The first place I ever felt like I truly arrived at the ends of the earth was Ban Lung... but a lot happened between Siem Reap and there.
After reading in the guidebook and asking around I was fairly confident that I could make it to Ban Lung in 3 days. Although it was pretty much due east of Siem Reap, the lack of paved roads or bridges over the Mekong required that I head all the way south to just outside Phnom Penh and then back north again.
After running around Siem Reap looking for a bus to take me the farthest on the first day, I eventually booked a ticket to Kratie (which is the stupidest transliteration ever because it's pronounced Krawtcheh... saying Kratie got me plenty of blank stares for awhile). Getting a bus with good air conditioning is like winning the lottery and it wasn't my lucky day so most of the ride was pretty toasty. The entire time a group of locals were talking loudly and laughing about something but I couldn't figure out what. Eventually, a Khmer girl in the seat in front of me turned around and explained to me that the woman at the center of attention had two younger husbands and this made her quite a curiosity.
Lena continued to strike up a conversation with me by asking me all about where I was from and how long I planned on staying in Cambodia. She explained all about how she is getting married in a month to a man almost twice her age but that isn't nearly as unusual as the other woman on the bus. She eventually explained how she has had foreigners stay with her in her house outside of Kratie plenty of times before and that she would love for me to stay the night with her family.
Before I knew it, the bus stopped by her house and she looked at me and asked whether I was coming or not. Without any time to really think it through, I grabbed my stuff and got off the bus. Lena, her fiance and I dropped our stuff off in her house and went to the Mekong for a swim. She told me to grab some shampoo if I had it as well. After walking across the street, down an embankment and across a large expanse of dry river bed we got to the water.
I stuck my foot in and was shocked by how hot the water felt. She assured me that it was cooler farther from shore so I swam out. The first foot and a half of water was probably around 80-85 degrees but it dropped dramatically below that. I swam around a bit and then washed my hair. Showering in the Mekong under a setting sun was probably not something I will forget for a long time.
After this, Lena and her mother started preparing dinner and I started preparing for whatever I was going to have to eat out of courtesy. Right as we were about to eat, much of her extended family showed up with cases of beer. Dinner was pretty good but I didn't much care for the cow stomach or liver. I ended up sticking mostly to white rice and stir fried vegetables.
After dinner, glasses full of ice were passed around as well as beers. Everyone filled their glass and gave a loud cheers and drank the whole thing. After a refill they repeated this ritual and made sure that I did the same instead of just sipping. Lena told me that they were trying to get me drunk but I let her know that I had been working in a bar for the last 2 weeks and I didn't think there was enough beer around.
They continued their ruinous strategy until they were sufficiently tanked and then things got fun. Everyone forgot that I don't speak Khmer and I was just trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Enjoying friends and family over good food and drinks truly is a universal thing. All in all it was a really fun night.The next morning, Lena's father tried to convince me to stay for a couple more days but I needed to head out towards Ban Lung. I packed up my stuff and said goodbye to my gracious hosts.
More on Ban Lung later but check the flickr page for more pictures and descriptions.
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