We spent our last night in Cambodia in the town of Stung Treng, just to break up the journey from Banlung to Laos. We were expecting a gritty town without much going on, and it pretty well lived up to that reputation. This was without a doubt the least desirable place we’ve stayed since leaving the US just over six months ago — almost downright comical in its shabbiness.

I’d made a reservation at the Golden River Hotel, the fanciest place in town by far. They were out of the $20 river view rooms, so we had to settle for the $17 ‘standard’ room, from which we had this view instead:

For dinner we went looking for a place called Ponika’s, the only restaurant listed in our Lonely Planet guidebook. Described as a place where you can also rent bikes and arrange transportation, it sounded like the hub of tourist activity in town. The food really was quite good, though we were the only souls in the place — unless you count the cockroaches, of which there were plenty. Big cockroaches. Oh well, nobody said travel was all glamor.

This morning we headed back to Ponika’s for breakfast. Still not a single other customer. And the cockroaches were asleep at breakfast time. After a satisfying breakfast I took a walk through the lively market to say goodbye to Cambodia. The market was bursting with activity and color. And like everywhere else we’ve been in Cambodia these past weeks, people were super friendly. We’ll miss all those warm smiles.

After four stops along the Cambodian coast — Koh Kong, Sihanoukville, Kampot, and Kep — we spent two days in Phnom Penh again to do errands. Then we stopped overnight in Kampong Cham on our way to the remotest parts of Cambodia in the northeast.

This morning we will trek to Koh Trong, an island in the Mekong river near the small city of Kratie. This will probably be the most remote place we’ve been since Mongolia almost six months ago. And you know what that means — no Internet for a couple days 🙁

So we’ll fill you in on the northeast after we come back to modernity in a few days. Until then, I’ll leave you with this nice shot of the sunset over the Gulf of Thailand from Kep.