Posts By mihai
Laos
Acum e bine. Zac intr-un hamac dupa o zi de bicicleta, admir Mekongul in crepuscul, rod la niste orez in bambus si stau. Ieri…
Lucrurile au inceput prost din Cambodia. Trezire la 6 ca sa fim la 7 la statia de autobuz pt Laos. La 8:30 au inceput sa ne culeaga. La 10 am plecat. Se dusesera deja 2h30 din cele 5 anuntate pana in laos. Un microbuz inghesuit pana la refuz si noi 4 vestici inconjurati de localnici. Ajungem la Stung Tren la 12:40 dupa 2 ore de inghitit praf rosu. Parca argila era buna pentru ten.
La Stung Treng suntem anuntati ca urmatorul autobuz e la 2. Bineneteles putem lua masa la restautantul local (ca si mic dejunul din Cambodia). Ma chinui cu supa Cristinei dar ma dovedeste. La 2 plecam spre Laos. Distractia de-abia incepe.
La iesire din Cambodia nu se spune raspicat ca trebuie sa platim 2 dolari pentru stampila de iesire. Doar sunt 4 care muncesc acolo, trebuie sa manance si gura lor o paine. Incercam sa rezistam. Cer chitanta. Lucrurile degenereaza si vamesul declara taios din spatele ochelarilor ‘I don’t speak english’. Platim.
Ajungem la ghereta pt Laos. Cativa ce refuzasera mai inainte sa plateasca se intorc smeriti spre Cambodia. Fara stampila de iesire nu li se acorda viza.
Laos, primim formularele de viza. Completam, depunem, ni se cere un dolar in plus. Pt ca e ‘tarziu’. Un mic anunt indica ca dupa ora 4 exista overtime fee. Este 3:55, ii arat ceasul, stramba din nas dar scap. Asteptam.
Viza este gata. Ni se mai cer 2 dolari de persoana pt stampila de iesire. Suntem cu totii in culmea frustrarii. Platesc in kip. Vamesul nu stie ca 8 * 4 fac 32…
Am intrat in Laos. Lumea glumeste
Auzim povesti horror cu oameni dati afara din autobuze in suturi. Ajungem la barca, lumea se urca, urmeaza sa mergem pe insule.
Barca porneste supra incarcata. Ajungem pe prima insula. Toata lume in afara de noi 2 si un alt cuplu coboara. Barcagiul ne anunta ca el nu ne duce pana la a doua insula. Ii aratam biletele, ne spune ca lui i s-a spus altceva. Platim alta barca 2.5$ de persoana.
Tired yet?
Ajungem pe insula. Este noapte, am plecat de 12 ore. Ajungem la guesthouseul rezervat. Ne anuntza zambitori ca booking.com i-a sunat sa le spuna ca am anulat. Nu am anulat.
I don’t really know how the lion sleeps
After chilled Kep and its Crabs, we took an uneventful 9 hours bus journey to Sen Monorom. The most fun was waiting in Kep at 7:30 for a bus we had booked by telephone and hoping it would stop and have available seats. It did and it had. 4 hours of karaoke videos later we’re in Phnom Pehn. Change buses and 5 and a half hours of jumpy crammed travel later, Moldukiri, Sen Monorom the wild east.
One day resting at the Tree Lodge, aptly named after Mr. Tree, the owner, and some waterfall swimming.
Then we are off for a two day jungle trek and elephant encounters.First day, a morning 5 km trek followed by lunch andswimming at a 30m waterfall. Cold water but who cares. Free spa water massages. Everybody manages to overcome their natural aversion to cold (more on that later).
More jungle trekking in the afternoon. We walk through the hilly forest, pass by manioc, pineapple and cashew plantations, make chance encounters with a snake and take in the scenery.
We arrive at the Nature Lodge at 4 pm and immediately crash into its comfy hammocks waiting for our dinner to be ready. Bamboo soup and pineapple pork. We round up the evening with some Truth Macao(Romanian uno combined with the truth part of truth or dare), a large bottle of rice wine and some unexpected soul searching with our trek friends answering questions like what is your greatest desire and what is your greatest fear. Everybody is in a good mood, we all joke how it’s warmer than we expected.
9 pm, time to hit the sack. Pretty literally. We settle in into our hammocks overlooking the valley and surrounded by jungle sounds. Sleeping in a hammock under the open air while various night insects and animals practice their calls can be intimidating at first but the rice wine and the trek prove to be reliable helpers of the sandman.
3 am, everybody is freezing. I realize that Cristina had the right approach, she has brought her winter jacket to sleep in. The temperature dropped to 13C and most of us are not ready. Everybody stirs and turns in their cocoon, i resolve to watch the beautiful moonlight filled valley below and listen to the jungle. The tree next to my hammock stirs, I don’t want to find out why.
Sunrise comes at around 6 am and not a moment to soon. We start to get out of our pupas one by one. We hunt the sun and the hot tea. Breakfast is ready. We all need a good night sleep and every one hugs whoever he or she can for the warmth.
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