Mondulkiri, Cambodia; Part 2: Monorom Waterfall

After visiting the beautiful Busra waterfalls, where we didn't see the places safe for kids to swim and the options to zip line over and see the views were too expensive, we found another waterfall closer to home the next day. Many roads are packed red clay once you get off of the highway. The road to Monorom Falls was one of those:

It was a relatively smooth ride. We passed banana trees, which the kids liked to see.

This waterfall was called the Monorom waterfall, (video here) and it had a sign saying it was used to make hydroelectricity. Someone had set up fallen tree branches into a booth/tented area and there were some logs to sit on at the top of the falls. The log in the picture, by the way, was not one of those...

We saw butterflies here.

The path down to the bottom of the waterfall was way too steep for me to go down with a baby, or for Ezra to go down without significant help, so Ben took Talia and Elias to play in the water at the bottom.

Ezra and I went exploring the nearby bridge and banana grove. This beautiful place re-emphasized to me how some of the best experiences are beyond paved roads.

Back at Nature Lodge, we took the next day to rest and play around the camp site. We try not to give our kids electronics whenever possible, so it was nice to see them using their imaginations and playing with sticks. (video here)

Stuck in Desert Sands

Me: "So why'd you decide to go off of the road?"

Ben: "It looked like the road went to the top of the dune, there were lots of tire tracks... Soooo, I just wanted to see if the grass was greener over there. ;)"

Me: "Well maybe those tracks were made by a Toyota 4Runner not a Dodge Durango. ;) How'd you manage to get help? Did you pay them?"

Ben: "It was Saturday morning so they were all kind of lounging around anyway, a couple of them were nearby. I went to ask them if they had a number for tow truck because the regular mechanic I use is in Egypt now. They started helping and eventually workers from nearby houses came out. All working together they lifted the truck and put rocks and boards under the tires. I gave them enough to buy all 12 of them a drink. I was going to go get the drinks but they preferred the money."