The plan for today is to ride from Sen Monorom in Mondulkiri all the way back to Phnom Penh. This is quite a ride in terms of distance but fortunately the road is in good condition. Most of it is paved, much of it recently. We plan on first traveling to Snuol on Provincial Road 76, a distance of 135km on decent dirt road. From Snuol we follow the recently upgraded National Road 7 through Memot towards Kampong Cham.

About 12km before reaching Kampong Cham we turn south right after we pass Chob and follow Provincial Road 11 through Prey Veng to Neak Luong (Neak Loeang, Neak Loeung), a distance of almost 100km on paved road with little traffic through rubber plantations. The route through Prey Veng is a moderate detour but due to little traffic and the bending road a much nicer ride than the alternative National Roads 6 and 7. Moreover, these roads tend to be terribly jammed in the evenings, particularly during holidays such as today. We cross the Mekong River in Neak Luong and head back to Phnom Penh on National Road 1.

20.11.2005

We have breakfast at the Long Vibol Guesthouse and stop at a gas station in Sen Monorom to fill up and clean the bikes before hitting the road.

Sen Monorom in the morning

Cleaning and filling up the bike, checking tires.

Break along the dirt road to Snuol.

Toby stretching

The road is in good condition most of the time, though the ride is a fairly dusty one.

Myself

Becky and Toby

This is a few kilometers before we reach Snuol

Shortly after we reach Snuol where we get on National Road 7. This road is in mint condition and has little traffic, allowing for traveling at top speed most of the time and this is what we do.

Break to fill up the tanks of the bikes.

From here we ride to Memot, were we have a break and some lunch. A wedding is taking place and people have beautified the road side with colorful fabric.

Children are flying kites in a neighboring street

We keep riding towards Kampong Cham. At one point we come across this car which apparently has broken down. The driver has marked the spot with some wood only a few meters before and behind the car, and is in the process of repairing his vehicle right in the middle of the road.

I am having some problems with my bike. The engine starts stammering and after a few hundred meters, turns off. After some minutes I manage to start again but a few kilometers later the same happens again. This keeps happening a number of times. Its not the petrol since the other bikes are ok. I figure that the pipe between tank and engine is clogged. At some point we find a mechanic and stop to have it fixed. We use the chance to also clean the air filters of all bikes which are very dirty.

Roadside repair shop

My bike and young chicken

From here it is only a few kilometers before we reach Kampong Cham. We turn left (south) a few kilometers before Kampong Cham and follow Provincial Road 11 through Prey Veng. This road makes for a very nice ride, certainly compared to alternative National Roads 6 and 7. It is narrow but paved and leads through rubber plantations. We reach Prey Veng town, fill up the bikes again and continue, passing by the Ba Phnom area, follow the road along the Mekong River until we reach Neak Luong.

We realize that we are on a tight schedule if we want to make it to Phnom Penh before dark. We are lucky and manage to get onto the ferry right away.

However, National Road 1 between Neak Luong and Phnom Penh is in regrettable conditions, very narrow and bumpy and on top quite crowded. Accordingly we are traveling significantly slower. Inevitably, the sun is setting down and we are riding the last few kilometers to Phnom Penh in the dark.

We ride straight to the posh Foreign Correspondents Club at Phnom Penh’s riverside, were we have food and drinks and celebrate the exciting trip and the fact that we made it without getting hurt or lost.

With a week of holidays on the occasion of Cambodia’s Water Festival comes the prospect of a multiple day trip to the northeast, with fellow traveling enthusiasts Katrin, Becky and Toby. The overall plan is to travel Cambodia’s northeast from Phnom Penh on a loop via Kampong Cham, Kratie, Rattanakiri, Mondulkiri, Kratie, Prey Veng, Neak Luong back to Phnom Penh. Admittedly, details of the route emerge only on the flight. The only given in the plan is the part from Banlung in Rattanakiri to Sen Monorom in Mondulkiri, a stretch of forest, mountains and wilderness which we anticipate to be the most exciting part of the trip.

For today we aim only at reaching either Kratie or Stung Treng.

16.11.2005

We manage to have breakfast reasonably early and fix the bags on the bikes. This is when we are about to leave Phnom Penh. We happen to all ride similar bikes, a model that is fairly useful and common in Cambodia, however not the coolest one around (note that I am not in the photo). That it is the same model helps cutting own on the number of spare parts we carry.

