Of all the Cambodian provinces, though, Ratanakiri is the jewel-in-the-crown.  Ratanakiri is the real Cambodia; full of kind, honest, hardworking farmers who survive off of what the weather gives them any given year, be it rice, cashews, coffee, cassava, or rubber.

Ratanakiri is beautiful. Even the name is beautiful; it’s made up from two Cambodians words, Ratanak, (which means jewels), and Kiri, (mountains). Quite literally, it means “the land of Mountains and Jewels”...