Cambodia Hotel Guide :: An Eco-Lodge At The End Of The Rainbow

September 22, 2008 at 5:15 PM | by ced138 | Comments (0)

HotelChatter and Jaunted Contributing Editor Claire Duffett is now reporting from Cambodia and this week she is giving us the low-down on the hotel scene. Any questions about accommodations? Send 'em to us and we'll get them answered for ya.

Look closely. Tucked at the bottom of this mountain covered in dense foliage sits an arch of bungalows connected by an outdoor veranda. A few weeks ago, our friends at Jaunted wrote about an escape at the foot of the Cardamom Mountains in Southwest Cambodia called Rainbow Lodge.

Dubbed Yellow, Orange, Red, Green, Indigo, and Blue, the hotel's six bungalows each has a porch, a large bathroom, and clean, smooth tile floors. It's roughing it for those who don't love to rough it. The facilities are brand new (it opened earlier this year) and everything at this eco-friendly lodge runs on solar energy.

For $50 a night (food included), Janet, a chatty British woman who left her job as a barrister to pursue a dream of opening an eco lodge in the jungle, takes meticulous care of her guests. She and her team of kind, English-fluent Khmers cook delicious meals of local, fresh foods and lead guests on jungle treks and along the river that cuts through the mountains' valley.

Outings include free kayaking to a nearby waterfall and $10 guided treks to a more impressive one about two hours away. Warning: while the facilities ease the nature novice into the lodge's rustic surroundings, the trek drops them--head first--into it.

Be prepared to trudge through stagnant pools, flick off dozens of leeches, and scramble through dense brush if you plan to hike.

Though a reward meets you at the end, when Janet sends a boat filled with a fantastic lunch and much-needed beers that you can snack on during the smooth cruise back.

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