Every time we end up in the jungle and I complain about the spiders in my personal space, freaking out about possibly having to attempt to pee in the middle of the night and accepting that the amount of sleep I'm going to obtain might as well be zero, well it turns out that these are generally my ideas. For some reason I feel the need to suggest we go to the jungle for god knows what reason and a few months prior I agree it will be fun... Until I'm there and thinking to myself for f*** sake why is this happening AGAIN!!!
Chi Phat is located in the south west of Cambodia and whilst the village used to make its money from logging and poaching, it has completely turned it around to focus on eco tourism and protecting the surrounding jungle and its inhabitants. Someone explained the place to us as 'a real Cambodian village that tourists happen to come to as opposed to a village for tourists' and it is exactly that. After jumping off our bus literally on the side of the highway, we took a two hour boat up the Preak Piphot River to reach our home for the next five nights.
Accommodation options here are simple - you either stay in a family run guesthouse or you stay in a family's home. We were extremely fortunate in that having located the "pub" and helping ourselves to a beer from their esky, we realised they had rooms in the back yard available and knew it was the place for us. This family were so incredibly friendly, inviting us for lunch and dinner each day, being adopted by their pooch Leup who slept on our doorstep and growled if anything came near, and making friends with their three year old daughter Teda, teaching her English and new games.
We were made to feel like one of the family and were lucky enough to be included in a rice wine fuelled lunch (the first shots downed at 10.30am) with the extended cousins and uncles and somehow held our own.
We'd walk down the road for our morning noodle soup to have one year olds tearing out of their house to scream hello to us, little boys swarming to show off their fight moves, dogs somehow knowing that we were happy to give them some lovings and a sugarcane juice lady that always appeared as soon as I was craving one. Chi Phat is a pretty awesome village!
We tried our hand at "lobster" fishing, or so it was referred to. We headed out on a boat at about 8pm with nothing but a five pronged spear and a head torch. We cruised along the banks until our guide somehow spotted one and then pow! there was our contribution to tomorrow's lunch. More like a prawn with nippers than a lobster, but still delicious. Excuse the shocking photo.
And then it was time to head to my favourite place... The jungle. Up at the crack of dawn, we took a motorised boat for two hours and then a row boat for 40mins in the hope of some bird spotting.
FINALLY I caught sight of two flying hornbills, one of my favourite birds. Decked out in our finest jungle attire, we were ready to commence the trek.
FINALLY I caught sight of two flying hornbills, one of my favourite birds. Decked out in our finest jungle attire, we were ready to commence the trek.
It was humid and thick, but the best part was the fact that the leeches had decided to go on a feeding frenzy thanks to some heavy rain a few nights earlier. Every five minutes I'd check out my shoes to have to flick off ten of the bastards, our jungle assistant helping with his machete. You'd look at the ground and you could see them reaching out for you - you can definitely see where some horror writers would get their inspiration from! This meant that stopping for a break wasn't so relaxing given you couldn't keep your feet in the same spot for more than a minute. This is the result of the little shitweasels making it through your socks.
We carried on through the jungle to the awesome sound of the gibbons. Still no sightings but they were very close in the tops of the trees. We skipped our lunch stop given our lightening speed and carried on to our camp for the night where we feasted on pumpkin stew and green tea. We had time for an afternoon nap in this delightful set up. Even I had to admit it was super comfortable.
Then in the evening we made our way to a shelter built by the waterhole in the hope of spotting some wildlife. Unfortunately as is so often the case we saw zip. Nothing but a few teeny birds flapping in the undergrowth and getting our hopes up.
At dinner our guide kept flashing his torch underneath the table then proceeded to warn us to watch out for snakes if we go to the toilet during the night (not an issue for me given I'd already spotted a few massive spiders at head height so was not venturing there again, however the alternative of a bush squat meant the likely possibility of having leeches on my bits... Not really liking my options here!). If the king cobra was to bite us then we were literally dead meat because help was too far away, but if it's a normal cobra then don't worry because you just have to get back to the village (ummm... How?) then take a two hour taxi to Sihanoukville where they have the anti-venom at the hospital. Fantastic.
Tucked up in my cosy hammock listening to the jungle was actually nice and the best jungle experience I've had, however due to the bathroom issue I was awake most of the night with a sore stomach and hammocks really aren't made for stomach sleepers. I awoke watched dawn break to the sound of gibbon howls and the flapping of hornbill wings. We set out into the jungle again to make our way back to Chi Phat and the welcoming embrace of Leup.
In order to leave Chi Phat I had to endure another of my favourite pastimes... Riding on the back of a motorbike. My driver was a teenager on a bike with a broken speedo and obviously no helmets. Within the first two minutes we had gone up and down a ramp that I thought there was no way a bike could physically accomplish and then when Brim's driver stopped mine continued to fly onto the one plank ramp to get us onto the river crossing. Sometimes I really dislike travelling.
After the crossing it was a hair raising fifty minute ride on dirt tracks... my butt losing contact with the seat on multiple occasions, my driver covering his eyes so the dirt didn't get in them (who cares about seeing where we are going), dodging potholes and then flying at a ridiculous speed when we finally got to the highway for the few minutes until our destination. I got off that bike with numb cheeks, sweaty palms, shaky knees and trying to somehow blame the whole thing on Brim.
The morals of this story is that I will be purchasing some Air Force grade hammocks when we get home and will be trying my best in the future to NOT make stupid suggestions about sleeping in the jungle.
