“I have make it.” I am, finally, able to summit the highest peak in Cambodia. If I remember it well, everyone learns about it in primary school: Aural is the highest mountain in Cambodia with the height of 1.813 metres.
I, in a group of 3 bikers, left PP at 4:30 am on the 24th. We went to Aural by the way of national road number 5. Once arriving at Udong, we turned to road number 136 passing by Sruk Thporng. Unfortunately, one of the bikes got a flat tire and we needed to wait to have it repaired until 7 am before we were able to presume the journey. We arrived at the meeting point at about 8:30 am. Parked our bikes, packed our things, we got on a power tiller trailer with another friends who had arrived by bus. The journey on the power tiller trailer took roughly 2 hours. We started climbing at 10:30 am and arrived at the 1st stop which stands at the attitude of 550 M at about 12:30 pm. It was about 4 KM walk. Resting for lunch, we resumed the journey at 1 pm. Then, there came a rain which poured down on us heavily. Rubbing the salt in the wound, we needed to hold on to a rope tied to the trees to ascend as the trail was quite sloppy.
Can you spot the first stop?
It took me about 4 hours to cover the distance of approximately 5 KM before arriving at the 2nd stop which stands at the attitude of 1250 M. We camped there, near a stream for 2 nights. I planted my tent on a slop and you may deduce, I rolled down while sleeping hahaha… for 2 nights.
The roof of the second stop
On the second day, we started ascending the peak at 8:30 am. It took about 3 hours and a half to get there. After having lunch, taking photos and piloting drone, we descended at 1 pm. On the way back, we went to the plane crash site. Two sources provide different number of casualty, you can read it here: Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives and Aviation Safety Network. We got back to the camp at about 4 pm. I don’t think I need to detail what happened at night, nothing more than chitchatting and partying, as you may have already done it.
the peak
the peak
from the peak
Le me on the peak!
On the 3rd and final day, we descended from the 2nd stop at 8:30 am. We arrived at the 1st stop at 12 pm, had lunch, before descending again. It rained on and off on our way down. We got to the pick up point at about 3 pm. Once everyone got on the trailers of the power tillers, we hoped we would arrive at the meeting point no later than 5: 30 pm. Because of the rain, the stream that we needed to cross swelled up highly and flowed violently. We waited for one hour before we were able to cross it on feet. We had to pull the two power tillers across the stream as well, well what a challenge! Finally, we got to the meeting point at about 6:30 pm, had a bath, had dinner, got dressed back to PP. PP was reached at 9:15. What a journey, what a climb, what a friendship, what a country!
the dangerous wayback
the mountains
The trip is roughly 260 KM on motorbike and 28 KM hiking.
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ចូលចិត្ត កំពុងផ្ទុក...
