This is one of my most anticipated part of our Mondulkiri trip. A visit to the Phnong hill tribes in Pu-tang Village. The Phnong Khmer ethnic minorities live on the rolling hills some distance from the city of Monorom. Their main sources of livelihood is agriculture and their ethnic homes, costumes are very interesting to see.

The views going to the village is nothing short of amazing. The photos doesn’t really do it justice. Gentle rolling hills that Mondulkiri is famous for and crisp, cool air will greet you as you drive along.

The Pu-tang Village though is decidedly a lot colder than in any parts of the province, its actually hard to go out without a thin jacket. So most people there weren’t wearing their traditional garb but were swathed in thick clothes.

It’s dry season so everywhere I looked, the hills were covered in dry grass..

The number of traditional Phnong houses were smaller compared to those who have now built ‘modern’ Khmer style houses. But still, the few present in the village are worth having a peek at. The Phnongs are also incredibly warm and welcoming and would even allow you inside their houses if you ask politely.

The kids with us prepared some clothes, books and food donation and also interacted with the villagers and I left them to it while I wandered about taking photos.

The Phnongs are passionate about their rice wine. It keeps them extra warm during really cold nights and they usually store their rice wine in these jars and drink from it using long plastic straws.

And this is the traditional Phnong ethnic house. The owner kindly invited me inside to look around but I didn’t take photos out of respect for his privacy. But let me just describe what’s inside.. It’s dome shaped (kinda reminded me of an igloo), and made of wood and other local materials. On the inner center was a place for fire to keep them warm. On both sides there were raised platforms they use to lounge around and they also have hammocks. One of these platforms were lined with jars filled with rice wine and another section housed a small cotton weave. There was also a hanging storage platform very near the roof with some huge baskets made of native materials stored.

Finally. I got around to downloading all pics and videos from this road trip. I’m usually very enthusiastic about taking photos and vids during road trips but once the excitement of the trip simmers down, I’m really really lazy about downloading and editing photos. And this one made me extra lazy coz I couldn’t stop myself from taking photos, and I brought with me three cameras = gazillion photos. Yes, I am really an OC person.

I’m breaking down this whole thing into two parts as I have tons of photos even after I spent a lot of time deciding which one to post. This first part would be about the road trip up and some snapshots of Thansur Bokor Resort. Part two will be some snapshots of the scenes around Bokor.

For so long, we’ve been planning on going up to Bokor National Park well, ever since we got here three years ago. But in the end, this trip always took the backseat coz before this year, the roads weren’t really good, and while we do like to rough it up sometimes, we also have a kiddo to think about, so her comfort takes precedence. But when we heard that the new casino/hotel had its soft opening last March and the roads are now immaculate, we then gave it a go.

Signage - National Road 3 to Kampot

Bokor National Park is located some distance from Kampot. Main attractions would be the ruins scattered in the old French hill station built the French during the 1920′s. Its easy to guess why they picked this place, its super scenic and offers a great respite from the heat of Cambodia’s plains. Free airconditioning. Ha!

Knowing this much, I was very much excited and ready to be impressed by the scenery. I am and always will be a huge fan of nature and fantastic panorama. So we packed our bags for the trip and left Phnom Penh about 7 am. The trip going to Kampot is easy, with pretty scenes of the countryside, occasional towns like the one below..

small Cambodian town along N3

And before we knew it we were in this turn..

..turning right to Phnom Bokor Resort

From here we drove on towards Route 4 for about 8 km and the turn to Bokor National Park came up. There were a lot of workers about the turn, planing the road sides with colorful bougainvilla shrubs. I’m starting to imagine how this place would look like when these plants are big and blooming.

Road Turn to Bokor National Park

I really ought to be shot. I forgot to update about the Mondulkiri trip last Feb when all the photos have been ready for a few weeks already. I am really starting to be soo forgetful. Being a mom/wife/student/freelance worker can sometimes do that to a person. So I’m resigned to my fates.

Thankfully, a friend of mine asked me about Bousra Waterfalls this morning and I suddenly remembered I had to post about the second day of our trip to Mondulkiri. In case you’ve missed the first part, check it out here – Mondulkiri 2012 Day 1.

~oOo~

We started the day really early coz we had to visit a couple of schools for an outreach project. I was with a group of students whose mission is to help schools in far flung areas with books, school materials etc etc. That time, they were bringing a lot of book donations as well as school supplies for the kids. The ceremony was a bit long and it was around noon time when we left for Bousra Waterfalls.

I was excited to see the falls again. The last time we went to visit this place, its was just awesome (see post here). And I was curious if there has been any changes.

