A Day in Ratanakiri Province

After a day of loafing around Ratanakiri, we got up the energy to go check things out. We still weren't up for a hike so instead we payed for two motos to take us around town and show us the waterfalls.

We had just spent lots of time in Laos looking at waterfalls, so I was a bit waterfalled-out. I have to admit that the falls in Ratanakiri didn't quite match up to those we saw in Laos, but we still had a nice day driving around to all of them.

Waterfall 1:

Our guide told us we could jump from the top of this waterfall into the pool... but neither of us were interested in being the first one to try

Waterfall 2:

Waterfall 3:

a view from behind the falls

And finally to the volcanic crater lake just 5km outside of the town were locals and tourists go when they need to take a dip.

 After a full day riding down dirt roads on a motorbike, Nick and I were looking a bit orange and feeling pretty grimy so we welcomed the opportunity to go for a swim and rinse it all off.

we bear a striking resemblance to this plant!

The water was the perfect temperature - refreshing, but not too cold. We spent a couple of hours hanging out at the lake and swimming before heading back with our guides.

We had a really nice day and I could probably have spent a couple of days just sitting at the lake relaxing, but at this point in our trip, Nick and I are both ready to head back to civilization. We haven't been in a real city since Chiang Mai, Thailand, (we only stopped for a couple of house in Laos' only "big" city Vientiane) so we're ready for a couple days of paved roads and modern conveniences.

In addition to that, we JUST found out that 5 of our best friends from Taiwan were coming to meet us in Cambodia in a couple of days and we are SUPER excited for them to get here! When we said goodbye to our friends in Taiwan, we thought it would be years before we all saw each other again, but here they are - 2 months later!!!! I am beyond excited to see them all again.

And, although Nick has been an awesome travel partner and we're having an great time together, it will be really nice to have some friends again - someone else to talk to, some more people to hang out with. It will be a bit like a vacation from our travelling.

So now, weren't in a bit of a "sit and wait" mode. Tomorrow we'll go to Phenom Phen and basically just hang out until all of our friends arrive. and then.... we go to the beach!!!