The road tracklog
From Stung Treng to Ban Lung & back
from 20/10 to 24/10/2008

The 20/10 I left Stung Treng to Ban Lung. After 16 kilometres at a crossroads on the left the road was out of laterite with much degraded sections. Around 10 a.m. I was vis-à-vis a metal bridge with a limit from to 3,5 meters high. But according to an engineer of Travaux Public the height is always higher; I thus approached slowly and I noted that the height was roughly exact. I moved back, parked my truck on the side to dismount the HF antenna lengthened on the roof and to deflate the tyres from 2.5 to 1.5 kg. This work lasted approximately two hours during which I became acquainted with two motorcyclists, Ruth and Claudio, who asked to me if I required for help, que nenni. We took appointment to dine in Ban Lung where I arrived around 2:30 p.m. to go directly to Yak Laom Lake, crater-lake dating back 700,000 years. I bathed into it. In the evening after dining with my friends motorcyclists I bivouacked on east bank of Boeng Kansaign in the north of the city.

 
 
 
en route 
the 20/10/2008 

 
 
 
Sre Pok Bridge 
the 20/10/2008 

 
 
 
Yak Laom lake 
the 20/102/2008 

The 21/10 I left in excursion to Voen Sai at the edge of Tonlé San, not knowing if I could reach it. The objective was to visit a Tampoun village which practice the funerary statuary and a village Chinese which speaks its mother tongue. At the end of two hours of a tree-lined track out of muddy laterite I achieved my goal where I rented a boat which led me to Kachon on western bank of Tonlé San to visit the Tampoun cemetery, -ethnic minority, chunchiet-. Each rectangular-shape tomb is in enclosure surmounted by a very coloured wooden roof with in front of the entry two wooden statues representing the departed. The place is serenity and quietude in a luxuriant jungle. The Chinese village is made conspicuous by the extreme beauty of houses and a cleanliness of the site contrary to a Lao village at some distance. The way and the visits lasted nearly three hours. During the move on Tonlé San I lived again actions of two movies, "The Crabe-Tambour", by P. Schoendoerffer,  with J. Perrin and his gunboat and "Apocalypse Now" with a captain, M. Sheen, looking for a renegade colonel, Marlon Brando. I went again to Ban Lung where I had an appointment with Ruth & Claudio to collect information on Indonesia and Australia from where they came.

 
Tonlé San
Sé San River
Voen Sai 
the 21/10/2008 

 
 
 
Totem 
Kachon 
the 21/10/2008 

 
 
 
Life at a river bank 
Tonlé San 
the 21/10/2008 

 
 
Chinese village 
Tonlé San 
the 21/10/2008 

The 22/10 after a picture meeting with Ruth & Claudio in departure to Kratie then Phnom Penh, I went in excursion to Andong Meas at the edge of Tonlé San. According to LP the way was “one reasonable road”. Actually the route 78 up to Bokheo was under work and the route 78A was with only one lane making problematic a crossing. I drove a 120 kilometres outward and return trip to an average of 17 km/h. The village of Andong Meas consists of houses along the track where I rented a motorbike driver to visit a Jarai cemetery located at approximately eight km. The tombs were in the jungle and the most recent dated back from the end of 2007. The totems were less elaborate than those of Tampouns; one was not without pointing out the picture “The Cry” by Munch. On the site a community of men and women smoked and drunk alcohol that I had to taste, kind of decoction resembling a fermented barley beer. I drove again to Ban Lung.

 

Ruth & Claudio 
Boeng Kansaign 
the 22/10/2008 

 
 
 
Alcool drinkers 
Andong Meas 
the 22/10/2008 

 
 
Smoking women 
Andong Meas 
the 22/10/2008 

 
 
 
"Le Cri" 
Totem Jarai 
Andong Meas 
the 22/10/2008 

The 23/10 was a rest day at the edge of the crater-lake where I prepared the publication of this page of my website.

The 24/10 was driving day back to Stung Treng and a day after towards Sen Monorom.