MONDULKIRI

Day 11 (B, L)

After breakfast we transfer to the village of Putang, from where we continue on elephant back along a jungle path to a scenic river. We have the opportunity to wash and feed the elephants and enjoy a picnic lunch and swim in the river before the elephants bring us back to the village. 

The road to Mondulkiri leaves the flatland of the Mekong basin behind and winds up into the jungle-y hills. We meandered  through Snoul Wildlife Sanctuary to Sen Monorom, the small provincial capital.Its relaxing scenery makes it popular with Cambodian people - and adventurous Americans - for vacations. Above is a photo from the front of our hotel.  

Mr. Phuht used his trusty 4-wheel drive vehicle to take us to waterfall deep in the hills.  I think the best part of Mondolkiri was that - FINALLY - we could cool off.

Jungle swing

 Mr. Phuht's son took us to a village where the ethnic "hill tribe" people live.  It was fascinating to see their way of life which has largely remained untouched by "progress."

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The famous Mondulkiri coffee being grown

Purchasing a woven scarf from the locals

This little girl was a skilled and speedy weaver

Entering the traditional dwelling

I'm not gonna lie, these people were all pretty drunk. Unfortunately this seems to be a common
theme among indigenous people in many of the places I've visited

All of these photos are taken inside the dwelling

Pretty sure these store the source of the inebriation


The Cambodian people, and in particular the hill tribe people, are very happy to have their photo taken.  These are shots from around the village:

After leaving the hill tribe village, we continued along scenic forest and hill paths to Romnear waterfall, where we had a quick swim and a picnic lunch. Then we visited the spectacular double drop waterfall of Bou Sraa, which is evidently quite the tourist attraction for Cambodians.  There were a lot of them there enjoying their day off with family groups.

These girls were earning a living dressing in traditional hill tribe costumes and posing with tourists, mostly Cambodian

We got to swim in the pools at the foot of the falls

We headed back to town, stopping here and there along the way when we saw something we wanted to explore.  The photo below is one of many I could post, as it is common to see motorbikes loaded down with baskets, building supplies, even livestock! 

Just before sunset we walked up to Phnom Dak Reimon, a hill from where we could admire what the locals call the ‘Sea Forest’, because of the countless undulating hills that look like the waves in the sea in the dusk.

Jeff poses with Mr. Phuht's son atop Phnom Dak Reimon

Back at the Mondulkiri Hotel we took a walk around, discovering a footbridge that evidently one had to pay to cross - as we couldn't figure out exactly how one paid we only walked halfway across.  Had an early night as we would need our energy for our awesome elephant trek tomorrow!