The plan for today is to ride from Kaoh Nheak to Sen Monorom, where we want to spend the next night before heading back to Phnom Penh. This is the second part of our trip from Rattanakiri to Mondulkiri through forest and mountains. We get up fairly early and have breakfast, before we hit the trail again.

19.11.2005

Village in the early morning

Myself in the early morning

Breakfast in the neighbors’ house, in the company of a pig. We are lucky again as it is a sunny and dry day.

We visit the local school after breakfast and are delighted to find a new building with a teacher and two full classes, remarkable given the remoteness of the place and the overall state of education in rural Cambodia. We learn that children in this class have four different mother tongues.

Two of the villagers tell us that they are traveling in the same direction and are kind enough to show us the way.

After a few minutes the trail is getting challenging, fairly steep on some streches and still wet in shadowy places.

First break

Another break

This happened when I lean too much on my moto

Small village along the way

In another village, with a big logo of the ruling party CPP. We see few, if any, signs of the opposition party.

We reach a river. Luckily there is a ferry.

Here is how it works: You ride the bike carefully onto the ferry, keep seated and balance the bike while the ferryman walks the boat through the river the other bank. There is a rope put up between both banks to hold on to and keep the boat on track.

Becky and ox cart driver, looking at each other in mutual fascination.

Yet another village. A billboard informs about a WWF supported project in this area. Toby works for WWF and is familiar with the project, so we stop for some time and he talks with the people.

Local children

Toby with local staff of WWF supported project.

After some time we reach this bridge, which has a sharp bend right in its middle. We decide to have a break.

Right now there is little water in the river

Under the bridge: The construction does not look particularly trustworthy.

From here the track gets somewhat tougher.

Becky fall and her leg got stuck under the moto.

Katrin right after falling into the mud.

Nice spot for falling.

We continue riding until we hit a very nice, recently upgraded dirt road.

Becky kissing the ground and thanking the gods for sending this marvelous road.

From here it is only about half an hour to Sen Monorom.

Filling some more gas into the tank in order not to get stuck on the last few kilometers.

Road under construction

We reach Sen Monorom and ride straight to the Long Vibol Guesthouse. I have spent some nights here when I came to Sen Monorom about two years ago. I reported this trip here, here and there.

We visit a local restaurant to have diner and beer before going to bed early.

I have been looking forward to this part of the trip for a long time. During the next two days we attempt to travel from Banlung (Ban Lung) in Rattanakiri to Sen Monorom in Mondulkiri, straight through forest and mountains. This trip is considered one of the most exciting in Cambodia. The authors of the Adventure Cambodia guide book have dedicated a whole 6-pages section to it, entitled “The Death Highway” (their account is posted further down on this page). This title may be a bit exaggerated but they did it (the other way around) during the wet season and ended up doing much of the journey with broken dirt bikes on oxcarts and tattered Russian jeeps.

We plan to spend the night in Kaoh Nhek, a village about half way to Sen Monorum. Tomorrow we continue to Sen Monorum. What thrills me is that we don’t have any spare clutch lever or front tube left before even getting into the rough part of the trip.

8.11.2005

We had long discussion about the relative merits of having a local guides versus doing the trip by ourselves. Lim tells us he would charge about 60$ to get us to Sen Monorum which I feel is inexpensive. After all he would have to return to Banlung on a very long loop through Kratie and Stung Treng. Nobody would go by himself all the way back through the wilderness.

Toby speaks Khmer well and is familiar with the area as he has been up working up here many times over a period of several years. Finally we decide to rely on his pathfinder and language skills and go without local guide.

The trail we are going to travel on has never been constructed as a road with a built up surface. Other than motorbike, it is doable only by oxcart or by skillful driver with a capable truck. I found this travel report by Andrew who did the trip by truck in 2003.

Information useful about traveling in Rattanakiri can also be found in dedicated sections of Tales of Asia, Canby Publications and Travelfish.

Views over the lake in the morning.

We decide to start the day with an early bath in the Yeak Laom Volcano Lake, just outside the other end of town and a must see in Rattanakiri. The lake is a marvelous piece of natural beauty and local indigenous tribes attach great spiritual significance to it. Until recently this was considered Cambodia’s finest attempt at preserving a natural site, designated as protected area already in 1995 as part of a community driven natural resource management and eco-tourism program. There is even a small but well done museum about indigenous culture, a trail around the lake and a wooden platform for jumps into the deep and clean water.

Katrin and Toby, lake and platform.

Katrin and myself.

After breakfast in the garden of the hotel we head back to Banlung to fill up the bikes.

We are surprised to encounter a whole bunch of people on dirt bikes, all with fancy motos, at least by our standard, and each with the full range of advanced gear. They make a lot of noise. We learn that, while this group travels on main roads only, one unfortunate member fall with his bike and suffered a complicated fraction. He now requires transportation by car to the hospital in Phnom Penh which has sort of ended for all of them what looks like a well-planned bike trip.

Katrin and Becky. The vehicle of the injured biker is on the Land Cruiser’s roof in the background.

We get started and follow the dirt road to Lumphat, a town located about 30km south of Banlung. After a few minutes of riding we overtake the group on bikes whose members are riding slowly and cautiously in an orderly line.

Asking for the way

It may not look like it but the bigger problem is not that there is no track but that there are too many and nobody to ask for the right one.

The road is dusty but decent at first but increasingly turns into a trail with mud and water in many places. The rainy season has ended only few days ago in Phnom Penh and maybe not yet here.

This is when we reach the Srepok (Sre Pok) River close to Lumphat. It is actually on this river and along that stretch of it that much of the movie Apocalypse Now was shot, with Marlon Brando in the role of mad Colonel Kurtz who during the Vietnam War sets up his own army and autonomous zone up here.

We find a ferry at the bank of the river. However, the river bank is fairly steep and slippery. Riding onto the ferry is moderately challenging. You want to go very slowly because otherwise you ride over the few planks on this small boat and straight into the deeper part of the river (Becky had some interesting experiences with similar settings elsewhere).

Toby with Apocalypse Now face expression.

One of the ferry men.

Becky and river

The other bank of the river is as steep as the first one and even more slippery. However, this time around the challenge is reversed: it is not to minimize speed but to maximize it while accelerating on the boat and plank in order to make it all the way up without slipping or getting stuck.

After we pass the river the ‘road’ does not get better. To the contrary.

We keep riding for some time until we reach a small village and a few minutes later an intersection. We want to make sure not to take the wrong way at this point. Toby rides back a few hundred meters were we just passed a group of villagers, in order to ask one of them to show us the way. After what seems like a long period of time Toby comes back, with two villagers on the bike. We learn that local people – I forgot which indigenous group they belong to – have had bad experiences with outsiders in the past and agreed to come along only if two of them could go together.

The villagers show us the way and Toby gives them a ride back to the village.

Katrin and Becky performing a traditional dance to make sure it does not rain today (?).

We keep riding for some time through light forest. It is demanding to follow the narrow trail for longer periods of time, through sand and mud, over roots and rocks. Bikes drop occasionally.

