16 December 2016. A lake and two waterfalls

I hired a bike from the Balcony guest house and restaurant where I had eaten last night. They suggested a mountain bike was what I needed and so I set off on this machine to see the highly rated Yak Lom Crater Lake. The journey was not lengthy but proved very heavy going due to the hopeless state of the mountain bike. The gears on the rear wheel did not change. So I got to the lake, passing by an indigenous cemetery on the way.

The lake was very pleasant but not, to me, mind blowing. There was a small trek round the lake which quickly left the people around the entrance behind and it was certainly all pleasant enough. But, to me, nothing amazingly special.

Then I returned to Balcony and changed bikes to a non-mountain one which at least had working gears.

I set off in the direction of two of the waterfalls - Ka Tieng and Ka Chanh. On the way, I visited Eisan Ratanaram Pagoda but missed a huge reclining buddha that was a little past the pagoda at Preah Poutth Chaul Nipean.

I carried on to the two waterfalls, passing countless children with their 'hellos', At the junction for the two falls was a very under-resourced looking school - I assume for the ethnic minority population.

The falls themselves were pleasant to visit. At Ka Tieng a couple of very helpful young boys pointed me in the right direction seeing I was about to miss the main falls. Pity they weren't at the reclining buddha as well!

At Ka Chanh there is a suspension bridge which affords a great opportunity to take photos.

I peddled back to Baan Lung, meeting a few tourists on bikes and motor bikes on the way who all stopped for a chat. Very different to how we behave back home! That evening, I went for a meal at The Balcony and then for a drink with a group of Germans staying in the nearby hostel.