And yup. There has been some changes in the last two years. The road now is nicer. Not concrete or anything but no muddy potholes in them. There were also more people coming and going. Last time we went there, we were the only ones enjoying the places. This time there were lots of families picnicking. A group of monks and several groups of barangs.

I won’t bore you much now with my inane chatter, so here’s the pics spam.

the ‘entrance’

the last tier. and this one’s fairly long and stretches down a hundred meters or so. Not exactly spectacular, but some people like looking down on this so I’m glad to see they built new railings around the sides. It was scary the last time we came when they didn’t have any  fence or railings near this.

The first tier. The volume of water is obviously down if you compare it with my previous photo. I was kinda disappointed even though its still beautiful. Then I remembered, we came this time during the dry season. Lol. Silly me.

postcard pretty!

Friends and some readers ask me if there are malls here in Phnom Penh. Yes, there are malls, but not like the huge malls in neighboring countries. They usually are smallish and the goods being sold in there reminds me of those sold in 168 Mall in Manila. Bargain, and low quality items at inflated prices. I observed Khmers don’t have a huge fondness for shopping in air-conditioned malls, they usually just go there to cool down, eat or go to the supermarket. And you really can’t fault them since what’s being sold there can be found in most traditional markets at a much lower price.

signage ‘reads’ to Psar Thom Thmei meaning New Big Market

One of the most popular traditional markets here is the Central Market or Psar Thom Thmei. This place is also pretty much always on a tourist’s itinerary not just because of the goodies you can find there. You can buy gold coins and jewelry, Cambodian souvenirs, cheap clothes, electronics  and the wet goods area is also a place to see. Another reason to account for its popularity and why its considered one of Phnom Penh’s landmarks is that its a really gorgeous place. Not your typical ramshackle market.

It’s made with a unique Art Deco design and was constructed during the 1930′s. It features a huge yellow dome and four arms as extension. The dome houses jewelry shops, while the four ‘arms’ houses various shops. It has recently undergone an extensive renovation and is now more beautiful than ever.

Whilst the place is huge and can be extremely hot during mid-day, its also very easy to navigate and the shops are organized well enough. The surrounding shops are also interesting to see, with most of them selling mobile phones, tablets and all sorts of gadgetry.

If you’re here in Phnom Penh and have an interest in both shopping and architecture, then this place should be on the must visit list.

This is a rather late posting. We made this trip mid-February and I never got around to editing the photos. Mainly coz when we got back, that’s when Phnom Penh had its almost daily power cuts, then March arrived and I was swamped with stuff to do. I found myself just browsing for custom made t-shirts instead of doing the editing. Sigh. The internet could be really distracting.

But anyhow, here’s some pics spam of our recent Mondulkiri trip. With my usual nonsense commentary. Ha! And I really should mention, I love Mondulkiri with a fierce passion. I don’t know why. I think this goes to my top 3 favorite places here in Cambodia. It’s remote, almost wild, with a totally different terrain than the rest of the country, gorgeous natural scenery and just awesome cool weather.

We were actually just tagging along with Hi-ace and his students, so the trip was like a ‘group tour’ with strict time schedules and whatnots but I didn’t mind, it turned out to be actually fun. We left real early and we made a brief stop in Kampong Cham to check out the Rubber Trees. It was not as boring as it sounds, it was actually interesting, check out my separate post on that.

I was surprised to see the roads were now in tip top condition. My butt was happy because the ride was now smoother than the last time with all the mud and potholes on the road, but the adventurous spirit in me was kinda sad. I really must have missed that first time we went to Mondulkiri in 2010.  That time we all had to get down the bus, and walk coz the mud was just too sticky! But now the roads are all paved and nice, so travel time is now on average 7-8 hours from Phnom Penh.

It was also not as green as before, perhaps because this is the dry season. And its also sad to see a lot of forests are being cleared (some were obviously burned) to make way for more rubber plantation. Sigh. The lure of money.

A few kilometers before reaching Sen Monorom, the students demanded a brief stop on the road. They were obviously happy with the pine trees and the nice temperature drop. They couldn’t stop taking photos, and I also can’t stop taking photos of them taking photos. Hahaha.

Once we reached Sen Monorom, we opted to go to the Ocean of Trees aka. Sea Forest instead of checking in the hotel first. The problem though was that the climb going that way was so steep, our bus couldn’t get up. So we were ordered to get down and walk. And I’m glad I did get down and walk as I got to capture this: a monk making a lonesome climb up a hill..

Opulent Koh Kong Resort in Koh Kong Cambodia. Located right next to Koh Kong Safari World and very near the Cambodia-Thai  Had Lek Border. Aside from the usual hotel amenities, this complex also houses a casino primarily for Thai casino lovers.