Leeches and tigers and snakes, oh my!

An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. 

An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered. 

-G.K. Chesterton

"Can you imagine, three months with no nature? Not even visits to the park?" My mentor lives in Paris, and unlike Cambodia, France had strict quarantines for Covid.

"Actually, I can..."

Phnom Penh's quality of life has steadily improved in the 11 years since I arrived, especially for those with money, but nature is not its strong suit. The Vermonter in me still defines natural beauty as surroundings with abundant trees and/or mountains, preferably both. Neither abounds here.

Parks are more like an extra-wide median on a busy road

Even having learned to appreciate small-scale beauty in the city's lush flowers and trees, I get cabin fever every month or two. With Covid, it seemed unwise to cram into a van full of strangers, and I don't drive my little motor scooter on Cambodia's harrowing two-lane highways. So for nearly four months, I endured my concrete cage.

Perfect for town. Not for the open road.

Until now. Despite rainy season beginning in earnest, I've spent four of the last five weekends in Cambodia's provinces, of which three were in lush wooded mountains and three were on short notice. They brought me much delight... and reminded me that rural Cambodia isn't always relaxing.

Trip 1: Ratanakiri and Mondulkiri

This was my planned vacation: somewhere new, and an oldie-but-goodie. Both are in the northeastern mountains along the Vietnam border; Ratanakiri also borders Laos. I finally had time and a travel buddy for the 9-hour ride to Ratanakiri.

On the path around Ratanakiri's emerald green crater lake, my friend was nearly bitten by a meter-long snake that hissed and darted at her. So during our jungle tour the next day, we were on high alert.  We saw porcupine quills, but otherwise no wildlife bigger than butterflies. As we left, we asked our guide how often he sees snakes in here. "Pretty frequently." He said last year a tiger killed a 14-year-old girl from a nearby village.

Sweet flavor inside, satisfying symmetry outside

Homemade tea from jungle ginseng roots

One guy from a minority tribe met us at a waterfall to sign us into the park's guest book... the first visitors since March. He lingered while we ate lunch and napped, then hiked back out with us. "I don't like being alone in here. My friend fell out of a tree and died last month. They say his ghost haunts this jungle." I told him that I believe Jesus is stronger than ghosts and we don't need to be afraid when we know Him. I also shared the story of Rotana, a man in Preah Vihear from a minority tribe, who fell out of a tree and became a strong Christian through the recovery process.

Trip 2: Knang Psar and Knang Sampov Mountain

My downstairs neighbor Pheak mentioned training for a hiking trip on the border of Kampong Speu and Koh Kong provinces. It seemed like the perfect chance for quality time with her and my other downstairs neighbor, her cousin Thom. So two Khmer friends from church (Nakry and Raksmey) and I tagged along with them, a brother, two other cousins, and more Cambodians for an organized tour.

Most participants had never hiked for even an hour before

Besides Nakry and Raksmey, I don't know many Cambodians who camp. Just a generation ago, many people fled into the jungle during civil war. Pheak's aunt lost a foot, I'm guessing in a land mine. And anyone wanting to rough it can visit their cousin's banana plantation. Not long ago, you couldn't even buy a tent here. But we saw hundreds of other campers on Knang Psar, proving that camping is not just something white people like. With no foreign tourists, Cambodia is promoting domestic tourism, including Knang Psar for the first time.

I freaked out a bit last-minute when I read the packing list. "Knee socks, to avoid leeches." Encountering my first leech was not high on my bucket list. I didn't have long pants that worked for hiking or time to shop, so I ended up with a friend's soccer socks over capri leggings. Stylish!

Knang Psar isn't easy to access. Getting to the trail head involved a 4-hour bus ride for the first 100 km and nearly 2 hours for the last 8 km on a ko yun, an off-road tractor pulling a long, thin trailer. The ko yun ride was an excellent upper-body workout since it was always lurching around in the path's deep mud, trying to launch us into the air. One person bruised her tailbone; another fell off, but wasn't injured. (Good thing, since we were half a day away from a decent hospital!)

The first few minutes were deceptively smooth... 

The tour guides told us this was the second-last tour of the year because rainy season was making it impassable. The steep, muddy 6 km trail was fairly strenuous with our heavy bags. Some people paid locals to carry their stuff ($1.50 per kg, for a 4-hour hike). The trails have all been carved out by either Khmer Rouge guerilla soldiers and villagers over the years, or an off-road vehicle that recently plowed its way straight up the mountain through bamboo and underbrush. The tour guides hurried us along - "Just another 50 meters!" (to what? they never said) - and we made it just before a rain shower. Tents and cooking equipment awaited us at the top, and the guides brought along dinner ingredients... including live chickens tied to their makeshift backpacks!

