The road to Mondulkiri - March 2

Today I head to Mondulkiri Province in the south-east - to the town of Sen Monorom, which also goes by the name of the province as it is the capital - a bit confusing when trying to plan a route. After  bit of hurry up and wait I am deposited by my shuttle at the main bus station, really more of a parking lot, and up I get into a macromini bus that takes at least 20 passengers. its only 3/4 full if you exclude the two pigeons traveling third class in a mesh sac, so I have some space around me which is a blessing. There are three of us Europeans in total, a young German and a Frenchman somewhere in my age region.

My bus - perhaps the Mickey Mouse was prophetic?

A truck of peddlers wares

In the bus - I have the bird's eye view, and also the view of the birds

The owners' thought it was really funny when I took a picture of his pigeons

 The scenery is very much as before, and I have even less luck figuring out where I am based on my map. We make a couple of stops to drop off an pick up, one at a market area where a lady hops on the bus to sell us roasted eggs skewered on a stick - my neighbours kindly offer me one of theirs, but I'll stick to my tube of sticky rice from Kratie. As we get closer to Mondulkiri the road starts to wind rounds some good sized hills, and there are lovely views across valleys with little streams trickling through them. We pass through Seima protected forest, which looks like it is protected, a pine plantation, which looks really out of place, and a totally mangled semi upside down and sideways in the ditch.

Roadside stand. The ladies often wear these Khmer pyjama outfits. They would seem like an appropriate cultural outfit in florals, but somehow when they have cartoon characters on them, they really just look like pyjmas!!

Eggs - skewered and cooked over a brazier

How to add extra luggage space on a bus

Pine plantations just out of town

Statue at the main crossroads in Mondulkiri

My linens - Minnie Mouse all the way

I don;t know what a ban is, but I will definitely keep my jewels safe. All hotels have a set of rules posted, some of which involve not bringing explosives into the room. Sounds like good sense to me, but its a bit worry-some that they have to specifically list this!

A HUGE log outside a shop - must be a status symbol as its varnished. Would look nicer in the forest.

Mondulkiri is a quite small town with two main tar roads meeting at a T where there is a statue of some cows. The bus stop is a dusty spot on a side road, but I get pointed in the direction of one of the tar roads and manage to find the Greenhouse cafe, the central hub for backpackers and travellers. The woman who runs the place is totally together and pops me onto a moto with her and deposits me and my backpack at my hotel, a little way down the road. It is the most gaudy and ostentatious building I have just about seen so far, barring the Ratakiri governer's gilded glass mansion. There are chrome railings around the balconies, tinted mirrored glass on the windows, and a huge turret up top that makes it look rather like a temple. The entry has some of the huge heavy carved wood furniture and a counter, that's it.

My room is quite spacious, with a door that opens to a balcony that runs round the whole building like the deck of a ship. I have a magnificent set of Minnie Mouse sheets, and a fan over the bed. Actually, right over the head of the bed so it doesn't blow anywhere near where my head should be. But this can be easily solved by switching the pillows to the foot end, although I did find it a bit weird in the morning when I reached for the alarm clock!

My hotel - not hard to spot on the roadway

 Up the road to town, passing by little restaurants and street food sellers - little braziers with rotisseries cooking chicken, trays of cooked chicken including a lovely plate a crispy chicken feet, all sorts of fruits and various things being cooked in pots on a gas cooker on a little mobile stand.

The bus stops on a road like this one

Shops along a side road in Sen Monorom

The Hefalump cafe is the centre for the WWF, Sam Veasna, and Elie projects - NGO central. I confirm my times for the Elephant Project in the morning, and sit in their lovely garden courtyard drinking tea and waiting for the managers to return from the project to tell me more about it and chat about whether there might an an opportunity for vet students. Dinner at the Greenhouse Cafe, where I encounter the Frenchman from the bus and we eat together, discussing our plans for the next few days, and who becomes my dinner buddy for the next few nights. He appears to feel my french is better than is english and thought I might debate him on that, we conduct our conversations in french. He doesn't even cringe much at my word usage!

Garden at the Hefalump Cafe