PHOTOS FROM OUR EXPEDITION INTO BOKOR NATIONAL PARK...
We had been warned before we left that we should be a little careful about which ranger we took out into the forest - many of them are ex army personal, who are stuck up in this national park on a very low wage for a long period of time.... ...when we were organising to go for a 'hike', we asked; "we have heard that sometimes it isn't safe for women to go out alone with the guards, that they are sometimes unsafe. Is it okay for just the two of us to go?" (I was travelling with another girl from work)... the reply? "Oh no, dont worry, no problem the rangers carry large guns with them". Hehehe not quite the reasuring answer we were looking for - but our ranger, Vichet, who was 22 and very fun. Good English and a sweet sweet personality. He showed us "where the tiger sleeps" (under an overhanging rock), and showed us which carnivorious plant produces its own water which is safe for human consumption (he gave me some which I gulped down, only later realising that the water is actually used for drowning and digesting insects which the plant eats... but surely I would have felt it if any insects had gone down my throat? Surely? We ate wild berries, and had a close encounter with a PUMA with spots (demonstrated rather than spoken) - which we guessed might be a leopard?? (or perhaps some other wild animal that hurtled through the jungle at an alarming pace close by us, causing Viched to swing his gun up, and us to feel very small, insignificant and vulnerable temporarly)
I was fascinated by the gun, which we were told came from the Vietnamese during the Pol Pot times... I wonder if it still even went? Glad we didn't get to find out.
Jack - this frog is simply for you... for the rest of my life I will think of you every time I see a frog.
Ruined church, washer woman style 'Kroma' (Khmer/Cambodian Scarf), misty mountains, not a sole around, plateau on the mountain, jungle down each side, coast in the distance in one direction and national park into the distance on the other... YAY
More gun shots... sorry!
We had been warned before we left that we should be a little careful about which ranger we took out into the forest - many of them are ex army personal, who are stuck up in this national park on a very low wage for a long period of time.... ...when we were organising to go for a 'hike', we asked; "we have heard that sometimes it isn't safe for women to go out alone with the guards, that they are sometimes unsafe. Is it okay for just the two of us to go?" (I was travelling with another girl from work)... the reply? "Oh no, dont worry, no problem the rangers carry large guns with them". Hehehe not quite the reasuring answer we were looking for - but our ranger, Vichet, who was 22 and very fun. Good English and a sweet sweet personality. He showed us "where the tiger sleeps" (under an overhanging rock), and showed us which carnivorious plant produces its own water which is safe for human consumption (he gave me some which I gulped down, only later realising that the water is actually used for drowning and digesting insects which the plant eats... but surely I would have felt it if any insects had gone down my throat? Surely? We ate wild berries, and had a close encounter with a PUMA with spots (demonstrated rather than spoken) - which we guessed might be a leopard?? (or perhaps some other wild animal that hurtled through the jungle at an alarming pace close by us, causing Viched to swing his gun up, and us to feel very small, insignificant and vulnerable temporarly)
I was fascinated by the gun, which we were told came from the Vietnamese during the Pol Pot times... I wonder if it still even went? Glad we didn't get to find out.
Jack - this frog is simply for you... for the rest of my life I will think of you every time I see a frog.
Ruined church, washer woman style 'Kroma' (Khmer/Cambodian Scarf), misty mountains, not a sole around, plateau on the mountain, jungle down each side, coast in the distance in one direction and national park into the distance on the other... YAY
More gun shots... sorry!
No comments:
Post a Comment