There were fewer spiritual conversations than I'd hoped. However, Pheak brought up a mysterious fever she had last year that stumped the doctors and resisted treatment. "My aunt told us to travel to Pailin province and leave an offering to the spirit there. I'm not superstitious, but I went along with it and soon felt better. I'm not sure if the offering helped or not." 

At the top, we got to relax on a meadow until our fresh chicken dinner. The guides woke us up around 4 AM after a big rainstorm. They warned us to watch out for leeches, which emerge after rain. Easier said than done when it's pitch black out! We continued the last 3 km, which was stunning and leisurely (especially without gear), before reversing our trip from the day before.

Evening with Nakry  

Fog time lapse  

With Pheak

On the way home, Pheak's cousin showed us her battle wound. She'd been bitten by a leech the previous night... not anywhere that soccer socks would cover, but in her armpit! She hadn't noticed it until it fell off, but it left a large welt that bled for several minutes. That's when I found out these leeches can jump and climb trees, and like to lurk on leaves. *shudder* At least they don't carry diseases.

The tour guide blamed her. "On our other trips, nobody was bitten by a leech, even though we saw some. You probably angered the neak ta, the governing spirit, by complaining about his mountain. Next time, complain in English so the neak ta won't understand." She's the one with the injured tailbone who could barely sit down the whole first day - of course she complained! But by the bus ride, she thought the leech incident was pretty funny.

For anyone considering this hike - I recommend this tour, a labor of love by Sok Samchariya. The price was very reasonable ($65 all-inclusive... almost no profit for them) and the guides were well organized and super helpful. However, I'd probably advise going in June, before the trails get quite so muddy. (They said in dry season, it's brown and not worth visiting.)

Trip 3: Kirirom National Park

Just 70 miles away, Kirirom is the closest beautiful destination I know near Phnom Penh, but it's still a 3+ hour drive. My two friends who joined the Knang Psar trip invited me to join this one-night camping trip to Kirirom, organized by another woman from church. All 15 participants shared motos to get there, so I got a ride with a college guy I'd never met. Good thing he was a safe driver! I've never been on such a long moto trip. The motos were heavy laden, and my body ached even though they kept shuffling food, gear, and tents (from Japanese secondhand shops) to lighten the load for me, the hapless lone foreigner, and others who struggled.

Nakry, me, and Raksmey embracing the Kirirom selfies

We camped in the middle of nowhere, beside a trail. (My second time camping outside a campground - Knang Psar was my first!) I was glad to connect with new people, including a number of non-Christians. I didn't always feel like I fit in. I wanted to hike and stargaze on this clear, moonless night. They wanted to take selfies, drink, and listen to loud pop music. At least we agreed on conversation and cards. One guy was impressed: "You speak Khmer, you eat Khmer food, and you even know how to play Uno?!" Everyone was welcoming and helpful to me, and I had a couple of chances to mention Christ's love when they asked why I'd moved to Cambodia.

I have no wildlife stories from Kirirom, though I saw signs about Kirirom's poaching problem. I think in this oft-visited park, as in much of the world, humans are more dangerous to animals than vice versa.

The trip home was more comfortable for me, with less weight to carry, but all the drivers were sleep-deprived and maybe still hung over. I kept praying, and powered by energy drinks, we made it safely.

Trip 4: Preah Vihear

My colleagues Jim and Carolyn organized a BBQ to surprise their teammate Joel for his birthday. About 12 of us World Teamers rented a van together for the 5-hour trip. He was stunned on arrival, especially since he'd called me minutes earlier, not knowing I was half a mile away. One couple and I stayed two extra nights to hang out with the staff and students at the dorm where I did my homestay two years ago... still some of my favorite people on earth.

My colleagues Jeff and Courtney have been in country for 20 years, including five in Preah Vihear. This smooth, easy drive used to take them nearly 3x as long. On the way up, they were reminiscing about previous trips.

"It was right around here that Joel and James' moving truck tipped over in the rainstorm and went into the creek!"

"There used to be 68 wooden bridges along this road, and when someone needed wood to repair their house, they'd borrow a log or two. I narrowly missed a hole and didn't have time to warn the people behind me. One guy's moto went out from under him, hit the ground below the bridge, and bounced back up to hit him in mid-air!"

And my favorite: "Remember that time we saw a tree trunk lying across the entire road? I was wondering how we'd get around it, but then it started moving and I realized it was a snake. I had no category in my mind for snakes that size!"

I have it good nowadays, not just in daily urban life, but also in my rural outings! While there were stressful moments on each trip, they were outweighed by the refreshment I received along the way, and I always ended up fine. And the rain never caused more than slight alterations to our plans.

I'm not a huge risk-taker. While I'm willing to brave discomfort for work or ministry, I usually prefer more relaxing vacations with close friends and perks like hot showers. I'd been getting bored with my "usual" destinations, though. This summer's riskier trips led to some great sights and interactions that I'd be sad to have missed. Thanks to Covid, I was antsy enough to embrace the inconvenience as an adventure in disguise.