Kulen Mountain and Waterfall

We get into the pick up Truck where I am offered a square of cardboard to balance on the edge and sit on. We all squish around the side of this open backed pick up very prepared with khramas wrapped around our heads and necks to protect from the sun and dust. True Khmer style except there are 11 of us squished in the back rather than 30. Before we leave Siem Reap we stop to fill up the cool box with blocks of ice that Theavy (the Khmer lady who is our volunteer coordinator) hacks with a small machete. It's a two hour journey and was fantastic! The countryside, as per usual as stunning, and the fact that we were just sitting on the side of a truck with not a lot to hold on to was a lot of fun, especially when we we each half way and get onto the dirt tracks....bumps and orange dust galore. We stop and bargain for a bunch of bananas. The best I've ever eaten. We stop for a toilet shack break where we get involved with the hokie kokie to unnumb our bums.. I think I love it more than the kids!! We arrive and carry our hammocks down to our spot next to a small waterfall, we have hired a kind of gazebo, made from wood, bamboo and leaves. I have a nap in the hammock next to the waterfall and wake up to Nina in the water above the waterfall with Mr Gee and his wife and their two adorable grandchildren, shivering but smiling in the cold water. I get up and join Nina, in my clothes. Khmer style, bikinis are just not worn here, they go in the water with their clothes on so I am wearing long shorts and a vest top. The water is pulling towards the waterfall so we sit by the edge. It really would not be fun to go whizzing down a waterfall however exciting it looks! It is sooo refreshing and lovely but I soon turn a little blue so get out and it's lunch time. The Khmer lady is cooking up a feast in the gazebo on a little gas stove that we have bought with us, we pass around deep fried banana covered in sweet rice, unripe sour mango with chilli and salt and crispy sweet rice pieces. We eat morning glory with chilli and egg and pork with lemon grass and peppers with rice...of course. rice rice everywhere. 'Khnyom bai' 'eat rice'.

When most other Khmer families have left we wander down lots of wooden rickety steps to the main waterfall. Wow. It is absolutely stunning. It is so high and so powerful. The water looks amazing crashing down on the rocks below and the sounds and the spray of the water were incredible. We all go swimming in the water below and climb rocks and jump off. Nina and I perform our song (more will be revealed soon) on a rock in front of the waterfall while Rachel films it from a dry rock. It felt amazing being in this waterfall, one of the best things I have ever seen and done.

We make our way back in the pick up, this time I am not on the edge but sitting on the cool box in the middle. It gets dark quickly and we find ourselves driving through the jungle in the dark.

Kulen is one of the best places I've ever seen and been to, the journey there, the waterfall, the water, the chilled atmosphere. Yet again, what a day...