This is when we finish a short break. We have not a very clear idea of how close we are to Kaoh Nheak, where we wont to spend the night. We have not seen people in a long time and increasingly realize that time is becoming an issue.

Then we meet two villagers on an oxcart. We learn that it is still far to Kaoh Nheak.

Becky and Toby are into natural resource management work wise and I learn that this type of light forest is ideal for a wide range of wildlife.

I can imagine how this small creek looks like in the rainy season and that it will be next to impossible to pass it. Even now these spots are not without challenges.

Finding a way in the deep grass is sometimes challenging.

We keep riding and for a long time don’t see anyone again. Then we recognize some sort of lake or river to our left and later see some people on its bank. A few kilometers more and we reach the village.

However, this is not Kaoh Nheak. We talk to villagers and learn that it is still a considerable distance to get there. Nevertheless we ask for the way and continue.

The trail surface along this stretch is mostly dry. It is also extremely hard and has deep oxcart tracks running all over it which makes for a very bumpy and rather slow ride.

We are not exactly sure whether we are still on the right way and start consulting numerous maps. Meanwhile the sun is gone and it is clear that there is less than 1 hour of daylight left.

After a lengthy discussion we decide to ride back to the village and spend the night there.

We reach the village where one lady offers us food, fish, rice and some vegetables. One man is kind enough to offer his house for us to spend the night.

After diner we head over to our host’s house (too bad I forgot his name). He intends to vacate the whole building and to spend the night in the house of his relative. Obviously we don’t want his entire family to endure such inconvenience yet he insists and it is too hard for us to turn his offer down.

We move our stuff into his house. Our host suggests visiting the near river for a bath. We sure can use one. It is a 10 minute ride to the spot. We put on kromas for a Khmer-style bath and get into the water. This is the best bath I had in a long time and it takes long to get rid of all the dust.

Right after we have a bath

Toby has the sensitive idea to take pictures with our host, to give the ladies a chance to change.

Toby and host

Myself and host

We ride back to the village and put the hammocks we brought from Phnom Penh.

All four hammocks have a mosquito net. Only three of them are insulated. I sleep in the fourth hammock. My night is a frosty one and I advise you to bring insulated hammocks for your comfort.

We put up hour bungees between the motos to use them as washing lines for our bathing cloths.

Later villagers invite us to another house to join for diner. This is what we do.

The food is tasty.

This is what the Adventure Cambodia guys write about people in this area:

“The people who live along parts of this sparsely populated stretch of Cambodia are forgotten souls. They have been left by the central government to fend for themselves, without any thought given to basic needs, such as a useable road to travel on or simple health information and access to medicine. You certainly don’t trip over any NGO aid groups here to help, either …”

“Most of these people own nothing from the modern-day world and live in rough bamboo huts lighted in the evening by the bamboo torches they make for themselves”.

The first part remains partly true, certainly as far as usable roads are concerned. As for government services, we do find a newly built school including a teacher and pupils the next day.

That people here own nothing from the modern world is obviously not true, at least not anymore. Almost all houses we see are built from solid timber. The house is lit by strong neon light with electricity supplied by a large and loud generator behind the house. There is also a massive stereo and a TV set.

We have the impression that people may have started the generator for us while we would prefer an evening without neon light an noice. However, there does not seem to be a sensitive way of asking for it.

Toby conversing with Khmer lady.

Our host puts bottles with rice wine on the table, people of all ages emerge in the house and the big stereo rumbles into action.

Few minutes later people start dancing.

Notice in the background TV set and receiver, DVD player and most importantly, a sizeable amplifier. Music consists mostly of Khmer and Lao traditional and pop music.

I have yet another glass before joining the dancing. My Khmer dancing skills are actually pretty undeveloped. Some of the villagers join while most of them prefer to just watch.

Yet another glass

We are all very tired and slightly drunk by the time we head home and go to bed.

The plan for today is to ride from Kratie (Kracheh) to Banlung (Ban Lung) in Rattanakiri (Ratanakiri). This is not a big deal in terms of distance but we anticipate the road to be in poor shape, particularly between Stung Treng (Stoeng Treng) and Banlung. We start the day with a generous breakfast at the Red Sun Falling Restaurant, a great place for Western food in Kratie and the only one as far as I know, run by a guy named Joe from Chicago. They even serve delicious brownies but unfortunately not this morning.

17.11.2005

Mekong River in the morning

Breakfast

Getting started

We follow the paved but bumpy and narrow road to the north until we reach a fork after about 20km. The road to the left leads to Sambor and while the one to the right is National Road 7 leading to Stung Treng.

We turn right and after a few more kilometers of bumps and potholes arrive on the wide road that we are very pleased to find perfectly even with virtually no potholes and only little traffic. This latter road is currently undergoing comprehensive upgrading with substantial support by the Chinese government. It looks like it will be paved very soon. Accordingly, we enjoy a smooth ride at fairly high speed.

The upgrading of this road is a major effort and involves the construction of a number of new bridges, here right next to an old bridge which seems to have collapsed long time ago.

We reach another major fork after about 150km and within less than 2 hours, much to our surprise. From here, National Road 7 leads to Stung Treng town to the left (just 23km from here) while Provincial Road 78 to the left leads to Banlung.

We have a break and some food at the restaurant right at the fork before we continue. Recent and not so recent experience suggests that the 200km of dirt road between here and Banlung is in exceptionally bad condition. Therefore, we decide not to visit Stung Treng and to ride directly to Banlung instead to make sure we reach it before dark. However, much to our surprise we find that this notoriously bad road was recently repaired and now is a state-of-the-art dirt road that allows for smooth and fast traveling all the way to Banlung (with the exception of some of the numerous bridges, which you want to keep in mind).

We keep riding for some time until we find that Katrin’s bike has a flat tyre. Fortunately, even in this sparsely populated area it is only a few hundred meters to the next repair place. This garage is easily recognizable since the owners have attached an old tube to a tree next to the road.

We find that the punch is fairly big and decide to invest the only front spare tube we have, rather than fixing the broken one. It seems those mechanics have not a whole lot of experience with fixing this kind of tyre and they apply some fairly unorthodox (and time consuming) methods.

To my greatest delight, Toby reveals that he is in possession of some of these delicious brownies from the Red Sun Falling in Kratie. How he managed to get hold of it is still a mystery to me. These are the best brownies I ever had. Toby is such a cool guy.

Becky and Katrin having fun with our bungees.

Meanwhile the mechanics inserted the new tube into the casing and put the wheel back on the bike. However, when they try to inflate it they realize it has a punch, too. It does not matter at this point whether the spare tube was broken all along or in the process of inserting it with sharp devices. The process starts anew and this time around involves fixing the tube with cool but time consuming hot patches.

After a total of about 2 hours the tube is fixed and the bike ready to go. We consider ourselves lucky. All roads from Kratie to here have been in exceptionally good condition and allowed us to arrive here early enough to still have enough time to make it to Banlung comfortably.

We have been riding for another half an hour or so when Becky rides at significant speed into a fairly deep pothole which causes her and the bike to fall spectacularly. Luckily she does not get hurt. However, the clutch lever is broken.

