Cambodia - Dirt bikes and landmines

The day after Stephanie gave me the dirtbike idea I cycled over to Hidden Cambodia, the only place I could find on the web that had anything to do with renting scramblers. Unfortunately my worst fears were realised when I found that the hiring of bikes by tourists has apparently been made illegal around Siem Reap. Not a total shock as I have seen what western tourists are like on bikes in this area, especially considering they only need to provide cash and presenting a licence is rarely mentioned. Luckily I was guided to speak to Lis Seng of Cambodia Dirtbikes who recently parted ways with Hidden Cambodia and is starting up his own similar business. After a short chat he agreed to loan me a bike for four days (They were needed back for a booked outing) at a reasonable $25 per day. Off I put-putted with my new toy and a huge grin to get used to the traffic - It is insane here, people drive on both sides of the road and bigger vehicles assume right of way no matter the circumstances).


That evening I eventually found Stephanie to advise her that the original idea of a week or more on the back roads of Cambodia were off the cards but if she was interested a three day tour of some significant sights could be done. We agreed to meet at seven the next morning to sort out the bikes and head to Koh Ker. It took about two hours to get everything sorted out including buying some bungees at the market and Stephanie getting a little practise before we left, but soon we were on the open road heading east. At DamDaek we turned off the main road and found our first dirt track, an orangey gravel road in rather good condition apart from the odd surprise rut or bump. We were making good time and stopped about halfway where there is a temple complex called Beng Melea and had some food at the stalls there.

By 3pm we were on our way again to Koh Ker but knew it would be too late to see anything so on arrival it was time to find a guesthouse. Nobody spoke English here which was great fun as neither of us speak Khmer (apart from saying hello, yes, no and thankyou) but eventually we found there was a place in the village run by a very jolly Khmer lady who kept laughing at/with us! She pointed us to a food place - food sounds a bit like nyum if I heard right, very appropriate! - and with full bellies it was time to sleep by 9pm.

We were up by six and after a breakfast of rice, motored over to the Koh Ker ruins. The place was littered with signs every kilometre advising us that we were passing through cleared minefields! After an hour exploring the temples in the area we set off for Tbeang Meanchey, our halfway point on the route to Kampong Thom. We had been enjoying the road, which was now tarmac again, for about two hours when we heard the first rumbles of thunder. The storms here tend to come in really fast and we knew it might be time to consider a lunch break. We pushed on to get as far as we could but within about twenty minutes the sky had darkened and the heavens opens. It was a particularly heavy shower with fat drops of water that sting the lips and hands. We pushed on for half an hour and luckily the rain subsided so we were almost dry by the next stop for a stretch. We were getting puzzled as we should have hit Tbeang Meanchey by then but locals kept pointing down
the road indicating that we should continue so onwards we went. The road was heading south by now and in the early afternoon turned back into a dusty orange dirt track. We had given up hope of ever finding the town we wanted but signs indicating the distance to Kampong Thom showed we were heading the right way and I for one was thoroughly enjoying the road. It was then that the second rains hit and these ones were bad - the road turned quite muddy with deep orange puddles whose depth was impossible to gauge unless you happened to go through them. We stopped for petrol and a chance to wring out our soggy socks and ended up staying at a food stall for about an hour while waiting for the weather to break. Eventually it did and we were finally on the road again. Our final hurdle was some roadworks which had turned into proper mud but once over that we were soon back on tarmac and managed to get to Kampong Thom as the sun went down. We found a hotel for a reasonable price and although the rooms felt like ovens, managed to snatch some sleep.

Up at six am again the next day, and relieved to survive possibly my most uncomfortable night's sleep ever we decided to check out Santeuk Mountain. It was a beautiful place, a monastery at the top of the only hill in the area, littered with sculptures and rock carvings. Very peaceful and a photographer's dream. Once we were done there came the run back to Siem Reap, for once nice and uneventful with a decent surface all the way home. Once we had dropped off the bikes, Lis Seng told me the German guy who was coming wanted to go to a nearby waterfall at Phnom Kulen in a couple of days in case I wanted to go as it would be cheap. This run involved some more involved offroading but having had a taste of such fun my affirmative answer was only seconds in coming.



