We got up early this morning to catch the 7.45 bus from Phnom Penh to Anduong Tuek. There wasn't room in this bus so we got the 12.45 bus instead and booked it through the okay guesthouse as the guy said the public busses are unreliable and don't always stop at Anduong Tuek.
The bus took 4 hours to get to Andoung Tuek and from there we got a moto-taxi (50cc moped) for about 15km to a small ferry which took us across the river to Chi Phat.
Usually you get the cargo barge up the river which is alot cheaper but you have to get the early bus, which we missed.
Once notorious for it's loggers and poachers, the river village of Chi Phat has a population of about 500 people. It is now home to a community based ecotourism project (CBET), although it is still in it's very early stage of establishing itself .
We got to the village at about 5.30pm and walked through the village looking for the project office. It was shut when we arrived so walked to one of the guesthouses which was very basic. The room had a bed, mosquito net and a fan. What more do you need though?! There was a long drop toilet and a bucket for the shower. The house was very clean and perfectly adequate though.
We had dinner in the restaurant and the woman/cook pointed inside four pots and we chose what we wanted. We stayed safe and had the soup and rice. It was very nice, but I was a bit dubious about the meat in the soup. I think it went cluck, but may have gone woof. It was such a weird experience being in the middle of a forest, probably the most remote place I have ever been, but a few Angkors calmed the nerves.
We had an early night as electricity is only available between 6-11pm and it was good to get to sleep before the fan went off.
The next day it was raining hard, we went back to the restaurant and bought a bunch of bananas for breakfast. The CBET office was now open but they wernt as helpful as we expected. It was a pretty relaxing morning, we just stayed around the house and planned the next few days.
After a lunch of fish, vegetables and rice the rain stopped, and we got a two man kayak and paddled up the river, well I paddled up the river and Rosie took photos. It was amazing! The scenery was awesome and it was interesting to see the locals going about their everyday life. We also saw the ecolodges on the far river bank up stream. We were glad we didn't stay in them, although the looked nice, as they are bit far from everything and you need to get a boat there.
We got back to the guesthouse and had a shower (bucket and water), which was actually really nice and refreshing. That evening we went and had tea in the CBET restaurant.
We left Chi Phat at about 8am again on the moto-taxis and went to the river to get the ferry across. We could see it was docked on the other side and they were having engine problems. We finally got on and started out journey across when the engine cut out again, in the middle of the fast flowing river. We were pretty sure we were going to miss the bus to Sihanoukville but we carried on anyway. The drivers were gunning it back down the track to Andoung Teuk, but after 5km I was certain there was no way we would get the bus. A river had burst its banks and was flowing across the road. My driver didn't seem phased and drove straight in. The bike was half under water and Rosie's stopped in the middle but we made it through and surprisingly made the bus.
Chi Phat was one of the most amazing and eye opening places I have ever been in the world, iv never felt so isolated.