Surprise, Surprise – Another day round 35 deg
The park is around 700m above sea level, and being cooler than Phnom Phen, was a favourite spot with the Royal family.
The first stop was the ruins of the summer residence. It was built in the 60s, and destroyed by the Khmer Rouge. I thought it looked old, then realised it was destroyed round 40 years ago.
The only structure left standing was the chimneys – makes one wonder why???
The view from where the house was:
Slightly downhill is a hut that is an ecological information centre.
The hut has wonderful views over the park and lake from its verandah.
A lot of the paths were quite tricky to navigate, either dirt paths that were steep and slippery, with tree roots growing across, or irregular stepping stones,one lot of which ran very near to a leaning tree – just ask Gerry.
Lurking in the ruins was a dryad eating lunch. Iater learned its name was Steve.
One of the obvious things in Cambodia is the litter. There is crap everywhere. The place just seems to have a culture of dump your rubbish anywhere. Even in this park it is everywhere, hence I found this sign quite ironic.
The waterfalls
Well not really waterfalls as we think of them, more gentle cascades. The local explanation is that this is the dry season, better in the wet. Trouble is, it was very difficult to reach in the dry season – very rough, windy and at times steep dirt roads. These would be totally impossible in the wet.
And then the Queen of the Waterfall appeared,mumbling about having to clamber over rocks and boulders to reach her throne.
There is a village near the waterfalls, probably the neatest,most rubbish free place in Cambodia. It started life as a home to the workers building the Royal summer retreat.
The access roads to the village are steep and rutted dirt paths.
The sleeping huts give an indication of just how neat and tidy the village is.
And even in the middle of nowhere, technology triumphs!!!
