While the clear highlight of our stay in Mondulkiri was the elephants and the jungle trek, we had yet another day to explore around the area of the town we were staying in - Sen Monorom. It is a very pretty part of the world, and quite close to the Vietnamese border, and we had a tuk-tuk driver organised by our resort who took us around and acted as tour guide for the day.
The biggest attraction was Bu Sra falls, which is the biggest waterfall in Cambodia. We were prepared to be a little underwhelmed, given that we had already seen a couple of spectacular waterfalls on the trek, but this one surprised us in a positive way. Given the amount of rain that had recently fallen, and the fact it was the rainy season anyway, there was a truly impressive amount of water cascading over the falls, which are in two (big) steps. It is popular with local and international tourists alike, and the amenities there are well set up - which was something we needed after the mud of the previous trek. We spent a couple of hours there, walking to the top of the falls, gazing from the viewing platform located over the pool between the steps, and having a cold drink in the cafe overlooking the falls. It seemed like a lot of people were making a day of it, and setting up for picnic lunches in some of the viewing areas.
After the falls, we went on to a coffee and then pepper plantation, and our driver - Minea - gave us quite a lot of information on how they are grown and prepared. Along with a bunch of the other agricultural products of the region, including jackfruit and dragonfruit. It was very interesting, and reinforced the impression from the previous day that there are real moves towards more broadscale and modern agricultural practises in the region (and, by extension, across the country).
The final stop was a lookout, but the rain had caught up to us and it was belting down so hard we could barely see out of the pavilion we were sheltering in. We had a sense of what the view might be like, but no more than that really. After lunch we headed back to the resort for a relaxed afternoon before departure the following day.
The resort itself - Nature Lodge Mondulkiri - was great, with spaced out "bungalows" and a really nice common area, which doubled as the bar/restaurant. This was built around a bunch of trees, and included a pool, so naturally we ended up spending a lot of our "relaxing time" there, rather than the room itself. There was the added attraction of the 6 year old daughter of the manager, on school holidays, who took quite a shine to us and spent extensive time playing with us and giving us instructions on what she wanted to do. It was a bit sad to leave in the end.
The onwards journey was to Kratie, and the journey itself is worth a mention. We had organised, through the resort, a local company to take us on the 6 hour journey there. These all tend to be shoestring operations, and the world's most beaten up Toyota van showed up to pick us up. There were several other passengers, one of whom was on an IV drip, strapped to a bamboo pole. In addition to people, there was various forms of cargo, including several bags of durian that we picked up along the way. For those who don't know, this meant quite a funky aroma for the bulk of the drive. Along the journey, we dropped off cargo at various seemingly random streetside stalls, passengers left and joined, but eventually we were dropped at the front of our hotel in Kratie, with a sigh of relief. Did we mention that there were no seatbelts and that Gillian could see the road through the floor of the van? This must be what they mean by "adventure"...
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