it is the people we met and talked to that made this little detour so valuable to me - it provided a glimpse into the country that many other travelers do not get.Read more