Sunday, December 28, 2008

Crater Lake

On Boxing day we went to "Yeak Laom" lake.

 "Yeak Laom Volcanic Lake is a 700,000 year old volcanic crater lake in a peaceful jungle setting in the Yeak Laom Commune Protected Area. The lake and the area are considered sacred by many of the Khmer Loeu peoples, and are steeped in local myth and legend. There are a couple of docks on the lakeside and swimming and picnicking are encouraged. The lake is 800 meters in diameter and 47 meters deep, and is ringed by a 2.5 km hiking trail. The Yeak Laom Cultural and Environmental Center on the lake trail displays Khmer Loeu handicrafts and fabrics. 4000 riel entrance fee to lake area. 5km from town." (from here)

In the picnic area Soeun bought some dried meat. He often eats dried beef and fish. He told me he was buying some deer meat. The Khmer word for duck is sounds like the English word for deer, and as we were near the lake I thought he meant duck. It wasn't until we got back to PP that I realised it was deer meat. You can see it drying here on the picnic table.
You could hire inner tubes to play with in the water.


See the brown pots to the left, and on the table below? Its some kind of instant alcohol drink made with roots.
There are lots more things for visitors to do such as jungle treks, elephants rides, visit gem mines, learn about different ethnic groups (most people in Cambodia are Khmer, but there are some smaller ethnic groups too and many live in this province.) For example Jungle Adventures
For more on our R'kiri trip see the last few posts- Red Dust, Road to R'kiri and Around Bunlung, also on Kronicle Extra see Christmas trip to the jungle for the full story and here for a few more photos.

3 comments:

Rachael said...

Thanks for the info! I think I'm going to take my next excursion to one of the 'kiris and your blog is just the thing to help me get my planning started. :) Can't wait to hear more over lunch!

Katherine said...

They are spelt different ways in English, so if you are googleing them try a few different spellings, that lonley planet thorn tree thingy or whatever its called is good cos you can find out how other ppl got there and the pros and cons of different routes etc

Anonymous said...

Lots of great photos here, Katherine. Thanks for sharing with us. I must admit, all that dust really looked so terrible - what a contrast to the flooding in PP. Put them together and you have mud-city! - Chris