the viewfinder

Kingdom of Cambodia

      Yes, after the sleepy border between Laos and Cambodia and many “now you pay 1 dolla`” requests for each stamp and handshake I finally entered the Kingdom of Cambodia. A country often spoken about due to its relatively recent and bloody historical events. There was again, like in any other country before, a lot of action and adventure. I spent a total of seven or eight weeks there. But this time I will try to keep everything short.

In this update I will not speak of … 

…the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot or the Year Zero and the close extermination of the Khmer people.

…the locals overcoming it and their simple ways of life in the city….

…or out in the countryside…

.. the housing…

… how much I drove or what broke and how many times I fell of the bike and where it was..

…the capital of Phnom Penh or the monks riding dirty…

…the begging children….

… the surrounding temples…

…the crazy and at times annoying tuk tuk drivers…

…orphanages and donating school supplies for the children…

…the very touristic Angkor Wat will get little attention as well…

…the food will have to wait for a separate update too…

And probably so many more things that you might run into on your daily life of Cambodia.

I will try to keep it simple and focus on one thing.

The natural beauty of this country, the jungles, or the little that remains of it. The thing that will stick in my memory the most of all.

The Jungle Brothers

     Cambodia was the only country that had some kind of defined plans. After meeting Jernej (Slovenia) and Matthias (Austria) in Vientiane (capital of Laos) and telling them my short adventures in the Lao jungle we all decided we should make some trip into the jungles of Cambodia as we were all heading there. So we set a date, in around 2 weeks time,and a place for the rendezvous. The original crew of 3 grew to 5 since Paul (Australia) and Adam (US) joined. Five men strong we made shopping for the days in the jungle to come, noodles, rice, dried shrimps, garlic, spices and some dried meet.

        Me and Matthias had an unlimited time frame for this adventure, the rest of the guys had to head back to the civilization after 4 or 5 days. Matthias and I stretched it out to 10. This was one of the biggest highlights, mind openers, “peacewithingcreating” moments of my life. I understood something that was all the life in front of my nose but never as clearly laid out - the love for the nature, how much it mattered to me, what it made me feel, how I felt within and the wish to have more special moments like this. This would have been impossible without the company of the Jungle Brothers and especially Matthias. Respect goes out to you.

It all went like this…

We drove out of Banlung, on top of a pickup truck to the last village on the road…

From the we crossed the last big river by boat. Note how low it sits, we had to stay as still as possible to stay above water…

My hand drown map of the surrounding rivers. The scale is huge and it was proved later on that a map was useless anyway… its a jungle!

First camp. (Even if the days were hot, the nights proved cold. After the first night in the open we would keep fire watch every night to keep the warmth coming.)

First dinner. Shrimp risotto. After cooking up this meal I was handed the chefs position and was enjoying the daily routine of preparing breakfast and dinner for the next 10 days, with the help of others, of course.

Breakfast. Longest rice noodles. Eating was a challenging fun.

The second day we came across this swimming hole. After two days of drought this was like Christmas for kids. We drank directly from the stream and swam galore.

Coffee for lunch served from freshly cut bamboo cups.

The day was passing quickly and we had to start preparing dinner. This was to turn out to be a very special day for Paul Bogacki as he peeled his first garlic. “In Australia it comes already skinless and caned” - he was clarifying. Maybe even sliced… It was a funny moment for all. Paul, who explained us as well the “shazam” of a rice cooker, is working in the field of microbiology. Improving the barley hops by manipulating their genes to be less susceptible to disease, he will bring us the beer of the future. With the peeled garlic Australia seems already to be on foot in the 22nd century. Dude, it was a damn pleasure!

This time it was egg noodles. Get your chopsticks ready!

After the dinner we succumbed to sleep with the fire watch. Pulling sticks we decided what shifts we would keep. I had the worst - 2am to 4am. In this picture its Jernej and me still sleeping, short after daybreak.

Jernej works as a journalist for a local TV station in Slovenia. Its very rare to meet another Lithuanian on the road (in total so far 3 diferent groups/person) but the chances for a Lithuanian to meet a Slovenian while in Laos lies close to zero. We proved the zero is quite possible. Im loosing the point here…. While not drinking coffee or killing leeches with a machete Jernej can be found in the jungle looking for leaves to smoke. Running out of cigarettes he rolled dried grass. I found it funny and it reminded me how much luckier I am having given up smoking. You were a damn good companion and we are going surely to visit you and your bears in Slovenian mountains one day. Salut!

How ever close we could in the past 72 hours this very same day would be our last together.

After crossing more bamboo forests we reached our second river. Long discussions later the guys finally decided to head back.

Jungle Bros, from left to right ->

Matthias, Adam, Paul, me and Jernej. This is just before splitting the team, day 3, after coming across the second river somewhere in the jungle. From this point me and Matthias continued alone. We met Paul and Jernej later on in Phnom Penh to tell the stories, but this was the last time we seen Adam aka the Ultravioletizor, clearing water of all the impurities. He continued to Vietnam as far as I remember. Hope your doing fine and the bike is running smooth too bro!

The Jungle Brothers Part 2

After the crew split we headed upstream. Having a river next by was good for direction finding, water supply and bathing.

The water was pretty fresh and the rocks at times too slippery. Many fish swam around…

An hour later or so we found this magnificent swimming hole an took a swim plus the decision to camp not too far away from it.

Matthias taking a plunge…

The camp for the night. The earth cleared of pebbles. We slept directly on it using only our sleeping bags.

For breakfast it was usually rice and condensed milk plus coffe. All while supplies lasted.

Another swim in the morning followed and we were ready to continue upstream. Having direct sunlight is very rare so we enjoyed it.

The river was getting smaller and we had to climb huge boulders.

It wasnt easy all the time…

At times one of us would go first, without the bag, throw back a rope and pull up the loads. The later could climb empty handed as well. Simple and efficient.

With the daylight slowly disappearing we had to make a camp site. But no flat are could be found. So I proposed Matthias to try to make a bamboo bed. This is what we managed.

It took us around an hour and quite a few of the 15 meter long bamboos. Mathias was cutting them in 3 meter long pieces while I was splitting those in halfs diagonally.We got many thorn in the hands and the bees would come soon too. They were attracted by something of the bamboo, but kept distances from us.

After the bed was done dinner followed. Guess who was cooking? Matthias went for the fire collecting and building.

The night was cold and hard. Not much dry wood around and the bed without insulation. I was checking the clock every hour waiting for it to show 5am so I could wake up, start cooking breakfast and get a little warm.

Soon enough we reached the end of the first half of the river. There was not much to do as to head back and explore the other parts of the stream.

Some time later it was disappearing as well deep inside the bamboo. We took the decision to try to reach our camp site near the swimming hole and rest there.

It had been a long day and a longer night would follow. Here again peeling garlic, preparing dinner. With stomachs full of rice we chilled. I climbed into the hammock and was so tired I could not get out of it anymore. We had very little dry wood and another cold night followed. In the morning we decided to go back to the first camp with the little lake, relax there, gather strength and get to part 2 of the trip.

With the sun shining and night freeze leaving the body I was utmost happy. Here I decided to go for a fun dive. I let you try my wu tang sword! Machete style!

While someone was turning into a ninja around the corner some butterflies where gathering for a meeting.

The trek wasn’t too long and once at the destination we had more time than  usual before night fell. I decided to catch up on my diary and Matthias took a nap. The sun rays was a blessing. The part 2 of the trip was decided to be water based. We agreed to reach the big river, build a bamboo raft and get to the place where we would catch transport back to out guesthouses village. There were two open questions. Firstly, would the river float the right direction and, secondly, would there be any bamboo close to the villages? All we could do was to go and get the answers on the spot.

It was a funny walk back, slowly leaving the jungle, getting more sunlight, meeting local indigenous peoples, leaving the women and children screaming. Trying to communicate and much more. But this should be a separate story…

Once at the river we found out it did flow the right way but no bamboo was growing around. Damn.

The jungle brothers after crossing the river. The green horizon is where we spent the last week.

In the village the first thing we got was iced coffee and some pastries. We decided to camp at the river, but on the other side of it. So we had to cross it again to enjoy the sand….

Collect firewood with the stares and the company of water buffaloes…

Cook dinner and chill afterwords…

The morning after we found everything around wet apart the little spot where we camped. Lucky us! We caught a lift to the other side of the river where the journey continued. With enough supplies to last us for another week we decided to walk back to the village of the guesthouse, a 60 km road of pure dust. And we agreed not to take any lifts. Strictly foot. Keep it real until the end. No raft - no problem!

So slowly we started to walk….

With red dust even on the plants…

not mentioning our feet…..

But who could give a damn? We were the most lucky guys that this dry piece of land has seen in a long time. This was one of the best things we shared with Matthias in common - no matter the conditions we kept good vibes 24/7.

We were not always alone on the road. We had funny means of transportation passing us by…

After the long days walking we ran out of drinking water and had just enough to cook the dinner. Here enjoying some dried meet at a ditch that we slept in.

Matthias had problems with his flip flops and took time to repair it. This was already the second time. There is a long story behind, to keep it short I nicknamed him Dr Flip Flop. I will not speak about my flip flops neither.

The morning after we found a pump and could wash away the dirt of the night.

We bought as well some drinking water, cooked rice under the cashew nut trees and continued to trek.

There appeared another village around noon. What did we do there?

Have iced coffee!

Following out the village we met some kids and Matthias shared out his balloons. It didnt look like they new what it was so we had to show them how to blow em.

The most curious kid of all.

He was insisting to be lifted in my arms. I didnt have any issues with it. Smiles followed. Later on we met their mother and gave her all our remaining food supplies. She would need them better than us, plus we knew that the village was only a days walk away and we could have dinner there. In the 10 days we had no lunch. Breakfast and dinner only.

The bellow experiment was carried out under strict supervision of the scientific personel. We wanted to show the amount of dust one car/truck was creating. There were many around the closer we got to the town/village of where we stayed.

Lets begin.

The car passes. Sha is OK.

The car has passed. Sha is not OK. Slightly dusted.

Then we had to call Dr Flip Flop again. But I promised to keep it simple… so….after the whole day (rather two) of walking we finally reached the outskirts of the Banlung, the capital of Rattanakiri province. The place where our guesthouse stood.

What followed?

A lady spinning a funny wheel….

…making super delicious ice shaved ice creams! Matthias enjoying his first.

While I am upgrading the color scheme and slurping the second one.

Some minutes later, after a total of 10 days… high five! We did it! JUNGLE BROTHERS!

I kept the story simple to the most possible degree. I left out all the animals and insects we seen, plus kept days narratives to a minimum. This journey was very special, mind altering experiences Following this I would sell my motorbike, we would make another expedition, a less lucky one, and Matthias would get another nickname. But of all this next time (who knows when).

P.S. There is another funny part of the story. We only found it out later. To be cought in that jungle without a guide it was a 1000$ fine or a 3 month jail sentence. The guy who worked in the guesthouse said he never heard of white people going there alone. He was working there for tha past 10 years.

Thank you LAOS …

  This is just a quick shout out to one of my favorite countries on the whole of this trip. Leaving it behind with all the stories untold on this blog, for many other reasons and emotions that left me positively charged on the 2500km that I drove around it. The kind local people and fellow travellers I met and shared the road with (seperate post to come). Good vibes thru out this vast land of rivers and mountains and sticky rice washed of with beer Lao. Thank you Laos and see you again some day!

Bombed bridge outside Vilabury, just another obstacle to overcome….

(check suqsudas stream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/75705269@N00/sets/72157613132457795/ for more pictures as you already know the story of my lost camera….. damn!)

Last days of southern Laos

    I believe this is where I left of the blog last time and much time has flowed since. So many experiences over washed the memories so I had to grab my diary to check in what juices I was simmering back then… It has been a very long time since I made updates, but step by step we will get to the present stuff without having to dig up the past.

    So it seems ever since leaving the capital of Laos, Vientiane,  I was up for some monster off-road madness again. The bike had been yet again upgraded, new chain, new back suspension, new steering wheel, brake pads, generator and battery plus some more. You can imagine that I could not await to unleash the beast on the gravel and get some dust on my face. I left Vientiane the night of New Years 2010, I had not the least intention to celebrate it in a city. I rather drove almost all day long to one of the longest (forgot whether worlds, Asia`s or Laos`s) cave/tunnel of Kong Lor. Spanning some 7.5km inside a mountain with a river flowing through it. That same night was mad crazy, I joined a drinking game of the locals and we sucked the home made beer from kegs till year 2011 came. 