Becky with broken clutch lever and downed bike. It strikes me how weak and vulnerable these bikes looks when they are down.

We do have one spare clutch lever but prefer to change after we reach Banlung. Toby manages to ride the bike without clutch.

We reach Banlung before dark and ride straight to a mechanic where we have Becky’s clutch lever changed and the chains lubed. Then we ride to the Hotel (I forgot the name which is unfortunate; it is nice and clean, with capable staff and beautifully located next to the lake) and check in, tired and dusty but very satisfied with how the day went. Later we have diner in the attached restaurant and meet up with Lim to make plans for tomorrows ride through forest and wilderness towards Mondulkiri.

The plan for today is to again go on a trip with great guides Lim and Lot, this time on a loop from Banlung to the east and south. We travel by motorbike and visit Ou’Sean Lair Waterfall and the Bokeo mines in the Ou Ya Dav area (hope I got it right).

If you require a guide in Rattanakiri just call Lim: 012517418.

30.10.2005

These are rubber tree plantations.

We stop briefly to fix the bike. This is Lim.

Longhouse in a one of the villages. We walk through the village. Few people are at home and we spend some time talking with children.

People have gotten stuck with this vehicle

Along the way we see a variety of butterflies.

From the right: Lot, Lim and me.

Then we reach this town the name of which I forgot. From here it is not far to the border with Vietnam.

We pass the village on the way to the Ou’Sean Lair Waterfall a few kilometers from here. The ‘road’ is getting more challenging while we come closer.

We reach the water falls and have a break. The same river falls over a succession of four or more waterfalls only a few dozen meters from one another. The falls and forest make for a very charming place. We go for a swim and eat some of the fruits we bought in the market in the morning.

Then we head back to the village.

I learn that cockfighting is popular around here.

This is a Russian made vehicle that seems to be particularly popular in the northeast. Presumably they were important from Vietnam at some point. These vehicles were a common sight during my childhood in Eastern Germany with loads of Soviet forces around. However, back then I never saw one that seemed anywhere close to that state of disrepair, although the one here appears to be still in heavy use.

We have a seat in a restaurant and order coffee. The place is crowded with mostly male customers watching boxing on TV. Multiple TV sets show Thai and Khmer boxing respectively and observation indicates that a lot of betting is going on. Other patrons play pool in the shadow on the backside of the house.

After a break we leave to visit the Bokeo mines area which is just a few minutes away from here. I learn that until recently this business was conducted by mostly poor and self-employed laborers, many of them ethnic Vietnamese. Few got lucky enough to make it worthwhile. With simple tools, deep holes are dug in the ground, oftentimes with only a small entry on top but chambers of considerable proportion underneath. These people work with little protection and take a marked risk as some of these chambers have collapsed and killed workers.

More recently the situation has changed with companies moving in and starting mining operations on a bigger scale, hardly to the benefit of local communities.

Along the road are bigger and smaller holes in the ground with heaps of red soil around from small scale mining.

Bigger holes from bigger scale extraction.

We stop and spend some time going through the soil, searching for gems but don’t get very lucky.

Lim and Lot.

Phal got slightly luckier.

Mining equipment

From here we follow a road to the west of the one on which we came, back to Banlung.

Locals manage a range of obstacles in the road with great ease and skill.

Occasionally we see uniformed and armed people.

This is a cashew nut plantation, I believe.

Great skill is also required to keep these vehicles running.

In the rubber plantation.

We learn how trees are cut and rubber is collected.

From here it is not far to Banlung. We reach when it is almost dark. Later we go to have diner and visit various places to taste rice wine and other local specialties before we go to bed.

In the morning, we meet Lim and Lot again and have breakfast together. Our flight is later in the morning and we spend the time until then purchasing traditional rice wine in jars and some stronger varieties in plastic bottles.

Lot and Phal with rice wine jar.

Banlung airport is a rather basic aviation facility. This is the check in and gate, the latter quite literally.

This is the aircraft.

On numerous occasions during the few days in Rattanakiri I have observed new 4WD vehicles with the logo of the UN refuge agency UNHCR. The Cambodia observer will know that during recent years, many ethnic minority refugees from Vietnam have crossed the border to escape from discrimination and government crackdowns Vietnam’s central highlands. The fait of these people has become an issue of some discomfort in the relationship between UN and the Cambodian government which does not wish to displease its patron’s across the border. Most of the refugees who made it to Phnom Penh have been resettled in third, Western countries. More recently, groups of refugees under UNHCR protection have been resettled to Vietnam, partly against there will with ugly scenes in Phnom Penh involving refugees being beaten by police and soldiers and forcefully loaded on buses to Vietnam. This, obviously, has let also to argument between human rights organizations and the UNHCR.

The point of bringing this up here is that after most passengers have boarded the plane, two UNHCR vehicles arrive at the airstrip and about 15 people including children are rushed from the cars onto the aircraft. I assume these are refugees from Vietnam who have suffered persecution and whose destiny is uncertain.

Go-Cart track just outside Phnom Penh.

Rice fields.

A Buddhist Wat and a school next to it, close to Phnom Penh.

The plan for today is ride to ride on motos from Banlung to Voen Sai at the edge of Virachey National Park (Virochey, Virachay), which is about 35km northwest from here at the banks of the Tonle San River. From there we will take a boat and follow the San River to the east to Ta Veang (Taveng, Taveaeng), taking in a Tompuon cemetary at Kachon village on the way. In Ta Veang we change transportation again and return to Banlung by moto. We travel with Lim and Loth, two great and capable chaps we met during our working days in Banlung. Lim and Lot work part time as guides in and around Rattanakiri.

If you require a guide in Rattanakiri just call Lim: 012517418.

29.10.2005

On the way to Virachey.

Lot and his motorbike. Lot tells me that the spot in the background is used to burry the bodies of criminals.

When we reach Voen Sai at the southern bank of the San River.

Arranging a long boat does not take long and a few minutes later we head east on the San River.

Kachon village. We stop here to visit the village’s cemetery. This destination is mentioned in various guidebooks and villagers seem to encourage visitors and also benefit from contributions. I tend to think that visiting cemeteries of most other indigenous villages in Cambodia is not encouraged by the community and would be very insensitive.

We are told that an old widower in the village has already built his own coffin, which is stored under his house.

This is on the cemetery.

The man buried here seemingly was with the police or military. The statue has a uniform including sunglasses and a cell phone that makes my co-travelers envious.

We talk to an elderly man who is member of the local Commune Council and tells us about developments in the village. After some time we continue.

This is when we reach Ta Veang. We walk around the village for some time before heading back to Banlung.

Looks as though the local CPP branch is not particularly active.

Local woman. We have a break and some coffee (from Laos) before we continue.

We come across the headquarters of Virachey National Park. The logos of Ministry of Environment, Worldbank and Global Environment Facility are on the signboard.

Lim and Phal.

Lot and Phal

On the way we visit two villages inhabited by indigenous people. Villagers prefer not being photographed. We spend some time walking around in the village, talking with people and observing laid back village life.

From left to right: Phal, moto driver whose name I forgot, Lim, and Lot. Then we get started again to ride to Banlung.

