The Jungles & Highlands of Mondulkiri, Cambodia.

Only portions of the deep Amazon are more remote and uncharted than Northeast Cambodia, where Mondulkiri resides. Roads are miserable and require teams of vehicles to travel together to assist one another in the arduous trek. This is one of the few remaining landscapes teaming with wild elephant deep in Mondulkiri's forests.

The purpose of our adventure to Mondulkiri was to source appropriately soiled highland property in an attempt to grow grapes for wine. At this point this is just an idea. A fun, fact-gathering mission. Accommodation options are few. This part of the world lives comfortably off the grid. The best hotel in town runs a generator to power the building from 7:00am to 9:00am and then again from 5:00pm to 8:00pm.

There are hours of travel without any form of facilities. In this instance, we took a roadside break and this woman roamed down from the jungle to say hello and talk. She, her husband and seven year-old son have no home, per-say. They comb the jungle for medicinal plants and bamboo to harvest.





This five-gallon jug has been crafted into a backpack to carry out the juices of the trees and plants they harvest.



Traditional home in Monduliri.



Our travel team. Land management folks, security and scouts.

Director of Land Management for Mondulikiri, our Khmer Rouge trained security handler and my business partner.

In Mondulkiri, you mico-brew coffee on your own with boiling-hot water at the table, so as you may brew coffee as you see fit. But here, that's not all. Here you are served tea - in preparation for your coffee.



Lunch makings in the kitchen.

One of our chosen lunch-time venue was powered by a primitive river-driven turbine system.

Compagnie Fluviate du Mekong

This is a lot of fun.
A successful French firm, 'Compagnie Fluviate du Mekong' (River Company of the Mekong) has a very nice fleet of river cruise ships that ply the Mekong river. Most trips are three-day/ two-night adventures. Their ships are small by International cruise ship standards, but beautifully built, all in wood.
Their current multi-media profile is tired and old. We are planning together to participate in their sailings to capture on film and video how much fun exotic cruising on the Mekong can be and update their advertising posture.
I am so glad to be able to work on this opportunity.



Captain Serge Prunier and me reviewing one of the ships in the fleet.

Captain Prunier with Em Buntha.

We do not want to give away too much of what we are doing at this point on this job. You may visit Compagnie Fluivate du Mekong's existing site at http://www.cfmekong.com.

Be aware, November - December - January are some of the best weather months to visit South East Asia. For those that have the time and relatively modest resources, this is part of the world that is remarkable, vivid, sweet and memorable.

Our Second Bridge is Now Complete at Wolf Creek Ranch.

This is one of a couple projects underway in the United States. 'Wolf Creek' traverses the Southern most portion of the ranch and is the ranch namesake. This portion of the property has been a real challenge to access and traverse. You don't see any water in these photos, but there will be plenty of water.
This lower section of Wolf Creek Ranch will soon be an environment of stunning natural comfort and serenity. Comfort for water-flow, vegetation, animals and humans have all been taken into consideration. We may need to fine -tune here and there, but I think our efforts are enhancing and celebrating nature.

Update:
September, I spent an important amount of time working on Wolf Creek Ranch in the United States. Of all the many several things we are creating on this property, I am currently most proud of our new, fully completed bridge. Our next large challenge is working on the Rock Pond. New pictures are below. We are getting close to being done.


Besides the projects I am working on here in Cambodia, I have some real interesting projects going on in rural Washington State in the United States as well. One project, Wolf Creek Ranch in Metaline Falls, Washington now has a new bridge between our small lakes. No big deal to the world, but a big deal for us.


This is just one new component of a 71-acre (28.7-hectare) up-market, family recreational ranch scheduled to go on the market, May 2009, for USD$5m.


As for the down-turn in the world economy, I sleep like a baby. The audience I attract do not live in a mortgage based world.

This is the Southern most lake. Water is pumped from this lake, underground, at a rate of 1200-gallons per-minute to the Northern most lake, which in turn flows back, under our new bridge, into the center lake , down the 400-foot spawning stream and process begins again.

Out and About With Sothai and Long

At least once a week I explore one of several open-air markets in Phnom Pehn. The experience is intense. Most markets are choking with wares and goods of all kinds. People wheeling and dealing, loads of various product - both coming and going - in all directions - through narrow isles, continuously. Each market is divided up by commodity. The smells swing wildly from fresh raw fish, beef, pork to fruit, flowers and spice. Markets here are another example of Cambodia's calm chaos.
Other than fresh fish, there is little, if any, refrigeration in these markets. While repelling to Westerners, there are some sensibilities at work here. First there is the, 'farm to market' factor. Nearly everything is cut, harvested or slaughtered the same day it goes on sale. That's fresh.
Every day at 3:00 AM, the vendors negotiate and take possession of their purchase for the day.
Come 5:00 AM, chefs for rich people (cooker's as they are known here) show-up along with the high-end restaurant folks to take the best of everything - at the highest price of the day.
As the day progresses, prices drop until most everything is sold. By 4:00 PM, the party is over.



Sothai and I have been friends for three years now. Her mother, father, brothers and sisters have been a pleasure to spend time with. Sothai has completed her undergraduate degree in banking from Phnom Penh University and been accepted for their MBA program. Before she accepts this choice, she is attempting to gain entry into one of Australia's MBA programs first.
Accurately, she understands a post-grad degree outside Cambodia is better. She has the grades, let's wish her luck.

Some fresh chicken. Feet on? you bet. One of the ways one can check the health of the bird. Cooked with the rest of the bird and served to staff gratefully.

Beef for trimming and served with rice. Cambodians do not eat slabs of beef. Here it is 70% rice, 20% beef, chicken or fish and 10% sauce.

A load of rolled foam off to market.

Long scanning the landscape with his telephoto lens.

This is the egg department of the market. It's a lot bigger than what you can see here. Chicken eggs, duck eggs, dove eggs. The list goes on.

Jeff Massnick & Chean Long Video Shorts

My good friend Chean Long and I have acquired some quality video equipment and editing software. We are making progress in getting the hang of both and producing some shorts along the way. We have two, 'in the can', and more on the way. Once we get acquainted with this equipment, we are threatening to tackle some commercial projects.

While recorded in HD, broadcast-quality, these videos have compromised resolution as a trade-off for your ease and speed of download off this blog.

In the pipeline are "Fighting Fish" and "Cooking with Reinert". Reinert has been a friend of mine from day-one here. Temperamental, vivacious and clear in opinion. Reinert just designed, built and opened the most expensive restaurant in Phnom Pehn.

Take a look at what we have produced so far.

CAMERA VERSUS ROLLER:

MORNING ON THE RIVERSIDE: