Ban Lung Town, Ratanakiri Travel Package Tours, Cambodia Tour Information Hotel Guide

BAN LUNG OVERVIEW

The town of Ban Lung is the provincial capital of Ratanakiri Province and the best base from which to explore the natural attractions of the area. The town was originally known as Labansiek before the war, but the district name of Ban Lung has gradually slipped into use among locals. The town itself is far from interesting, but with attractions such as Boeng Yeak Lom just a short distance away. Many of the minorities from the surrounding villages come to Ban Lung to buy and sell at the market, making it one of the more lively commercial centers in the provinces. The beautiful site of Boeng Yeak Lom is not far from town and is great for a swim, picnic, or hike around the crater rim of the old volcano. And it has a small informative local museum thrown in to boot. In 1995 the governor of Rattanakiri officially set aside a 5,000-hectare (12,350-acre) protected area, of which the lake is a part, and in 1996 got help from the International Development and Research Center of Canada and the United Nations Development Program to develop an effective resource management program. This area represents Cambodia�s finest attempt at preserving a site. Full-time rangers work to ensure the area is protected. They receive regular training and have put up signs throughout the area reminding people not to littler, wash clothes, bathe or toilet in the lake. Amazing for Cambodia. The main swimming and picnic area features a nice wood deck that�s great to use for a jump into the sparking clean water. Nearby, park rangers erected a couple of examples of hill tribe construction in the form of non politically correct bride and groom homes, where the man gets the elevated home (his status in the relationship) and the woman has the one nearer to the ground. A few hundred meters down is the Cultural and Environmental Center, which has information about area history and displays of local hill tribe tools and handiwork. They also sell some of the handicrafts made by the hill tribes: musical instruments, beaded belts, shirts, and hats. From the center you can take a nature trail around the entire crater rim. King Sihanouk had a chalet built on the shores of the lake and used it during the 1960s. It was destroyed in the 1970 war between the Lon Nol government and Khmer Rouge guerillas. You can still see the remnants of this and also-indifferent spots around the lake trenches that held gun emplacements during the fighting.