It is dark by the time we reach Banlung and all of us are very dusty. We have diner after a thorough shower.

It is one of these rare opportunities my job provides to visit Rattanakiri, and I travel the pleasure to travel there with my colleague Phal. Not the first time, since we went there before, in 2003, to undertake interviews. The plan for today is to travel to Stung Treng via Kampong Cham and Kratie by mini bus and ideally all the way to Banlung in Rattanakiri province. I tune out the work-related aspects of this trip and report what may be interesting for the traveler.

We leave Phnom Penh early in the morning with a mini bus run by Mekong tours. Tickets to Stung Treng were purchased the other day, at modest $12 each. We find the bus at the Mekong office close to the port at the riverside and both vehicle and driver appear capable. There are not more passengers than seats on the bus, something rather rare in Cambodia. Halve of the passengers are foreign tourists. We are confident to reach Stung Treng early enough to find a truck or taxi to Banlung today, the provincial capital of Rattanakiri province.

There is a nicely paved road from Phnom Penh through Kampong Cham and Snuol all the way to Kratie and we spend relaxed and eventless hours driving through rural Cambodia. At one point we stop and by accident meet this guy who is feeding milk to a baby bear. He tells us that he works for the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Sanctuary and that he is taking the bear there.

We reach Kratie and spend more time than expected, because the driver aims to fill seats left empty by passengers who stay in Kratie. We spend the time walking the water front and having one of those tasty fruit shakes at the riverside.

The next 20 km or so are pretty bad road.

This changes when we reach the stretch of National Road 7 that is under construction, with Chinese assistance. Though not paved, this road is wide and even. Many new bridges have been constructed or are close to completion. I guess the road will be paved, soon.

I keep quoting the same recent arcticle from the IHT. The article references an interview with Chanthol Sun, minister for public works and transport in Cambodia:

“Heading north toward Laos and then to China is Route 7 through Stoeng Treng Province, across the Sekong River where it joins the Mekong.

He is a firm supporter of Chinese road-building for its quality and speed and says Route 7 could be finished a year ahead of schedule. When it is done, he wants the Chinese to build eastward to link with roads to Vietnam.”

A new bridge is built not far from Kratie town next to the old bridge that has collapsed long ago.

At some point we stop and have a snack. One meal on offer at the roadside restaurant is made from what locals refer to as ‘crocodile that lives in the jungle’. People also serve grilled monkey.

The sun is setting down when we approach Stung Treng town and it becomes obvious that we won’t make it to Banlung today. We check in at the Sok Som Bath Hotel at the northwestern corner of the market.

We get lucky as in the evening we meet a driver who works for CIDSE and is kind enough to offer a ride in organization’s 4WD the next day. After early breakfast we head east on Road 78. In many places the dirt road is in pretty poor shape. However, it was just perfect when I came more recently. I assume that right now the Stung Treng – Banlung ride will not take more than 2 hours. Will post a report of this trip soon.

We reach a place where a truck got stuck in the middle of the road. People try to pull it out with another truck and we witness the steel cable breaking during one such attempt, with the heavy cable whiping dangerously fast through the air.

A Toyota Camry passes the truck with remarkable ease. Our driver tries with the 4WD and passes only after a number of attempts, and we continue.

There are some really heavy trucks on their way through the forest, very slowly dragging through the mud and further spoiling the road.

We stop at the driver’s house along the way. He owns a number of domestic animals, goats among them.

After some time a bunch of goats arrives, under the supervision of the drivers young sun. The infant goat wants to drink and with obvious routine and not very gently, the boy grabs the mother goat’s feed, pulls them to make it fall so the youngster can drink.

This is when we reach Banlung.

The market.

We spend the rest of the day and the next with work.

Words and photographs by Moeun Nhean

The northeast of Cambodia is the place to visit at the moment: it’s seriously green, strangely volcanic and noticeably cooler than the rest of the country. Cambodia’s Minister of Tourism H.E Lay Prahos is very excited about the area’s increasing potential—an area attracting more and more tourists.

Lay Prahos says 1,005,648 tourists visited Cambodia in the first nine months of 2005. “Even we’re surprised at that number!” he says. “That amount is a 37.4 percent increase for the same period in 2004.” He expects numbers for the whole of 2005 to be about 1.3 million and hopes that number will be even higher this year. The Minister admits that as tourist numbers grow, Cambodia must look to providing better services, particularly in the less-explored regions, which also have much to offer.

“Most tourists come to visit our country because they want to see the famed Angkor Wat temples. But many don’t realize this country has kept hidden some of its more natural attractions. We have wonderful pristine environments in the Kingdom like Koh Kong for instance, and Cambodia’s northeastern provinces are perfect for eco-tourism,” Lay Prahos says.

He says the northeast covers Kratie, Mondulkiri, Ratatakiri and Stueng Treng provinces. “These areas all have enormous potential.”

“For years we’ve focused on promoting the world

heritage site of Angkor Wat as our prime tourist destination. Then we’ve promoted Phnom Penh, the center of government, economics and culture and Sihanoukville, our coastal area with its beautiful white sand beaches,” he says. “But now there’s a fourth notch in our belt, and that’s eco-tourism in the northeast of Cambodia.”

He says the government has greatly improved road conditions between Phnom Penh and most provinces in the country, and will soon turn to more remote and smaller village areas.

“We have many places to invite tourists to and we want to make it enjoyable for them to travel around the kingdom. With good road conditions linking everywhere, tourist destinations are more easily accessed and explored. Nationwide it is possible to go anywhere easily by car and we have paved the way for tourism in the Kingdom. Now the northeast provinces seem a much closer destination for travelers because of the acceptable road conditions.”

I recently heard foreigners saying that when they go to [the northeast] they … feel like they are ‘return[ing] to nature.’ They enjoy seeing hill-tribe people living off the land and reaping the benefits of their natural surrounds. It’s quite difficult to see these sorts of unaffected places in other more developed

countries, even in neighboring countries. It is hard to find a place quite like the northeast of Cambodia.” He says each of the country’s provinces has its own unique scenery and way of life, with many different ethnic groups scattered throughout.

“But in Mondulkiri for instance, this uniqueness is very pronounced: there are upland forests and great expanses of grassy fields reminiscent of European countries, but different in that they’re untouched. This is nature at its original. And in Ratanakiri province it’s different again, with landscapes of streams and tropical forests.”

Director of the Ratanakiri provincial tourism office Tra Nut Seang says there are 12 natural tourist destinations in the province, some of these include hill-tribe visits and half are waterfalls including Ka Chhang, Cha-Ung, O’Sin-Lae, Koh-Andet and Ka-Teang.

“However, one of the best waterfalls is O’Sin-Lae: a beautiful seven-tiered waterfall. It’s as beautiful as a painting,” Tra says. “Around the area of this waterfall there is also diamond mining. Families in these parts have mined for generations and still use traditional tools to look for the jewels. The diamonds here are younger than those found in Pailin, therefore cheaper to buy.”

