Towns and cities

Ban Lung (Banlung)

Ban Lung is the provincial capital of Ratanakiri Province in Cambodia's mountainous northeastern corner. Most of the few visitors that make it to Ratanakiri usually establish themselves in Ban Lung from where they make excursions and treks to Khmer Loeu villages and jungle areas, waterfalls, gem mines, and Ratanakiri's famous Yeak Laom volcanic lake. The Banlung itself is somewhat small but offers some interesting shopping and there are a few decent hotels.

South of the capital a mining camp has been carved from the forest where workers from around the province toil to extract gems from narrow mine shafts.

Air from Phnom Penh President Airlines has flights to Banlung two or three times per week. Airport departure tax is $6 in Phnom Penh and $4 in Banlung. Motorcycle taxi from the Banlung Airport to your hotel is about 1000 Riel for the 5-minute ride. 

Overland: when the Mekong is low this turns into a two to three-day ordeal because speedboats can't go beyond Kratie. Travel overland to Stung Treng on a terrible road that can take up to nine hours and then likely on a third day take the three-hour ride to Banlung.

Where to stay?

Ratanakiri

Located in Cambodia’s far north-eastern corner some 630 kilometres from Phnom Penh, Ratanakiri, the name means "Gemstone Mountain", is bordered by Laos to the north and Vietnam's central Highlands to the east. One of the most beautiful regions of Cambodia, it is nevertheless also one of its least developed. There are no highways, only simple pot-holed dirt roads. During the rainy season, villages soon become inaccessible. Much of the province consists of rolling hills and fields, farmed by the many indigenous hill tribes.

There are over 20 different tribal groups living in the two north-eastern provinces of Cambodia. They make up 80% of the population and often had little contact with the rest of the world.

Each group has its own distinct customs, culture, clothing, handicrafts and dialect. Their ways of living are still untouched by modernisation. The Tampuan, Krung, Jarai and Brou tribes farm with the slash and burn method, hunt with crossbows and poison darts and practice animism. Krung women, often bare-breasted, wear sarongs, while Brou women tattoo their faces and wear heavy ivory tusk earrings.

Even in a short visit, it's possible to spot the different house styles of the various tribes; the longhouses of the Jarai, the Kreung stilt-houses surrounding the village hall and Phnong huts huddled against the ground of the chilly Mondulkiri plateau. In some villages you can still see the high "girl" and boy" houses used by teenagers.

Several tribes such as the Brou of Ratanakiri and especially the Phnong of Mondulkiri are known for their close association with domesticated elephants.

The bombings of American B-52's during the Vietnam War devastated an important part of the hill tribes' farmlands and reduced much of the population. In this war the province of Ratanakiri suffered heavily from the American carpet bombing because it formed part of the Ho Chi Minh trail, which continued to run along the eastern borders, relatively undisturbed by the shameless devastation by the US. The bombing not only killed and injured many of the tribes-people, it also drove away the animals they hunted. The Khmer Rouge used Ratanakiri as their main base of operations in the early 1970s but when they came to power in 1975, they wiped out at least half the remaining tribal people that were lucky enough to survive the American raids.

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Commercial enterprises in the region include logging, gem mining and rubber plantations. A fertile basalt plateau with red dusty soil lies between the Sesan and Srepok rivers.

Places to visit:

• Boeung Yeak Loam

Yeak Loam Lake is situated 5 kilometres south-east of Banlung. The Yeak Loam lake in the middle of a mountain is one of the most beautiful lakes of Ratanakiri, formed by a volcanic eruption almost 4,000 years ago. It is 48 metres deep during the dry season, has a diameter of 800 metres and there is a 2,500 metres long walking path around the lake. Two hundred meters off the track is the Crafts Museum, a wooden building housing tribal handicraft. 

The lake is a place of worship for the hill tribe people. They believe there is a powerful spirit who owns the surrounding land and forest.

Because there are no vendors, visitors should bring their own food.

• Phnom Eisey Patamak (Phnom Svay)

At the top of Phnom Svay, about 2 kilometres west of Banlung, is the statue of a reclining Buddha reaching nirvana. Awe-inspiring yet peaceful, it has lain undisturbed throughout the years. In the distance, you have a wiew over Laos in the north and Vietnam in the east.  

At the foot of the mountain is Wat Isana, where villagers from Banlung come to worship.

• Katieng Waterfall

Katieng Waterfall is situated 7 kilometres south-east of Banlung. It is located in the O'Koteung Stream, 3 kilometres below the Kachanh Waterfall amidst lush forest. Its height is 10 metres and the water falls throughout the year. The visitors will pass through a beautiful natural landscape, offering many photographic opportunities on the way to the waterfall.

• Ou'Sean Lair Waterfall

Ou'Sean Lair Waterfall is situated 26 kilometres south of Banlung. This waterfall has four steps and the height of each step is four metres. The water flows throughout the year. Around the Waterfall are beautiful natural landscapes. Visitors can have a bath if they wish.

• Ou'Sensranoh Waterfall

Ou'Sensranoh Waterfall is situated 9 kilometres south of Banlung. Its height is 18 metres and the water falls all year round. Visitors go there to relax, enjoy the fresh air of the forest and hear the birds.  

• Cha Ong Waterfall

Cha Ong Waterfall is situated 8 kilometres west of Banlung and water flows throughout the year. The source of water creating this Waterfall flows from Eisey Patamak Mountain. Under this Waterfall is a big cavity. Visitors can stand or sit there to enjoy the waterfall from behind, and to breath in the cool fresh air stemming from it.

• Veal Rum Plong (stone field)

Veal Rum Plong, situated 14 kilometres north of Banlung, is a huge granite terrace in the forest. Stones cover the surface of this place and its surroundings. 

There is a Kreung legend that a boy named Rum Plong flew his kite on this terrace. When the kite got stuck in a tree, he climbed the tree to recover his kite, but he fell from the tree and died. His body was buried in the forest. Since then, members of the Kreung tribe from the village nearby believe that Plong's spirit protects the forest surrounding the terrace, so they dare not cut it down even to cultivate crops.

• Virachay National Park

Virachay National Park is situated 45 kilometres north of Banlung. With a total land area of 332,500 hectares, there are many varieties of plants and trees and many different species of animals and birds to be spotted in the forest.

• Lumphat Wildlife Sanctuary

Lumphat Wildlife Sanctuary is situated 37 kilometres south of Banlung. With a total land area of 250,000 hectares, there are special kinds of animals and birds. There are tigers, elephants, red-headed vultures.

• Ou' Chaloy

Ou'Chaloy is located in the Sre Pok river It is situated 34 kilometres south-west of Banlung.  As tourist recreation, Ou'Chaloy is only open during the dry season.

• Norng Kabat Forest

Norng Kabat forest is situated 23 kilometres north of Banlung. This place has a pond where the visitors go to observe the animals and birds that come to the pond. This can be the occasion for a visit to ethnic villages and participate in the ethnic culture, learn about their long-established beliefs, maybe join one of their festivals - there are many - with traditional music and dancing.