   And the year started with a hangover… and finally the visit to the cave. Day after I was back on my bike, surrounded by dusty, African type landscapes, gravel under me with ever expanding horizons. The more south I went the more hot it got and the more sunscreen I had to spray on my Baltic skin. There were roads that were impossible to drive, rivers that had to be crossed and getting wet and dirty was part of the game. It was taking a toll on me, I often felt tired and it was hard to keep concentration and focus on the road and the potholes. Bed bugs had festered on my skin in one of the places I stayed. Remembering it all now it seems like a marathon. But one that I chose with free will. There were normal paved roads to get from A to B. Often, however, i chose the back country roads, getting away from civilization, small villages only and dust in the eyes, the helmet, the mouth and no more turning back. Forward ever.

      On one of these little roads I reached a massive river only to found that its bridge had been completely blown apart by the Americans in the 70`s. (Check the secret war in Laos) so needed to load up the 150kg bike into a little boat, which rocked like mad in the currents to reach the other side. Luckily we didn’t drown.

   Another time I got stuck in a very muddy place away from any village in sight. And no matter how hard I tried there was no way to get the bike out of the mud, up a slippery slope, standing in 15cm of muddy almost dried out river. Luckily some hunter came out from nowhere, swinging a gun on his shoulder and somehow with his help we managed to drag it out the mud. Big thanks to him, hope he caught much game after.

     Once, with no energy left even to pitch a tent and no drinkable water around I kind invited myself into someones house for rest. Arriving to a small small village middle of nowhere, everyone came to check me out, leaving me feeling like monkey in a zoo (so often!). But after some laughter exchanged I would start my cave hand sign language to show that I am tired and need roof to sleep. Soon the kindest of all would grab me by the elbow and lead me to his hut. The morning after I would leave some money and continue chasing dust.

    There was this one time as well when the road got damn narrow with bamboo growing left and right. After a quick turn on sandy path I found a bamboo leaning over the road and drove straight into it, hitting it hard with the helmet, loosing control, flying of the bike, landing face down into sand, checking now broken bones or misplaced shoulders to run quickly back to kill the engine and put the bike back into vertical position before all of the already low petrol runs out. Petrol, being away from major road is worth gold.

      Driving one of these roads my bag, which was attached behind me on the seat like a second passenger, opened itself. While trying to check for a map I noticed the zip open, going through the bag i realized minor stuff to be missing, but most importantly the Pentax analog camera that produced so many wonderful pictures…. There was no chance of driving back as in 90km i did no stop and the camera could be anywhere on that bumpy road, most probably broken anyway due to the fall…. Tired after all the driving I could not even get the energy to get angry. Kicked the bike and swore loud once, squeezed my head back into the helmet and decided to visit a hospital next by. I needed to know what was happening to me and my skin. At the hospital they only laughed. Nobody spoke English and the nurses cared more about their nails than patience. Kid of frustrating moments, especially with scent of death hanging in the air of the patients left to the hands of faith. I got a little mad, mostly talking Lithuanian and soon they prescribed me something to fix my problems. I had medicine but no diagnosis of what I actually had. Damn. Back on the bike I turned the accelerator to the limit.

       Realizing there were only few days left on the visa for Laos I took the decision to push it further the very same day and go to the 4000 islands, one of the last places on the southenr tip of the country before entering Cambodia. Once there, I got myself a little quiet room, washed of the dust and after eating some dinner that took almost 2 hours for the local “mama” to cook, enjoying the company of Jungle Brothers (will be explained later) found myself pretty soon walking back to the silence of the night, in the palm squeezing a little of sticky green. A night filled with reminisces of the days passed followed, and any time closing the eyes I would see the orange dusty dirt road, feel my palms squeezing the steering wheel and the feet resting on the brakes. With actual blisters on my palms I realized that another chapter in the trip, another story, another memory has been made. The struggle was worth it and priceless experiences would stay forever under my skin. Impossible is nothing if you got perseverance and a real adventure never comes out from something easy. 

     I had to pay the price though, to learn, that at the moments of extreme physical performance the brain might go into low activity mode, constantly staring at the road you would fall into a kind of trance. I have to admit, that after much pondering and weighing of facts, I am not sure anymore if the bad luck with the open bag and the camera happened on its own, or whether I was so tuned out in the morning  that I forgot to close it properly  in the first place.

Chilling outside the bike shop. Vientiane, Laos. December 30, 2010 yo!

The road awaiting the adventurous:…

The condition of this one compared to so many is great.

6 months of growing up on the road !