Ratanakiri boasts much more than waterfalls and diamonds though, including Yeak Laom, a lake at the center of an extinct volcano; Veal Rum Plan, an ancient lava field and the beautiful Virachey National Park.

“Tourists never miss Yeak Laom lake … which is 48m deep and 800m across,” Tra says.
He says according to Ministry of Tourism figures, 40,000 visitors came to the province in the first nine months of 2005. “Interestingly, 50 percent of those were local visitors.”

Travel details:

- A daily pick-up from Phnom Penh’s Central Market to Banlung will take you 14 hours. For nationals the cost is $20 and for foreigners $25.

- Flights are preferable. There are direct flights from Phnom Penh to Ratanakiri. Contact Phnom Penh International Airport for more details.

- Accommodation in Banlung ranges from $5 to $30. Terra Rouge Lodge is recommended by most guide books.

- The best time to visit is between November and April when the weather is much cooler than the capital.

We start at about 5 am, which really is very early for me. I do not get much sleep anymore anyway. So as soon as we sit in the car I try to go back to sleep again. Surprisingly the car is the same with which I made the trip from Strung Treng to Banlung when I came here the first time.

After we have been driving for some time we have some minor problems with the car.

We arrive in Stung Treng at about ten a clock. Last time I slept in the Riverside guesthouse ($3 per night), but I did not particularly like it. Particularly because it is not very clean. So this time we settle for the Sekong Hotel ($4), which appears to be much more inviting.

Then we call the guys in the provincial government and go there to meet them. First we meet with a guy from the Provincial Department of Local Administration (PoLA) who introduces us to a member of the major UNDP project PLG which is working to support the government’s decentralization program (Seila). This makes for some interesting discussion. However, the PoLA guy tells us that we will have to meet the governor of the province. This happened to me before in Rattanakiri. I have mixed feelings meeting such powerful people. Although it kind of pleases me to interact with the big shots I find it very stressful and do not enjoy it so much. Moreover, it tends to involve waiting, since those guys are usually very busy.

So we learn that the governor wants to meet us but do not have time right now and we have to wait. We are told that we can talk to him in the afternoon. This gives us some spare time, which I use to get another hour of sleep and to check my email.

Later I meet with the governor to go to the Governor’s office. Before we have a short break at this riverside place.

Our appointment with the governor is at 4 pm. When we arrive at his office we learn that he is still in the meeting and are ask to be patient. So we keep waiting. After we have been waiting for some time the meeting is over. Many tough looking people come out of the office, many of them in uniform. Than we can enter to talk to His Excellency. I am surprised to find that not just the governor is present but all of his four deputies as well. And they seem to be quite interesting in what we are doing in their province and we have a chance to explain. We are told that they support our project and encourage the PoLA guy we met earlier to give us company. I am kind of ambivalent towards having government officials present during my interviews. On the one hand it is very difficult to set up appointment and organize meetings without the local authorities. On the other hand most indigenous people are rather shy and governments have done terrible things to them. So it is not possible to get them to complain or even to make suggestions when the government is present. Moreover, it takes away credibility from my research. However, I am afraid to ask those guys not to give us company or not to attend my interviews.

I found it odd that the governor pointed out on various occasion that I do not need to be concerned for my security and he will make sure that we are safe. In fact I did not think what I am doing here is not secure but his persistent comments on my security make me more skeptical.

This meeting takes about 1 hour which is much longer than I expected. So afterwards there is no way we can start any kind of work. So what we do is to arrange the transportation for the next day. Furthermore, I realized that we ran out of money and we call our office to send some money to a local business, which works out nicely. Still later I check my email and walk around in town.

This is a place close to the market. Youngsters come here to hang out and play billiard.

This is the market, this time in the afternoon, when it is busier.

This is close to the market, where moto the inevitable moto drivers are waiting for customers.

Even out here in Rattanakiri there are Pagodas and monks who are traveling the streets in the morning to collect food from the people.

We had agreed with the government official who facilitated our work in the field the other day to meet for breakfast.

So we had breakfast together. There are not many restaurants in Banlung. This one is called American Restaurant. I did not particularly like the name. However, they serve good and cheap Khmer food here and whenever I come here I meet somebody of one of the organizations working with indigenous peoples, which makes for interesting discussions.

After an extensive breakfast we went with three people on the government guy’s moto to a waterfall, which is only few kilometer outside Banlung.

I asked the government guy many questions. Interestingly, the answer was not always the one I had become earlier to the same questions. In particular, I keep asking people about the extent of land encroachment and illegal logging in the area. And I keep getting the answer that this was a problem few years ago but is not a problem anymore. This answer is always the same and this striking similarity leads me to think this might be rather the party line than a valid representation of the reality. This is not just my paranoid habit but supported by countless articles in the press and frustrated discussions with people working locally for various organization. However, this time the government guy told us that there is substantial encroachment, particularly from the Vietnamese side of the border. This is targeted at areas that are located well some kilometer inside Cambodia. This apparently is a sensitive issue. The opposition is blaming prime minister Hun Sen constantly for being a puppet of the Vietnamese government. In fact Hun Sen served first in the Khmer Rouge and later defected to the Vietnamese army, which defeated the Khmer Rouge and occupied the country for quite some time. People here feel still occupied by Vietnam and this appears to be one of the major causes for strong anti-Vietnamese sentiments in the population. However, we learnt that there is massive logging going on which involves various national and international companies and powerful government officials. This is another subject and impossible to cover just in between two pictures. However, it is interesting to note that the organization Global Witness used to be the government’s official monitor regarding forest management. In April or so Global Witness was fired by the government for being an extremist organization trying to damage the government’s relationship with major donor agencies. I mentioned my visit in the department of forestry in the ministry of forestry earlier. In fact it is consistently this department which is blamed in countless news reports of not paying any attention to illegal logging for obvious reasons. Global Witness is still operating in Cambodia and documenting and publishing the results of their activity. However, the government guy told us this logging is going on and he has seen various vast areas previously covered with forest which are entirely cleared today.

From the waterfall we take the road to Yat Lom, which is the major tourist attraction in Banlung. I mentioned my visit some weeks earlier in an earlier report. This time the place was much more crowded with foreigners and locals who enjoyed swimming in the lake. This is weekend and of course we went for a swim, too. Unfortunately I did not take anymore pictures other than this one of Reaksa, our project translator.

Not surprisingly I meet a number of members of organizations working in this area. Most interesting for me was talking to some staff from International Cooperation Cambodia (ICC), which is active in education. Most interestingly, this organization has developed a script for indigenous languages. This is to say they used the Khmer script and the affair involves some interesting incidents. I asked several people on occasion whether there has ever been some consideration to introduce the Latin script. It might be ethnocentric but I have gotten the impression that this script is kind of dominant in the global civilization. On the other hand, some people keep telling me that the Khmer script better fits the linguistic system of indigenous languages, which has to do with the number of vowels and other things. Apparently it would be unthinkable for the Cambodian government to accept the Latin alphabet. Maybe not least because this is used in neighboring countries and some indigenous groups have affiliations beyond the border. The hole border affair is a sensitive issue in Cambodia and almost any opposition party was busy in the election campaign demanding territorial integrity and sovereignty which is not necessarily a given in Cambodia.