This is only two minutes and 50 meters later. My bike has a flat tyre; luckily right next to one of the countless small businesses in Phnom Penh specialized in solving precisely this problem. We have the first break of our trip. I was the one pushing for planning and for leaving early.

20 minutes later we are leaving Phnom Penh, heading north towards Kampong Cham on National Road 7. Road and traffic conditions are very good. For much of the distance to Kampong Cham we travel a close to the top speed of these bikes, basically without a break.

We reach Kampong Cham town and fill up the bikes in the petrol station at the roundabout at the Japanese Bridge over the Mekong River. From here we ride the few hundred meters to the Mekong Crossing Restaurant. That place is run by Joe, an American expat who is running the restaurant as well as a local school. Joe is also a great source of up-to-date travel information about the area. During yet another breakfast we weight with Joe the merits of the three options to get from here to Kratie. I have detailed the options in another post.

We decide to follow a dirt road from here along the western bank of the Mekong River to Stung Tran (not to be confused with Stung Treng) via Wat Hanchey (Han Chey). In Stung Tran we want to cross the Mekong with a ferry and proceed on another dirt road along the eastern bank of the Mekong to Kratie via Chhlong (Chloung).

We are delighted to find that the dirt road from Kampong Cham to Wat Hanchey (Road 223) has been upgraded after the last rainy season. I have been riding this road only a few months ago when it had many potholes. Now the road is perfectly even, allowing for a relaxed ride and full appreciation of the beautiful, fertile landscape with charming riverside villages along the way. The ride to Hanchey is a matter of only about half an hour. We reach the mountain, ride up to its top, park the bikes and take in the idyllic atmosphere and enjoy the breathtaking views over the Mighty Mekong River.

Last time around I looked in vain for this ancient temple, which is, however, hard to miss. The temple is located right hand a few dozen meters from the road were one reaches the plateau on top of the mountain.

The mountain is located next to the Mekong and close to a major bend in the river with a island right in front of it. These features, among others, make Hanchey the best viewpoint over the Mekong in Cambodia as far as my opinion is concerned. There are a number of religious buildings and monuments all over the plateau along the hill top.

Walking along the verge of the plateau we come across this remarkable billboard. It informs the visitor about the “Cambodian Universal Buddhist Center” project, which, according to the painting, involves the construction of a massive, multistory building with a sitting Buddha measuring dozens of meters on top of it, in the middle of an Olympic-stadium-sized square and flanked by two more multistory buildings. The projected site for this monstrosity appears to be that very mountain. The bottom of the signboard reads: “Chey Giri Mountain, Hanchey/Prekback Commune, Kampong Siem/Steung Trang District, Kampong Cham Province”.

A closer look offers relief: “Fund resources: National and International Generosity”. Being aware of a wide range of bizarre excesses of donor activities in Cambodia I still doubt that such a project will attract the kind of funding its realization would require. Other than the painter’s phone number the signboard contains only references to 4 different ‘Fund Raising Offices’ in Phnom Penh, Preah Vihear (!), Phnom Hanchey and at Prasat Chey Proeuk Pagoda (not sure where that is and there is no phone number). Finally there is also an internet address that appears invalid: www.cic-kh.org.

From left to right: Becky, Katrin and Toby.

We spend some time walking around and then ride down the northern side of the mountain and proceed on the road along the western bank of the Mekong to the north, towards Stung Tran, which is about 10-15km from here. In strong contrast to stretch of road to Hanchey we are now riding a very bumpy and in places fairly muddy dirt road. Traveling from Kampong Cham to Kratie along this route is certainly more appealing than the alternative route National Road 7 via Snuol, due not least to the charming character of villages along the Mekong.

We watch out for a ferry and reach this spot where some boats are waiting at the bottom of what is an extremely steep river bank. Luckily, this is not the ferry place.

Travelers with new friends.

After a few more kilometers we reach Stung Tran where we easily find the ferry place. The people operating the ferry are some laid back fellows hanging out in hammocks in the backside of the boat. At a rather high price of $2 each they take us to the other bank.

Stung Tran’s riverfront.

On the ferry.

We reach the eastern bank of the Mekong River.

We get off the ferry, pass a small settlement and from here follow what is called Provincial Road 308 in the map to the north. This road leads to Kratie through Chhlong, all the way along the Mekong River, which makes it very easy not to get lost. The condition of the road varies widely: some stretches allow higher speed with little interruption whereas other places require slowing down and following narrow paths around obstacles on the road.