After a day of absolutely nothing - many coffees, cigarettes and general mooching around town - we were back at the workshop, this time with a couple more local guys on bikes, Cristoph from Germany and Lis Seng on one of the CR250s. Within minutes of heading out of town we were on tiny rutted tracks charging past villages as the kids fairly flew out of the doorways to catch a glimpse of the group of lunatics screaming past! It was all very exciting but hard work to keep up with the more experienced bikers in the group especially when we hit the sandy part. At this stage I lost my nerve and had to drop to more comfortable speeds until the road firmed up again. I have no problem with the back tyre squirming around all over the place but when it is my front tyre - well, all I can say is, No thanks! I was advised by Cristoph that the front wheel jumps around less if you go faster so I guess I need some practise for that kind of surface :)

Phnom Kulen was beautiful, a peaceful waterfall up a steep hill which was almost deserted. We swam in the pool under the falls and as we were drying off, some monks turned up for a swim too. One of the younger ones was very chatty and wanted to practise his English so we talked a while after which I headed off to get some food before the run back. Overall, the day was exhilarating and I think it may be time for me to give up race bikes in exchange for their slower but more versatile little brothers. The route back was an absolute blast and we finished off with a few cans of beer at the workshop after which I went to pack my stuff for the night bus to Phnom Pen and my flight back to Bangkok.

Holiday in Cambodia - Angkor Wat

I arrived at the Thai/Cambodian border in a small town called Aranya-Prathet after a seven hour ride in a van from Pattaya. Having been dropped off at the border I was immediately waved at by some uniformed guys who said they could get my visa sorted out for me. It was dark already and I had no intention of crossing until the morning but having the visa ready seemed a good idea so I parted with 1000 Baht and within ten minutes had my Visa. One of the guys offered to take me back to where I could find a bed and after dinner I sat down with the laptop to do some research on my next destination. It was then that I read of the visa scams at the border and realised I had paid about ten dollars too much - not the best situation at this late stage of my trip, however I felt I could not begrudge these guys too much for such an amount considering the poverty and corruption in their country (they were all Cambodian I had found out). One of them picked me up at six AM to get to the border early and I didn't have the heart to make any mention of my discovery. By about eight I was on my bus heading to Siem Reap - close to the site of Angkor Wat and I met a couple of girls and a guy from the UK also heading there. They had booked ahead so I followed them and found a great place called the Backpacker's Hostel. A bed in the dorm was a lovely $2 so once settled in I decided to have a look about town. Siem Reap is not a large city and tourist life centres around 'Pub Street' where it would appear western investors have splashed the cash and there are some very nice bars and even a couple of clubs. I was tired so I skipped the local food for the night and was pleasantly surprised to find that all the pizzas are cooked in wood fired ovens and up to the standard of some of the better ones I have ever had the joy to eat!



On the way home I found a place renting old bicycles for $1.5 a day. After agreeing a price of $6 for five days I pootled back to the hostel in preparation for a run to Angkor Wat, about seven kilometres away, the following day. I got up with the sun to see the sun rise over the temple but was disappointed to see that the day was overcast. Nevertheless, off I went on my little boneshaker and arrived just over half an hour later. It was only then that I realised that I had set myself up for more or less a thirty five kilometre cycle with no gears in some rather hot weather! By about ten in the morning the sun was in full force but the breeze from cycling seemed quite pleasant and there were ample opportunities for breaks as I stopped at each temple on the smaller circuit for my photo opportunities. I returned to Siem Reap in the evening tired but happy having climbed countless steps and taken a ridiculous number of pictures. The next morning my legs were aching somewhat so I headed to a nearby pool I had been advised of by Cristina, a girl I met from Barcelona (who was greatly amused by the llanito I slipped into while talking with her). In the evening I visited one of the many orphanages in the city and after playing with the kids for a bit returned to sleep and be ready for the larger 50km circuit I had lined up for the next day.



The second Temple run rather predictably had me aching for another day so I indulged myself with another pool day of laziness followed by my now customary visit to the food stalls near Pub Street for a cheap yet delicious dinner of Loklak (beef in oyster sauce with rice and a fried egg on top). I was sitting in a cafe in town contemplating what else I could do with the eight days I had left when along came one of those excellent moments that have sneaked up on me several times in this trip. A young blonde woman was walking by being hassled by several Tuk-Tuk drivers trying to guide her to the hotel of their choice (These drivers crack me up - Their usual opening line to me was 'You want TukTuk?', at which point I would alert them to the fact I have a bicycle. They normally follow that by asking if I want 'boomboom' and when that fails the next offers follow swiftly, advising that they can get 'Marijuana?. . Opium? . . Cocaine?' It would all be quite amusing if it wasn't for the fact that this is repeated about every twenty metres in the evening!) Anyway, I digress - she asked if she could sit down to escape their attentions and I was able to advise her of the place I was staying at as well as some other options nearby. It was during this conversation that Stephanie mentioned she had been hoping to do some dirtbiking around Cambodia and suddenly my next course of action was clear! Time for some motorised fun again (Man I miss the Fireblade).