      Yep, its official, I just realized that TODAY is the day when 6 months ago I landed in Hong Kong and started the chapter of my life becoming another modern bum, roaming the horizons of South East Asia, letting time pass and being an observer, a humble man on his way to find all that is given to those who can wait, think and fast. Packing the bag - bag packing - backpacking, however you call it there’s so many ways to perceive it. Its a strange emotion that grips my senses thinking of the past months, most of the experiences in the memory are dissected into chapters and stored in different places and under different names somewhere in the cerebrum, bearing different smells, emotions colors and further details. There has been a lot of everything, but not too much of anything. It is almost impossible to reflect upon all that has happened without sinking deeper into this never ending story, where each page is a tale in itself and depending on the mood it reminds different moments and subjects withing. The freedom behind the steps forward decided your next destination, be it a small village with nothing but a few houses, or an empty dusty road leading to something that on the map is supposed to turn into a forest or a jungle. Maybe even a river, that has long dried out, you might find mountains that have been stripped naked of its beauty by the human hand. And as long as nature is around you there is so little you could care. At times yet you are reminded of some obligations, like expiring visas and borders to cross, obliging you to pass crowded cities to get things that villages don’t stock up on or just escaping the wilderness to be sucked back into the flow of life to enjoy yet again the escape from it. Travel has filled my lungs and limbs with tingling experiences and has changed more in me than I had ever thought is possible. I never went on this trip to find answers, but got more than I could ever think of.        

        Traveling  so often is not only about the change of your physical location but as well about the travel within. Even though the trip has started together with Marco we soon both realised that to be swollowed by Asia it was better to be alone, to experience it and reflect upon it without the ability to escape into a comfort zone of the familiar, of the friend, of the language that is at times putting a boundary to the simple folk around. After reaching Laos we continued alone and the winding roads have been so different to both of us. Marco is now in Australia, saving money to continue the trip further, maybe in South America as he said. Hey Maricon, its been a damn good time we shared together. Nothing can make people as close together as traveling. Another truth I learned while on the road and at times under pressure of time is the direct approach to people. If someone rubs you the wrong way you dont stay close, move on, get to know others and enjoy any good company to the fullest as so on the morrow the roads split again and you are left but nothing more than just a taste in the mouth. Who want it to be bad? While others stay diplomatic and in the company of repulsive fellow travelers I am the first to leave the table to see whats happening elsewhere. I start to think that life’s to short for introductions.

I guess theres no end to the philosophy of travel. And each one of us has its own way to thread the path leaving memorable moments behind, whether be it in the same city, same street or crossing continents chasing the dream being a bum or sleeping at 5 star hotels. I had often thought what the idea of traveling hides within and find different answers each time I try to dissect it. There is not one truth but many, to each his own. And all the answers that we so often need or find crucial to us, are already within us, but the pace of modern living has tuned out our ability to listen to ourselves with constant media and marketing bullshit trying to wash the brain and to distort the flow of the free thought movement. If there could be one advice, that no one cares to take, it would be to go to the nature and listen to it. The music of the natural surroundings, the flora and the fauna and yourself exposed to the elements, as if nature and evolution taking you back to where you belong to. So many of us are afraid of loneliness and prefer to stay in company be it nice or not. Which leads me to the temporary conclusions that people who cant bear silence and loneliness cant bear themselves.

Hope it wasn’t too much bragging, all I cared to say is that I am well and fine, the road is still winding, bringing new and undiscovered horizons and many more fantastic people to meet on the way. I will try to make some minor updates to blog, as quite many of you have been left with nothing but a dry stick. I am currently finding myslef  in Pulauh Weh (http://k41.pbase.com/g1/57/626557/2/110656506.Zo2HCaRI.jpg), a small island on the tip of northern Sumatra, Indonesia. Camping, snorkeling and fishing, laying traps to hopefully get wild boar, enjoying the village in the morning with the strong black coffee mug in the hand retrieving to secluded places later on and the silence within.

Updates to North Laos

The pictures and stories bellow cover the northern part of Laos. I have spent the last month touring these areas and fell in love with the people, the food and the surroundings accompanying wherever you go. I will now embark on the South Lao to reach Cambodia. It will probably be a long time before the next update from me as the little digital camera has lense issues and needs to be fixed in Bangkok. I will shoot film only and after getting the rolls back update the blog for yall. It will take however more than a months time. I might show some of the shots that have been taken in China long time ago but no published yet. Let me know what you think and stay tuned for mo!

And thanks much for the nice comments I got for the Viet Nam posts. “The power of submission” as a good friend would say. No more intro needed - enjoy!

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