We have some food at a small shop at the lake and then head back to the hotel. Later I walk through the town on my own to get a newspaper and check my email in the only available internet place ($5 per hour for a slow dial up connection). Moreover, I found earlier a small local school which offers to use computers for typing for just 50 Cent per hour. During this stay I spend several evenings here typing the extensive notes I took during countless interviews in order to recall the details and preserve it until I can process the information in Phnom Penh.

This is Banlung’s market in the evening.

Those rather miserable places are close by. This area is busy in the morning and during day time. Well, busy relative to other, less central places in Banlung.

Still later I meet with Jeremy, a member of the international organization Non Timber Forest Product (NTFP) which has bin operating in this area for more than a decade. We met at what he referred to as ‘beer drinking place’ earlier. In fact I was here on Friday already and found almost all the expatriates sitting together. However, I learned that there is agreement that Friday night should not involve discussion about work. I accepted that although I did not like it too much. Since this was a gathering of about 20 people I could have meaningful discussion only with few of them. So I talked intensively to a guy who serves as advisor to the local CARE education project (Education for Highland Peoples). This was interesting and we agreed to meet on Saturday in the morning and discuss in more detail various issues involving indigenous rights and education in Cambodia. Furthermore I had one very long discussion with a UN Volunteer who is working here training indigenous people in doing research on subjects involving their livelihood. And he invited me for diner on Sunday, which I was happy to accept.

So today I had the chance to talk to Jeremy in person. I had heard a lot about Jeremy, who is from New Zealand and partly Maori. And I met another fellow who is working for the same organization and originally from the US. I came with the translator Reaksa and the government guy I mentioned earlier. Not surprisingly Jeremy made very clear that his understanding of this evening is that it is not an official affair. So we ended up having segregated evenings and discussion, here the foreigners and there the Khmer. Later two other guys showed up and I learned that they are from Germany. Although neither of them is older than 30 both of them came the first time to Cambodia many years ago and speak local languages including Khmer fluently. They volunteer in providing health service to indigenous people. We had some local drinks and an intensive discussion. I outlined what is my preliminary theory of indigenous rights in Cambodia and what I intend to suggest in my final report. Interestingly, Jeremy found this to be very appealing. In contrast, the German guys did not like it so much initially because it involves nation-building, which they rightly associate with nationalism. I had the same problem with those theories before and assume this reflects not least the German history of this phenomenon.

This is the lake were the ‘beer drinking place’ is located. It is already night and I took this picture with a stand and long expose time.

The next day was Sunday. I met several people that I got to know during my first trip to Rattanakiri. And I had a number of interesting discussions which helped me quite a bit to update my research design and put my questions into context. Accordingly, I did not get to see much of Rattanakiri outside Banlung and did not take any picture except for the following one. Furthermore I had to type many pages of collected information which took me some hours. And I had to figure out when and how we could continue our field work here and in the next province, Stung Treng.

I took this picture in the evening. Reaksa had used the Sunday to meet people he had studied with and who live in Rattanakiri today. In the evening we meet some of them. One of them used to be a student our project translator Reaksa. Those people are not older than 25 but run a local school and teach English. We had a long discussion, predominantly about religion. This was relaxing to me and I was glad to have a chance to discuss something different from indigenous peoples.

This is the backside of the house at the same time.

Again we take the UNDP car to conduct interviews outside Banlung in several Communes. The road is in a rather bad shape.

This is a huge plantation which people told me belongs to the governor.

I like the landscape a lot.

This is in one of the district towns.

This is the local police post.

This is after the meeting with the next Commune Council. This commune is dominated by members of the Jarai indigenous group.

Those people smoke a lot. This Jarai guy is so friendly to provide me with a local style cigarette. Here is how it works. They take the leave of a banana and cook it. Than they dry it in the sun. And than it is used as rolling paper. However, the tobacco is mostly bought on the market.

This is the village town where we went altogether to have lunch. Than we kick of for the next meeting.

Jarai people

This is in one of the villages.

This time we have a meeting with the people and most official being absent. However, it is very difficult to conduct interviews without any government official being present.

This meeting was again very interesting but again there is no time to provide any detail.

Those are some children. I don’t know whether they are Khmer or indigenous. However, they are running their small business here. At some parts the road is so bad that it is impossible for motos to pass. This is where children build a few meters of road next to the official road and charge people for using it.

The road is not getting any better.

This is the Mountain Two Guesthouse in the evening. We are the only guests. Rooms are reasonably clean and with 3 bucks per night not too expensive.

This is another picture taken from the balcony. People come here to feed their buffalos as well as to play soccer.

This is outside the building of the Commune Council, which is in the background.

Than we leave to see the next council. This is when we have a break and some food. We are with a government official, the lady, who is actually married to a Kreung man and has 8 children. It was interesting to learn about the challenges of their identity. The driver is member of an indigenous group from Laos.

Those are members of indigenous groups with the characteristic basket on their back.

This is how the landscape looks like.

Did I mention that Cambodia is a very rural society? Upfront is a pig, behind the pick is a cow and behind that are two of the Commune Councilors, again members of the group called Kreung. One of them is having a bath. Behind them is the office of the Commune Council.

this is a typical Kreung house. Well, except for the roof.

This is a traditional house with a traditional roof. However, nobody seems to live here anymore.

Whoever can afford it started to build Khmer style massive wooden houses.

The meeting was extremely interesting again. However, I can not go into details. After the meeting one of the councilors is so nice to show us this waterfall. There are many old stories told among members of his group associated with this water fall.

I am getting used to live in the same room with lizards. However, I was not prepared to meet this fellow. I was happily smoking a cigarette when I just saw his food. This gave me a good shock. After I recovered I took many pictures of this fellow, who turned out to be friendly.

This is on the road to Kompong Cham in the morning. The pick up truck with all those people on it is a fairly common sight. It looks very dangerous to me and I think it is quite risky. However, I did not witness any accidents so far which involved such a vehicle.

This was a very strange sight to me: A number of monks in front of a new pagoda under construction working hard and burning stuff but I do not know what.

Another strange sight: I never saw such a car on any road in Cambodia. It is hard to image a car more ill suited for the traffic conditions in this country.

This is the center of a district town somewhere between Phnom Penh and Kompong Cham town. Those vehicles are among the most common means of transportation for common people. This is used not only to move people but all sorts of goods in a frequently very risky manner. Given the high speed and the chaotic driving behavior on the road an accident involving one of those vehicles cannot but cause dramatic situations.

This is taken from the Japanese Bridge in Kompong Cham. To the right at the banks is where boats arrive coming mostly downstream the Mekong from the northeastern provinces, Laos or Vietnam. There is a considerable number of fishing boats.

