Camping in Cambodia

Who knew you could camp in the jungle in Cambodia? Or that Cambodia even had any jungle left, apart from those voracious Tomb-Raider vines and strangler figs that seem to be holding up various crumbling temples in Angkor Wat?

In fact, Koh Kong Conservation Corridor in Cambodia's south-west is a vast, lost world of rainforests, rivers and wild things. I spent a couple of days there earlier this year, including a night camping in the jungle, sleeping in a hammock beside a silent river, and it was one of the highlights of my whole Cambodia trip. It's all in my latest travel story, in this weekend's Sydney Morning Herald:

Boat approaching Tatai Falls,
Koh Kong, Cambodia

Somewhere, just over the rainbow
There's jungle in every direction. Bird calls I don't recognise. Monkeys watching us from boulders as we putter along the river in an open, bright-orange boat. 

It's just the start of our two-day stay in Koh Kong province and already I feel as if we've stumbled upon a Cambodia I never knew existed, one that pre-dates Phnom Penh, the Killing Fields, even Angkor Wat... Read the full story here.

I do love Cambodia, and it's so cheap to get there now I'm thinking about going again soon. Permit me a plug: Air Asia has return flights from Sydney to Phnom Penh (via Kuala Lumpur) from $448 including taxes. (Remember to keep the eco-theme going when you get back by offsetting your flights with Climate Friendly.) Happy jungle-travels!