Dirt Bike Virgins in Cambodia

[ROAM_650GS]

Well let's just say we are either adventurous of a little naive. I am a returning rider (one year) after being away from riding for about 29 years and my wife just got her motorcycle license in September 2007 after taking a 5 day motorcycle safety course. Neither of us had ever ridden on dirt before but we didn't let that stop us from booking a 5 day dirtbike tour with http://dancingroads.com/ in Cambodia. We decided on a private tour with just the two of us and a local guide. This was toward the tail end of a 5 week trip to Vietnam and Cambodia, with a 2 day stop in Bangkok on the way home. For the purposes of this trip report I'll skip straight to the bike trip and leave out the bits before the bike trip.
The trip was to take us from the chaotic traffic of Phnom Penh, the largest city and the capital of Cambodia. The morning's ride would be on tarmac until we got out of the vicinity of Phnom Penh and we would get onto the dirt after lunch. This was OK with us since we had not ridden in over a month and a we figured riding in Phnom Penh traffic would be enough of an experience to start off with. And we were right!! to make a left hand turn, in order not to impede traffic, you turn left into oncoming traffic lane(watching for people turning right) and then you "merge" right to get into the flow of the traffic going in the right direction. Sorry, no photos of this,.. too busy trying to survive.

[Pir8te]

Originally Posted by ROAM_650GS

Well let's just say we are either adventurous of a little naive. I am a returning rider (one year) after being away from riding for about 29 years and my wife just got her motorcycle license in September 2007 after taking a 5 day motorcycle safety course. Neither of us had ever ridden on dirt before but we didn't let that stop us from booking a 5 day dirtbike tour with http://dancingroads.com/ in Cambodia. We decided on a private tour with just the two of us and a local guide. This was toward the tail end of a 5 week trip to Vietnam and Cambodia, with a 2 day stop in Bangkok on the way home. For the purposes of this trip report I'll skip straight to the bike trip and leave out the bits before the bike trip.
The trip was to take us from the chaotic traffic of Phnom Penh, the largest city and the capital of Cambodia. The morning's ride would be on tarmac until we got out of the vicinity of Phnom Penh and we would get onto the dirt after lunch. This was OK with us since we had not ridden in over a month and a we figured riding in Phnom Penh traffic would be enough of an experience to start off with. And we were right!! to make a left hand turn, in order not to impede traffic, you turn left into oncoming traffic lane(watching for people turning right) and then you "merge" right to get into the flow of the traffic going in the right direction. Sorry, no photos of this,.. too busy trying to survive.

[ROAM_650GS]

Just trying to figure out this posting thing,... having a bit of a challenge with posting my photos. Excuse me while I do this test:
the are photos of our first day - we stopped for a break at the town of Skuon, famous for their 8 legged snacks.

[ROAM_650GS]

Here is another attempt at loading a photo. This is how they take livestock to the market - who needs a truck or a van. You should see how they carry a 200 lb pig - flat on it back across the back rack. I actually saw a motorcycle being carried on the rack of another motorcycle that was the same size!! One of the more humbling experiences was being passed by a family of 5 (Parrents & 3 kids) on a scooter, carrying 2 heavy pails of stuff on a bumpy dirt road . I was riding my assigned Honda xr250 - some of those Cambodians are crazy riders!

[ROAM_650GS]

Here's another closer looker at those tastey 8 legged snacks.

[ROAM_650GS]

Another look

[ROAM_650GS]

Since this is a ride report here is the obligatory photos of the bikes we were riding - Honda Xr250's - the guide's was a 1992 ?, mine was a 2000 ? and my wife Renee's was a 2001 I think. Since I am only about 5'7" I could just get the toes of both feet on the ground when on was on the seat. Renee even had a tougher time since she is a couple of inches shorter - the guide, Leng, did manage to get her seat a bit lower by lowering the bike at the fork tubes by about 2 inches. We just had to be selective about how and where we stoppped or parked the bikes. Renee had 2 minor drops during the 5 day trip and I had 1 near miss.

[kodiakfrank]

[PacWestGS]

Beautiful country, keep it coming!!!

[sweptwingnut]

SPIDER SNACKS!!

Looks like this is going to be a once in a lifetime experience for the two of you so get everything out of it you can.

Will be right here waiting

[ROAM_650GS]

Here we are just after a delicious lunch, for about $5 for the three of us - very reasonable. You can tell by how clean we are that this was just before we hit the red dirt road that follows the famous Mekong River. Let the real fun begin...........

[ROAM_650GS]

Red clay roads.....

[ROAM_650GS]

It's amazing what Cambodian kids have to do to get to school, they ride their bicycles miles and miles on dirt roads.

[ROAM_650GS]

We arrive at a temple located on a ridge high above the Mekong River valley

[ROAM_650GS]

The view from the temple area was stunning....