I got there on a very wild motorbike ride from Koh Nhek, which was also pretty wild! The bus trip from Sen Monorom went without problems, but it was one of the more exciting ones. I had a load of Angkor beer piled up behind me, which became dislodged about 20 minutes after setting off. I spent most of the journey trying to contend with this, as the road was very bumpy, until the bloke next to me suggested that we try sitting on it. This we did and had a slightly more comfortable journey to the point about 3/4 of the way there, where it got unloaded.

Once in Koh Nhek, I pretty much had to remind the bus driver that it was here that I wanted to get off. I found a restaurant and had something to eat, asking the same person who had helped me order the food whether I could get a motorbike to Ban Lung. He took my number and called one of his friends, ringing back later with a price. Whilst I was waiting for the helpful Khmer person to ring back, I walked over to where one of my fellow travellers on the bus had been sitting. His friends pretty much helped me do the same thing and this was arrange a motorbike to Ban Lung. Later that day, I had a lift sorted.

I stayed the night in Koh Nhek, which was an experience, as it was easily the smallest town I had ever stayed in. There were about 3 restaurants, 2 guest houses, 1 bank (with no ATM) and cows and pigs wandering the streets. It was all situated around one central cross-roads, with dirt roads everywhere and electricity getting turned off at 23:00. I met Nok in the hotel, who offered to have a drink with me and then take me for dinner with the family who owned the guest house. This I did and ended up sharing chicken and soup with the extended family of the guest house owners, the father of whom stayed around until the end asking lots of questions about university fees and how we, in England, pay them back. Nok translated everything between Khmer and English and did a very good job.

The next day I got up for the motorbike to Ban Lung and the original driver did not turn up. I had agreed $30 with him, but his friend had turned up instead, late, asking for $45. We got it down to $35, as I didn’t want to waste the time of the person helping translate for me and we set off for Ban Lung. What followed was a very bumpy, dusty, windy road to Ban Lung, with at least one river crossing. Despite it being slightly painful, it was very good fun.

In Ban Lung, I found a guest house and got myself sorted out for the next few days. I liked the energy of Ban Lung, so decided to stay an extra day and go to the Boeng Yeak Lom lake for swimming. There were loads of Khmer people there, all jumping in fully-clothed and I spent at least 3 hours swimming and walking around the lake. It was very good. In the evening I went out to find something to eat and stopped to look at a wedding that I could hear from my hotel. Here, the waiters told me to come over and sit down and spent the next few hours drinking with me and giving me lots of the food intended for the guests. I left slightly inebriated, very full and glad I had stopped to take a look.