Enjoy Fresh Life in Ba Be National Park

By just staying a few days in Pac Ngoi or any village in Ba Be national park, travelers can come back bustling urban life with a pleasant mood and fresh mind.

Life in Ba Be is so easy-going, where travelers can soak in nature and enjoy an authentic life. With presence of really few modern objects, Be Be is a wonderful place to escape from crowded city and busy life. Wi-fi is erratic, mobile wave and 3G wave are also weak. However, it’s ok. Look at another aspect, everything is still fine. No one and nothing can bother you in this out-of-the-way area. Let try a life without technology and conveniences.

So as to enjoy this fresh life, you can select a homestay of a Tay family, where you will experience a life at a traditional stilt house. My stilt house overlooks gentle Len stream, a great location to relax in every afternoon.

In this national park, Ba Be lake is the most striking. Boating around the lake, traveler will be contemplated a charming, breathtaking scene. The scenery changes as moving from south to north. 

The southern part focuses several docks. Here, water has a dark green and sometimes green of jade. Short and rank mountains embrace the lake, and trees are luxuriant. Some islets appear among the lake, in which the most well-known one is “Ba Goa” islet (The Widower islet). With tranquil atmosphere, you will just hear the rumble of boat machines. Ba Be is truly like Halong in land. 

Up to the north, the landscape become different. Water has a light brown, yellow brown or yellow green. Perhaps this is because of alluvium. The two sides are covered with corn fields. Some herds of buffaloes slowly gaze. Some flocks of ducks and chickens forage. A few houses of thatched roofs are scattered, appear intermittently behind rows of bamboo trees. A number of dugout boats go up and down in the still and secluded space.  

If you want to have adventurous feeling, you can kayak around Ba Be lake and discover it in your own way, or trekking over the hamlets to reveal the indigenous culture and life. 

In the afternoon, travelers can play at the stream in front of the homestay, wading and splashing on cool water, or just sitting on the lovely small bamboo bridge to silently read book and unwind. Every homestay also has some bikes, so you can ask the owner to borrow one and cycle around villages and visit corn, rice fields. 

Fresh food in Ba Be is fish, shrimps and vegetables. Fish and shrimps are caught directly from the lake. Locals said that they put lift-nets down to the stream at 4-5 p.m. And at 2-3 a.m, they would pull lift-nets up to gather aquatic products. Most typical vegetable of this area is “bo khoi”, which has a fairly wild taste. A part from “bo khoi”, you can enjoy many other lush vegetables.

Here, there is no place for entertainment. When night falls, the entire space is sunk in darkness, unexpectedly quiet. Then, it is time for a comfortable sleep. Sleep early and wake up early, you will have a good health and cheery mind for activities tomorrow. Get up early, you can also contemplate rustic villages and beautiful fields in sunrise, incredible things that you may rarely see in your life. 

 By Xuan Tran (Kimina) - ActiveTravel Asia

Cambodia's Mysterious Beauty in Rain

Under a lens of a photographer, famous destinations in Cambodia like Angkor Thom, Killing Fields and Phsar Toul Tom Poung  (Russian market) unexpectedly become beautiful in an extraordinary way in rains. 

The rainy season in Cambodia runs from May to October. Barnaby Jaco Skinner – a Chinese photographer spent a month to travel around Cambodia and captured stunning moments about Cambodian people and country in wet climate condition. 

“Shooting photos in the rainy season is a big challenge.” – He told. However, looking at works after Barnaby Jaco Skinner’s journey, anyone also praises and admires as realizing enchanting beauty which is created by combination between ancient features of constructions and glitter of rainy drops.

Russian market is located in northern Phnom Penh. The name of the market was given after it attracted more and more interest of expatriate Russian people in 1980s. Here, travelers can choose and purchase craft products, gemstone, all kinds of jewelry, souvenirs and textiles.

Barnaby Jaco Skinner commended: “Russian market is one of the greatest markets in the world, where you can find and buy even motorcycle spare parts.”

Sliver pagoda or Preah Vihear Preah Keo Morakot pagoda lying in the core of Cambodian royal palace is a famous attraction in Phnom Penh. The name of the pagoda has its origin from the fact that there were 5,329 pieces of silver paved on the floor. Every piece is also handmade and weigh 1,125g. 

The memorial for ill-fated victims at Killing Fields, nearly 20km from capital Phnom Penh. This place has still maintained about 8,000 skulls of the people who were massacred by Pol Pot genocide regime. 

Barnaby Jaco Skinner advised travelers that they should hired a small boat to take photos in Mekong river and contemplated the residents who were fishing in the riversides. 

Below the lens of Barnaby Jaco Skinner, an abandoned house in Kampot also becomes attractive thanks to its mystery. 

The moment that dark clouds rolled was shot by the author in the outskirt of Kep city.

Barnaby Jaco Skinner enjoyed a pleasure when he stood in the top of hotel Two Moons in Kampot with several bottles of beer and contemplated patchy rays of light in the sky owning to thunder.

The photo was taken as he was sitting behind a tuk tuk in a heavy rain.

So, if you desire to have unique photos for your own, let be ready on an amazing adventure travel to Cambodia in the rainy season.