Cambodia, Old ,new and noob

There were 4 of us, me ,my wife,the pillion, David and the noob to dirt Trish.
There was some apprehension before we left as a typhoon had swept through SE Asia and there was flooding in Vietnam,Cambodia and Thailand.
Through email we knew Phnom Penh was ok but we were warned that the route could be altered due to water.

We arranged the bike trip through" Dancing roads" and the owners Sonia and Paeng are very nice.
We were transfered to our hotel, on the way David and Trish got there first view of traffic and riding a bike in somewhere such as Cambodia
The view from our balconey

2 nights in Phnom Penh, so some sightseeing and watching the Moto GP from Australia in a local bar (yeah Casey)


Oct 17 first day of riding so a tuk tuk to dancing road office to pick up bikes


more shortly ,just seeing if this works

Ok so far so good. Ps the order of some photos maybe confused to those in the know, memories not what it used to be
Paeng informs me he will be taking my passenger to allow me more fun and Anne doesn't mind so all round.
There was a lot of areas under water with people and livestock forced to camp on the roads


This was our first beak of the day

Then we continued for several kilometres only to be told the road was blocked so we sat down and talked about it

we backtracked and took an alternativ,e the Mekong river sure spreads when flooded.
After lots of K's down dirt roads we came to this. There was flooded land to our left and the wall to our right with water gushing out under the fence. After watching some locals wade through the water we decided to go through. the water was about 50cm deep then suddenly dropped to about 80cm due to erosion from the fast flowing water. my friend has go pro footage I will insert when I get it. Meanwhile

Here's the video I promised
<iframe src="" width="400" height="300" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe><p><a href="">Cambodia 2011 villages and creek crossing</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user9655915">gavin dodgey</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
All made it through
A stop at an old temple in the afternoon with not a tourist in site


Our stopover for the night in Kampong Cham. An interesting hotel Which at first site of the interior I thought may have been a prison but apparently was an ex government building of some sort. Plus dinner at a local restaurant
.


Oct 18th Kampong Cham to Kampong Thum
A local version of a fuel tanker. This guy was filling at least 50 ,20ltr jerry cans

Fueled up and we're on the road

and berfore long we encounter our only hill, up to a temple called Wat Phnum Srei (I think, I knew I shoulda kept a diary)
This is one of the resident monkey's

And a panoramic from the temple
<iframe src="" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><a href="">Untitled</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/user9655915">gavin dodgey</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
An the police bike Kob was lusting after

To continue. Back on the road after our temple retreat

and more evidence of the recent floods
<iframe src="" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><a href="">Untitled</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/user9655915">gavin dodgey</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
Paeng thought it time that we sampled some of the local snacks, so we stopped at this farmhouse

and sampled what I remember to be a mixture of sweetpotato, rice and sugarcane syrup mashed together and rapped in a banana leaf. And very nice they were

then back on the road only the road got a bit muddy

And our dirt noob got a rude introduction to mud riding

eventually we cleared the mud and stopped for lunch which I'm not sure is on the regular run but we'd made some detours. anyway paeng, kob and I ate there the rest abstained. Maybe it was the liver and lungs in the bowl




more later

I love S.E.A ride reports. More please.

me too. I tried posting this earlier but lost3 hrs of typing, so a bit at a time. also there will be a NE Vietnam one that we did the week after . When I can get to the computer

Ok after lunch we got the choice of dirt roads easy or hard. Well about an hour before lunch our noob had a big endo in a very wet muddy puddle(more a lake) unfortunately i didn't get a pic but we had to stop and aska farmer if we could use their well to wash her down, so I can understand why she opted for the easy road after lunch and her sister(pillion) just went out with sympathy.

When we arrived at the hotel cold beer was a must and we didn't get out off the carpark before wehad the first(and second)



A shower and walk into town for dinne rand an early night
Oct19th Kampong Thum to Siem Reap
some good tracks were to be ridden and Paeng had to ask locals about blocked roads and tracks but they all had different opinions


also it was time for another treat.
Yes fried tarantula in soy---yummy, well I only tried the leg and it tasted ok


But I drew the line at the hard boiled egg with the foetus in it

The lady who sells the snacks

then its on the road again

A discussion about the humidity and dust perhaps

and a little stop for a souvenir

this road lead us to a very large dam the name of I forget but it was one of the good works of the Khmer rouge perhaps


and a great spillway
<iframe src="" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><a href="">Untitled</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/user9655915">gavin dodgey</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
Then on towards Kampong Phluk and the floating village and Boeng Tonle Sab a very very big lake
flooding was widespread and we had to catch a boat to get to the boat to get to the floating village.
A trip that normally takes an hour would now take 2 each way.





The police station on the way to the village

Back again.Where were we , the floating village




very spectacular.
When we left it was getting late as the boat trip had taken 2 hours more than usual so the last 20kms on the highway to Siem Reap was to be in the dark. Then it started to rain, so we were all following the white line on the edge of the road and the tail light in front, visibility was bad then Trish started to drift toward the oncoming traffic until David rounded her up. We pulled over and it was decided that Paeng and kob would double Anne and trish into town while David and myself waited by the road with the 3 bikes.
There was something surreal about standing in the dark and a thunderstorm by a rice paddy in Cambodia so I pulled out the mobile/mp3 player and we listened to "holiday in Cambodia" by the Dead Kennedy s.
After about 30 or 40 mins Paeng and kob came back.
We had a somewhat quicker trip back, cutting loose in the rain and traffic, great fun. A visit to Angkor Wat is a must do despite the tourists.


And our stay at the Central Boutique Angkor Hotel was very nice and didn't break the bank.
This is our fair well pic

Dancing roads did a wonderfull job, you couldn't ask for better guides than Paeng and Kob and I for one will be looking to go on a different trip with them next year

Hey Gavo

You are spot on about Dancing Roads, they are great people that really understand Cambodia and the people.

I am going back in Feb for another adventure with Panage, this time with 4 mates. I can't wait !!!

Thanks for your thread, great pictures.

Spondy

was it tough riding off road over there?

No the roads were pretty easy if your an experienced dirt rider, just dirt roads and a bit of mud, but that's what we wanted for the dirt beginner in our group. The heat was a bit draining though. Dancing roads do run tougher rides to the west and I'll be on one of those first chance I get

video added

The next years effort a LOT more fun for me
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=851891

,
good stuff Gavo

All photos gone after 13/12/17 thanks Photobucket