To my knowledge there are only two modern bridges like this in Cambodia: this one and a very similar one which is located in Phnom Penh. Interestingly, both are called Japanese Bridge and both are constructed and financed with massive Japanese support. I wonder on occasion how much influence Japan actually exercises in Cambodia and it seems to be quite significant. And sort of partisan. The Japanese election observer team was the first to announce that the election was free and fair. (Until recently I thought it was the European observer team, which was the biggest and I was wondering whether all these observers are actually from Italy. Was that the impact of the Italian presidency over the European Union?). However, there where many accusations in the newspaper calling the Japanese position biased. Moreover, the Japanese ambassador and the leader of the Liberal Party in Japan (which is heading the government) have made very clear on occasion that they would like to see Funcinpec party changing their mind and agree to form a government with Hun Sen.

This is the national road in one of the urban centers of Kompong Cham province. Kompong Cham is the province with the biggest population. It appears to be more urban and wealthier compared to most other provinces. Kompong Cham has 18 seats in the National Assembly. It used to be a Funcinpec stronghold but during the last election there was a dramatic fluctuation from Funcinpec to Sam Rainsy party. CPP has actually increased their share but not significantly so. Kompong Cham is not so far from Phnom Penh and the road is in an excellent shape.

This is the short cut from Kompong Cham to Kratie. This is road is what is people call red soil road or dusk road. It is good quality as long as it does not rain.

Those are buffalos, a highly valuable possession in Cambodia. They provide powerful labor in the field allowing higher productivity.

We arrive at the port in Kratie early enough to catch the speed boat to Stung Treng. Those stairs lead down to the place where boats approach the port and passengers enter and leave the boat. People are doing there laundry and having a bath. Bathing is taken very serious by most Cambodians. The general rule is that man bath in public while women do not.

This is at the banks of the Mekong River not far away to the north from Kratie. Many people here make a living with fishing. Fishing is a common occupation among Muslim Cham and Vietnamese. Due to the location close to Vietnam it is mostly Vietnamese people who fish here. However, there citizenship status is highly uncertain. They live on boats and do not settle permanently. That leaves them with the option to escape to Vietnam in case they are subject to prosecution, which has happened several times in recent history.

Most Cambodians like to travel inside the boat. However, I prefer to sit on the ceiling. I share this preference with most Western tourists and there are always a few of them on the boat.

My co-traveler, who spend his time inside told me later that there was massive smell of petrol inside and that some people started panicking because they where afraid the boat might explode and the boat sink. This by the way has happened between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap some time ago.

Even out here in the wilderness the next pagoda along the river is never more than a few kilometers away.

Those are bigger boats at the banks shortly before we arrive in Stung Treng town, which is the provincial capital of Stung Treng province. I saw on occasion that timber is moved from big trucks and loaded on those boats.

This is the crowd on the roof of the boat. Last time it was fewer people sitting outside and I figured this might be due to what was going on inside the boat.

This is the port in Stung Treng. I like this huge tree. At the bank covered with blue tarps are what is called fast boats. Those are used to cross the border to Laos and really they are fast. And loud.

A crowd of people is waiting to offer all kinds of services, food and refreshment. And transportation to Banlung, which is the provincial capital of Rattanakiri. And this is where we are going.

We hop on the truck. The translator prefers to travel inside, while I go for the back. This truck is packed with people and baggage.

The spare tire is flat and we stop at the mechanic to take care of it.

This is the spare tire.

This garage is a petrol station at the same time, just like almost any small business at the road catering to passing travelers.

Those are some of the other people traveling to Banlung.

This is how it looks like most of the time. The forest gets cleared to allow for agriculture. This ‘slash and burn’ method is highly controversial.

Once in a while we pass one of those huge trucks, which are made in Russia, I believe. I recall having seen many of those when I grew up in the Eastern part of Germany. Those heavy trucks do not do any good to the road.

I manage to entertain the other people for quite some time with my camera.

The road is in a pretty bad shape.

Once in a while we stop for a short break.

This is on the back of the truck, which is sort of crowded.

We arrive late at night in Banlung. We follow the recommendation of one of those people and choose the Mountain Guesthouse two in Banlung.

This time I was traveling with the Administrative Assistant of our project. He was so kind to give me company and help me out with translation. I had arranged the ride to Kratie via minibus the other day. Kratie is about half the way to Banlung, which is the provincial capital of Rattanakiri. What we had to pay for the ride to Kratie was cheap 10 dollars per person. It was open how we would proceed from Kratie. Our expectation was that we would have to spend the night there and continue the journey the next day to Banlung via Stung Treng. Stung Treng is half way between Kratie and Banlung and the provincial capital of Stung Treng province.

We met at 6:15 am and went to the port by moto. We left at 7 am with the minibus. This is where we had food after we have been traveling for some hours and passed Kompong Cham already, which is the provincial capital of Kompong Cham province. The guy to the right is my co-traveler.

This is how it looks like when people cook

This is our quite comfortable means of transportation. The guy to the right is the driver.

This is how it looks like in Kompong Cham. There are many plantations of rubber and timber.

Those are the last cars of about 15 trucks accompanied by police cars. You don’t get to see police cars in the countryside very often and not in such high numbers. My co-traveler indicated this might have been Prime Minister Hun Sen himself.

This is how it looks like in our vehicle. The guy to the left in the very back is from Israel. We got to know him during this ride and met him later several times in and around Banlung.

We crossed a number of bridges which where mostly constructions similar to this one.

Those are pictures randomly taken with my camera out of side from the top of the car somewhere in Kratie Province. This ‘read soil road’ is not the main road but some sort of shortcut. Once in a while we pass a settlement of very simply shacks.

A truck had damaged the road and local people came to repair it.

We were able to pass after only a few minutes of waiting.

We arrived at the port of Kratie at about 11:30.

We learned that a speed boat to Stung Treng would leave at 12 and we managed to get tickets for 5$ (Khmer) respective 8$ (Foreigner), I believe. I was impressed to find this boat. It looked fast to me. Almost like an airplane. However, I was glad that this vehicle would not loose contact to the fluid ground.

Most seats in the boat were already occupied and I found it to be a privilege that we could travel on the roof.

Those are settlements along the river. There were a number of bigger ships as well, mostly wooden ones.

This picture shows a very specific weather phenomenon which I have not seen before. We are aiming at an area with very heavy and dense rain. This rain however is limited to a very small area and its boundaries can clearly be distinguished.

This is the cockpit of the boat.

I got myself a seat because I did not feel like having a shower. Moreover it became sort of stormy outside. Inside this boat is not so much different from an airplane.

This is the rain front from the other side. We hit a good number of them before we reached in Stung Treng. The boat is actually quite fast and reasonably comfortable. I heard this is particularly true when compared to the road, which is the other option for traveling from Kratie to Stung Treng.

After maybe one hour we reached this settlement, which I could not find on any map in my tourist guide.

The course of the boat was not steady and obviously the captain tried to avoid hitting the ground. I tried to figure out pattern in how he was steering the boat, but could not identify any. However, most of the time we were traveling very close to the main land.

It is about to rain again when we meet this boat. This happened a number of times to pick up passengers or discharge goods like chicken (more or less alive) or a spin for those long and slim boots.

Again, we travel most of the time close to one or the other bank. Frequently we pass side arms of the Mekong.

We pass those bigger wooden boats shortly before we arrive in Stung Treng. I have seen this sort of boat earlier close to Phnom Penh discharging wood. What seems to happen here is that they are loaded with something, most likely timber.

