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Bordering Vietnam’s central Highlands and Laos are the remote provinces of Ratanakiri and Mondulkiri, both with thickly forested hilly terrain, hilltribe people, and abundant wildlife. 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. The provincial capital of Sen Monorom is the best reached from Vietnam ; Ratanakiri is accessible by air from Phnom Penh. Over 80% of Ratanakiri’s population of 72,000 is classified as hilltribe, mainly Jarai, Krunh, Brou, and Tampuan. The 12 ethnic minority group are collectively called Khmer Loeu (highlanders), a name coined by Sihanouk in the 1940s. Some of the groups are found across the border of Vietnam’s Central highlands or in Southern Laos. Many also still wear traditional costume - Krung women in sarongs and bare-breasted, Brou women with tattooed faces and ivory tusk earrings in their elongated earlobes.

Less than 60,000 hilltribes people now remain and their numbers are further threatened by a high mortality rate from malaria, diarrhea and childbirth complications. Their lives and livelihoods are now also threatened by the encroachment of logging into their territory. So, although it would appear that these hilltribe communities have little contact with the outside world, it is likely that they wished the outside world was a lot further away.

The recent history of Ratanakiri is not a happy one. During the Vietnam War the province of Ratanakiri was devastated by American carpet booming because it formed part of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which continued to run relatively undisturbed by the wanton destruction. However, the bombing not only killed and injured many tribes-people, it also drove away the animals they hunted and destroyed their farmlands. The Khmer Rouge used Ratanakiri as their main base of operations in the early 1970s; when they came to power in 1975, the Khmer Rouge wiped out at least half the tribal population. Most highlanders in Ratanakiri are animist and practice slash-burn agriculture. They farm rice and grow vegetable, and raise water buffalo and cows. They also hunt, using crossbows with poison-tipped bamboo arrows. Sacrifice to the numerous animal spirits of the forest is common, and regularly performed for any special events such as marriage, the construction of a new thatch-roofed hut, or a move to a new village location. At these events a feast is held, a pig sacrificed and large quantities of rice wine consumed. At these gatherings the spirits believed to take a possession of certain individuals, who in a trance lose their own personality and take on that of the spirit, acting out a particular animist trait. Pries tesses regarded as the spiritual healers contact ancestral spirits and relay dreams.

Highland women enjoy as much freedom as men. They are free to divorce a husband who is cruel, and decisions on childbirth are the exclusive domain of women. If an unmarriageable women finds herself pregnant, she is not disgraced the man responsible, if not willing to marry, must reimburse the woman’s family. The going rate is four buffaloes, some pigs, a few chickens and rice wine.

Although some hilltribers don Khmer dress, others retain traditional wear. Krung tribeswomen wear sarongs, go bare breasted, and smoke-stemmed pipes. Brou tribeswomen have large pierced earlobes and wearing earrings sculpted from chunky ivory tusks. Their faces are tattooed and they wear bead necklaces and brass anklets.

Ban Lung, population 10,000, is the principal town in Ratanakiri province, and lies 155 km east of Stung Treng. There may be direct flights into Bang Lung. The hotel in Bang Lung charges $5 a room; the town has a post office and bank. You can get to Bang Lung in five or seven hours, but the road may be washed out in the May - November monsoon season. In parts of Ratanakiri, the only vehicles that move during the rainy season are oxcarts and elephants.

TOURIST ATTRACTIONS

Transportation

By air : from Pochentong Airport to Ratanakiri Airport has 11 Flights a week. The trip takes

approximately one hour.

By land : ( 636 km) from Phnom Penh - Kampong Cham - Kracheh (Overnight ), continue to Rattanakkiri by car. From Phnom Penh to Steung Treng by boat in raining season (Overnight) , continue to Ratanakiri by plane or car.

The popular kinds of transportation in banlung ( Ratanakiri ) are car, motorbike, elephants riding, boat or trekking.

Motorcycle taxi (motodup), rental motorcycle and bicycle are the primary ways of getting around town and the immediate area. Motodups run 500 - 1500 riel almost anywhere in town and $7-$10 for the whole day (limited to the area around Banlung.) Good English speakers that also act as guides may charge more. A motodup from the airport to town is about 1000 riel.
For motorcycle or bicycle rental, it is easiest to ask at your guesthouse or hotel. 100cc motorcycles are $5/day. There are very few 250cc bikes to rent in town but your hotel can probably find one for you. Bicycle rental is $1/day. There is also a bicycle rental shop near the monument in the center of town. Rental prices of trucks and 4WDs begin around $30-$40/day.

Markets and Shopping
The main market, Phsar Banlung, is a relatively unextraordinary traditional market offering the usual range of items for local consumption. There is one souvenir shop in front of the market, and food stalls set up in front of the market in the evening. . For most travelers' needs (soft drinks, water, beer, liquor, toiletries, snacks, souvenirs, etc.), the small drink shops next to the monument in the center of town carry most everything.

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