Destination known and looking for jobs!: Ban Lung, Cambodia (March 10-March 13)

We said goodbye to my mom in Phnom Pehn. She boarded a bus to Bangkok and caught a flight home from there. We took another bus 590 km northeast to the Ratanakiri province to a city called Ban Lung. We rented a little motor scooter that night and were ready to go see the sights the next day.

We took the scooter out to a few waterfalls outside of town on the first. The drive was very pleasant and we passed through some smaller villages and a rubber tree plantation. The first waterfall we visited was called Ka Tieng and had rock shelf Jeff climbed behind and a little swimming pond. The other waterfall in the area we visited was called Kinchaan and was also very lovely. On our way home, we stopped at Wat Phom Svay (the local Buddhist temple) and saw a huge reclining Buddha.

The next day we drove out to Chaa Ong waterfall. Its dry season here in southeast Asia so this waterfall just a trickle, but we took turns standing it and snapped a few good photos before jumping back on the scooter. Our next stop was Boeng Yeak Laom Lake about 15 km on the other side of town. We had just turned down the side road towards the lake, when Jeff noticed we had a flat tire. Fortunately, the repair shop was just 500 m behind us and the guys were able to patch the tire within a matter of minutes. The lake was a beautiful blue crater and we enjoyed swimming with the locals! It was a refreshing break to take a dip after a hot day on the bike!

After our swim, we returned to our guesthouse and it was time for my motor scooter driving lesson. The street in front of our guesthouse was very quiet with little traffic and it was pretty straight. I felt really confident driving up and down the quiet street, zooming by Jeff a couple of times. Then Jeff complicated the lessons. He jumped on the back and had me drive around a smaller, different lake by the guesthouse. There was a little bit more traffic and I was a bit nervous, but I did okay. Then Jeff complicated it a bit more… Between the two lanes of traffic in Ban Lung, there are cement dividers. He had me driving along the cement divider and then turn at the end to go the opposite direction. The goal was to not put my foot down during the turn. It took me a couple of tries, but I finally made a turn without touching down. There was a group of ladies at a roadside stall watching my driving lessons. Once I made the turn without touching, they started clamping and cheering of me. It was a such a great boost of confidence, that I actually drove towards the market and through a round-a-bout. Once I got towards the market, traffic picked up and I was too freaked out to drive the rest of the way to the center of town so Jeff took over. We returned the bike later that evening, and packed our things so we were ready to catch our next bus to Laos in the morning.