Breathing Deep in Banlung

A growing and positive trend in the developing countries we have visited is ecotourism. The city of Ban Lung is on the bandwagon and healthily promotes its natural landscapes to tourists so they can enjoy the jungles, wildlife, and local villages in a way the protects these precious resources.

After spending our first day biking to a volcanic crater lake, we started researching and reaching out to several tour companies that offer multi-day jungle treks. We decided on Highlands Tours, owned and operated by a young married couple who studied (and met!) at a regional college in order to be professional tour guides. It proved to be the perfect fit for us. The owners, Kimi and Horng tailored our trip to exactly what we wanted.

Kimi accompanied us on a full-day trek through the jungle, stopping frequently to teach us about plants, animals, and how the jungle sustains the people who live there.

 Much of the rural area we hiked through was used to cultivate cashew trees. We learned that the cashews begin as a flower on the tree, then produces a fruit, and then the nut grows outside the fruit.

We stopped for lunch at a swimming hole, where we had blast swinging from the vines and dropping into the refreshing waters. The pool even had fish that would nibble and tickle your feet, an unusual luxury many tourists pay for in the city.

It was so apparent how much Kimi loved his job. He was like a little kid, exploring his jungle backyard, swinging a machete, chopping down bamboo to quickly make us cute little drinking cups, teaching us about edible plants, and how to drink water from vines.

At one point he plunged his machete into the ground and started digging frantically, but delicately, and eventually scared a tarantula out of its hole.

Then, he taunted us into holding it. After freaking out a bit, we obliged and snapped some photos thinking we would now get on our way. Then, Kimi put the live tarantula into his backpack to save for dinner. Jungle life!

We trekked on, with our new defenseless tarantula friend when we came across a couple of young boys hunting in the woods. They had a BB gun, and a homemade bamboo crossbow. We kneeled down quietly and watched while Kimi explained the techniques. Judging by their cache of kills they were quite skilled.

Since we do plenty of camping at home in colorado, we really wanted to spend the night in a village with indigenous people. We were happy to learn that the people we would be visiting were having a celebration to please the village spirits. Kimi described it as a week-long New Years party, and we were in luck because usually the village does not allow visitors durning this time, except for the one day we would be there. Kimi told us that in the five years he has been guiding and visiting this village, he has never been allowed to bring in a tour during this time.

We politely waited outside the village gates to be invited in by an elder, and we were welcomed with open arms. We were shown to our hut, and told we had to wait a bit until a ceremony concluded before we could join the tribe members for their celebration. We could hear the boisterous drums pounding out the windows in the hut beside ours. Accompanying the instruments was loud, merry chanting and shouting. It definitey got us in the mood to be happy and excited with them.

We walked around the town a bit, exploring the structures, animals and way of life of this village before we were told to get up there any enjoy the party!

It didn’t take us log to understand that these villagers were partying hard! Most of them were wasted already and they wanted us to catch up quick. In fact, they were quite insistent.

We sat around for hours drinking rice wine, sharing a bamboo straw to suck it out of large jugs that each family prepares and contributes. We met the village chief, many village elders, and peers our own age. Even though we didn’t speak the same language, we were all fast friends. We communicated with improvised sign language and big drunken smiles.

One of the locals who spoke a tiny bit of English managed to ask if we had a camera. Up until this point, we had chosen not to take photos, as we read that it could be very offensive to hill tribes. When they discovered our camera, they insisted we take photos; and every time the flash went off, it was followed by an eruption of thrilled laughter! Then, an even more boisterous laugh would ensue when they viewed the photo of the camera screen.

Everyone was intrigued by our glasses; many tried them on, and cracked up laughing by their even more impaired sight. Some even went so far to assume that we could cure failing eyesight. It took a lot of convincing that we did not, in fact, have this magical power.

Kimi prepared a delicious dinner over a campfire and we eventually staggered to our hammocks to fall asleep. All of us forgetting about the tarantula in Kimi’s bag.

In the morning, the spider was nowhere to be found and although we were relieved we wouldn’t be having it for breakfast, we realized it had been crawling around our room in the night.

Mornings are a tad chilly in Cambodia; but it affects the locals way more than us. When every day is a 90+ sunny one, a 75 and foggy morning can feel like a Rocky Mountain winter.

After breakfast, a very happy looking, 96 year old villager invited us back into the community room for even more rice wine. Not wanting to be rude or turn down any offering of friendship, we obliged. It was not my ideal start to the day, but provided a nice little morning buzz to start the hike back with.

When we stopped for lunch, we were delighted to learn thatKimi’s education as a tour guide also included a year of culinary school. He whipped up an amazing spicy minced pork salad that we enjoyed with fresh greens from the jungle, fresh stir fried veggies and sticky rice.

We then discovered that Kimi had FOUND the tarantula in his back, and grilled it. On the open fire. And we ate it.

Our trek back to Banlung was absolutely stunning; the farm land and rolling hills of Cambodia are a treat to call scenery.

By the time we made it out of the jungle we had a full belly, a healthy buzz and a great big happy smile. Just in time for Kimi to pick us up some roadside snacks that we shared with some local kids before making our way back to Banlung.