This is when we arrive in Stung Treng. A good number of people are waiting to promote guest houses and transportation or to sell snacks to travelers and carry cargo. Given this situation it does not generally appear to be a problem to find accommodation or a ride to the next destination.

It is still not even late in the afternoon. I was surprised how easy traveling to Rattanakiri actually turned out to be. It did not take us long to settle for a ride on the back of a pick up for 5 dollar per person. We have company of those people. The fellows on the ride hand are Frenchmen. The guy to the left is the guy form Israel I mentioned earlier. We had good conversations about the relationship between France and Cambodia today, about the United States and the war in Iraq.

This is how it looks like most of the time during the first part of the journey. Later on we traveled through partly dense and almost impenetrable jungle.

Another of those bridges. This exemplar is pretty long compared to most of the other bridges I saw.

This is when we have a break. At this point we are already pretty much in the forest. However, we passed numerous clearings apparently created by mankind involving fire. Most of the time there is a small house on those clearings, housing obviously pretty poor people. The house in the background is pretty much the wealthiest house I have seen on the way.

It is getting dark very quick.

At this point a number of short rains showers had already hit us. It is a bit colder around here and together with the wind caused by the speeding car it becomes kind of chilly.

The quality of the road was pretty poor and we had a hard time holding on to the car. I tried to take pictures of the road using a small stand on the of this pick up’s cabin. However, the flash is not strong enough.

However, shortly after this shot it started to rain very heavy and did not stop. This was about the strongest rain I ever encountered. This was an interesting experience particularly on the back of a truck. I was happy to have rain jacket. Together with my sunglasses I was even able to open my eyes. However, I did not see much. The jacket did not prevent me from getting wet. This was like going for a swim in a rain jacket hoping to remain dry. However, it helped me not to become cold.

It was still raining when we arrived in Banlung, which is the provincial capital of Rattanakiri. This was at about 8:30 pm. In general I was surprised that we made it here during only one day.

Yan Tuel is feeling ignored. With just two weeks until Election Day, Tuel does not know who he will vote for. He cannot tell the difference between the logos of the parties running in his province, and like 80 percent of the people in remote Ratanakkiri, he is illiterate. But so far, no party has come to tell Tuel why he should support them.

“We do not really know who we will vote for, we will just tick any box because we cannot read or write,” he says. “The CPP came here but they did not show us what their picture was. We want to know the policies of the other parties, but they have not come here so how can we know?”

Tuel belongs to the Tumpuan tribe, one of eight ethnic groups indigenous to the highlands. Collectively known as chunchiet, they comprise over two-thirds of Ratanakkiri population.

The Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) has been firmly entrenched in the province since 1993, and the one seat up for grabs on July 27 looks likely to stay in its hands.
But Tuel has other concerns. .His wife is ill, and he cannot afford to take her to hospital. Instead he will pray to the gods for her recovery.

His Problem is not uncommon in Ratanakkiri, one of the poorest provinces. Decades of war and isolation have taken their toll: healthcare is basic, education limited, and people suffer at the hands of unscrupulous businessmen.

Sam Oeun, a student and volunteer at Ratanakkiri-based NGO Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP), says the chunchiet’s day-to-day concerns often outweigh political ones.

“Some of the just think whether or not they have enough to eat today and tomorrow,” he says.

Bringing voter education to the villagers is also a problem. The indigenous groups speak different languages, and this, combined with high illiteracy levels and low education, means information is best spread by word of mouth.

Meas Khlemsa of Comfrel, an election monitoring NGO, says the organization has been running training courses and distributing pamphlets detailing the policies of all 23 competing parties.

“Comfrel tries its best to tell the people it is their duty and their right to vote to make a change in the country,” he says.

But despite the best efforts of NGOs, information does not appear to have reached the length and breadth of the province. The political parties are not making much headway either.

“Only the CPP has come here,” says Jarai villager Cheu Ven, 45. “I also want to know about the other parties, but they have not come.”

The apparently lackluster campaigning could be due to the inaccessibility of the villages – roads turn to rivers in the rainy season. Perhaps before polling day there will be a flurry of countryside visits. Or, in what looks like a one horse race, are the other parties despondent?

“My assumption is that Funcinpec cannot get enough votes for the one seat,” says Hor Ang, Funcinpec’s security chief in Ratanakkiri. “The strength of the CPP at the local level means Funcinpec cannot penetrate.”

The CPP has long had an iron grip on the province. Deputy provincial chief Muong Pay says his party owes its continuing success to development and its role in defeating the Khmer Rouge.

“One hundred percent of people living in Ratanakkiri support the CPP,” he says. “There are many reasons. The government helped free the people from Pol Pot … There is no prejudice against the ethnic minorities and there is protection against the return of the Pol Pot regime.”

This popularity is visible along Road 19, which runs through the heart of the chunchiet areas up to the Vietnamese border. CPP signs are frequent, as is praise for the ruling party.

“The CPP has been helping us for 28 years,” says Bouy Cheng, of the Jarai tribe. “They dig wells, build schools, give us containers for crops … they have helped us to live in peace and they improve democracy and freedom. The other parties say they will help but they have not yet.”

All the villagers speak of gifts from the ruling party, but the competition is skeptical about the CPP’s handouts.

“I have never seen any help except handing gifts to the people,” says SRP candidate Kong Chan. “It is the money from the government, but they say it is from the party. Like building roads – that is money from the ADB or Japanese aid. The actual love from the heart of the people is not 100 percent true.”

Funcinpec’s Hor Ang insists the CPP’s popularity persists only because of this material support, and maintains its policies are actually harming livelihoods.

“On the surface it seems that the CPP is helping the people, but in fact the land and the forest are being destroyed by the CPP,” he says.

Ang is referring to illegal logging, which has plagued the heavily forested northern provinces for years. The indigenous people also found that land they had lived on for generations was claimed by outsiders. NTFP’s Sam Oeun describes one such case.

They were offered new motorbikes and gifts and persuaded to make their fingerprint agreeing to give away their land unwittingly,” he explains. “Minority people know very little about law. They think the axe and knife are powerful for them … They did not think their fingerprint would harm them.”

However Ang says such incidents do not damage the CPP’s vote.

“Most people don’t care about violations on land because they move away,” he says.

But opposition parties are not admitting defeat. The SRP recently gained popularity in the province when it won the only non-CPP commune chief position here in 2002. In a province with a large and porous border with Vietnam, the SRP’s hard stance on immigration and border encroachment could prove popular with the Khmer electorate.

However none of the chunchiet the Post spoke with said such issues worried them. Even near the border, villagers expressed no concern about their neighbor. Most chunchiet villagers say border squabbles are not a priority – they are still waiting for the basics.

“I would like to live like people in the rest of Cambodia,” says Jarai villager Cheu Ven. “Most Khmer people have education so they can improve their lives. This commune does not have a school. Even the well that was promised has not come yet.”

Tumpuan villager Tuel just wants to be able to make an informed choice at the polls and improve life for his family: “We want parties to understand us and our needs. We need everything.”