I’ve been in Phnom Penh for about five days now but I’m going to take you back over a week to Sihnaoukville and our day trip to Ream National Park.

Ream National Park includes the only protected marine area in Cambodia, is home to more than 155 species of bird and has, mangrove swamps and lowland evergreen forest.

We chose a trip that promised a boat trip down the mangrove lined river to a fishing village then a short hike through the jungle to some unspoilt beaches for a swim then lunch on the boat as it sailed back up the river again.

The trip was disorganised form the start, we arrived at the meeting place and the guys didn’t appear to have a clue about the breakfast that was supposed to be included in the trip. There was a girl from Holland also on the trip wondering where her breakfast was, when we asked they made a phone call then drove us to a restaurant up the road for a breakfast of baguettes and jam.

It took about 20 minutes to drive to the ranger station from where the boat would take us down the river. The station was surrounded by what appeared to be a small village on stilts. The ground under the stilts clearly flooded regally and was a disgusting green swamp like colour and littered with rubbish. All the houses and the pigs (who also live in a hut on stilts) appeared to empty their waste onto the ground below them.

We set off in a rickety old boat with one of the boat men bailing water from inside it; he said it was full of water because of the rain, but later admitted there may be a small hole in the boat. Nearing the fishing village many people could be seen in small boats fishing or walking along in the river looking for clams.

We arrived at the fishing village and parked the boat a couple hundred meters out to sea. They said it was too shallow for the boat to go any further and the guide whipped off his trousers exposing his hideous blue y-fronts and jumped into the knee deep water. Luckily we were all wearing shorts and flip flops, so off came the shoes and we began wading to shore. The ground under our feet wasn’t sand it was a disgusting feeling squishy mud that made you sink in places. We couldn’t see into the water and kept standing on sharp clam shells and bits of wood. I was very glad when I finally reached the sore and could feel sand beneath my feet.

The fishing village was small and as we walked up through kids sat on the veranda of houses shouted: ‘Hello” and: “What’s your name?”, whilst other kids were more shy and hid behind the windows of their houses watching us but thinking we hadn’t seen them.

The houses were all fairly simple, built on stilts but had (so the guide told us) both electricity and running water. Passing through the village we turned into the forest and the guide showed us the village school. It was a very simple wooden building with rows of benches and desks with a blackboard at the front.

Once we’d passed the school we began walking through the jungle. In the jungle we just about caught sight of a squirrel then the guide showed us some termites and explained how the guard their workers. As we neared the end of the walk the path turned into a stream and we had to take our shoes off and wade through almost knee deep water in the middle of the jungle.

The track opened onto a deserted beach in the middle of nowhere, there wasn’t a house or another person in sight, we stopped for a while but no-one wanted to swim because we didn’t want to be wet walking back through the jungle.

By the time we got back to the shore where we needed to wade to the boat we were all very hot, tired and covered in insect bites. The tide had also come in quite a lot making the water deeper. The guide called the boat and told them to come closer. As we stood on the shore waiting for the boat we spotted some snakes swimming in the water we were about to wade through. I know they’d probably been there earlier but now having seen them I didn’t want to walk back through the water. The boat came within about 200 meters of shore and we had to step into the snake infested water to reach it. It was a case of mind over matter, I kept telling myself the ground doesn’t feel disgusting, I haven’t just stood on something really sharp and there AREN’T any snakes int this water. I reached the boat safely ahead of Emily and Katrina, who’d both managed to cut their feet in the water.

Then we were given a lunch of fish and salad and driven back up the river to head back to Sihnaoukville.

* Posted by j150vsc on 24/07/2007.