After maybe 2 hours of riding we reach this gorgeous village where we attempt to find lunch. We find a restaurant next to the river. Khmer lunch time is already over but some meals are still available, among them yummy fish cake and pork. We enjoy an extended lunch break including conversation with locals and some coffee.

None of us has traveled this part of the road before and we have only a very vague idea of how far it is from here to Chhlong or Kratie and how long it will take to get there. In order to find out, Toby talks to one of the restaurant owner. The resulting conversation in Khmer is very short but hilariously funny and certainly the highlight of our stay in this village:

Toby to restaurant owner: How many kilometers to arrive in Kratie?

Restaurant owner: You will arrive by 5pm.

Toby: How many hours from here to there?

Restaurant owner: What time is it now?

What makes it even more funny is that she turned out to be right: It is 5pm sharp when we reach Kratie’s riverfront.

Tower at the Mekong River. I suppose this was built under the French in order to exercise control over traffic on the River.

Short break for talking to locals and taking in the beauty of the scenery, and for having some water.

This guy is an English teacher at a local school and speaks English very well.

This is a river we cross a few kilometers before we reach Chhlong.

Hill with temple on top of it, on the other bank of the Mekong.

The sign in the background says ‘Chumnik Commune, Kampong Cham Province’. This place is about 15-20km south of Chhlong. The road around here is still unpaved yet in fairly good condition.

This is shortly before we reach Chhlong. The place can be recognized easily as it is the only, and fairly short, stretch of paved road on this route from Kampong Cham to Kratie.

I traveled on this road between Chhlong and Kratie only a few months ago when most of the road was submerged by the flooded Mekong. Knowing what the road looked like back then leads me to anticipate this road in distinctively bad condition. Contrary to this expectation, the dirt road has been fixed and evened out recently and makes for a smooth ride.

We reach Kratie town at 5pm and check in the Heng Heng Hotel right at the riverfront. Next thing is we have a seat at one of the stalls along the river, dusty as we are, and order these yummy fruit shakes that they sell here. Later we have diner and go to bed.

Kratie Riverfront in the evening.

It is time for an extended weekend trip again. The plan is to ride from Phnom Penh to Kampong Thom today and meet up with Vothear and Sokhom, two friends of mine who are excellent guides for exploring the temples in Kampong Thom, Preah Vihear and Siem Reap.

The plan for tomorrow is to follow National Road 6 towards Siem Reap town for another 100 km or so, passing Stoung and Kouk Thlok Kraom on the way until we reach Dam Daek. From here, we follow the newly upgraded Road 66 to the north for about 30 km, until we reach Prasat Trapeang Noem, close to Beng Mealea (Boeng Mealea), an ancient temple. After visiting the temple we plan to proceed on what is a new road towards the northeast until via Svay Leu to Prasat Kor Ker (Kaoh Kerr, Chok Gargyar, Phnum Dai), another ancient temple, or rather, a complex of dozens of them. From here we continue on a more modest road and via an extensive detour through Trayang to Kulen (Koulen) and finally to Tbaeng Mean Chey (T’beng Meanchey), the provincial capital of Preah Vihear province, where we spend the night. The next day we return to Kampong Thom on Road 64 and from there I continue home to Phnom Penh.

02.10.2005

Unfortunately there will not be enough time to visit Preah Vihear temple (I, II) or Anlong Veng near the Dangkrek Mountains at the Thai border, two of my favorites in this part of the country.

There is not much to report from the ride on National Road 6 to Kampong Thom, it is one of the best in the country, at least along this stretch. The process of upgrading road 66 to Beng Mealea is obviously very close to completion and we enjoy a smooth ride on a very even dirt road after filling up the bikes in Dam Daek.

With that road, the ruins of Beng Mealea are very accessible even to big groups of tourists in buses from Siam Reap or Phnom Penh. However, I don’t see buses and during our visit only 2-3 foreigners and some local visitors. At some point we reach a ticket booth and pay a considerable amount to enter the complex. Also the ruins themselves have been made more accessible, with the construction of wooden bridges and stairs across the area. We go with one of the guides who provides us with more information.

This temple was built under Suryavarman II in the 12th century. The temple is at the centre of an ancient Angkorian road which connects Angkor Thom and Preah Khan. More than 10 bridges can still be found in the jungle along the way. I have come across one of them on a previous visit.

Vothear and the guard.

It is apparent that the much of the area and the interior of the few buildings still standing have been cleared to make it easy and comfortable for tourists to visit. It is also good to see in principle that guards have been employed to protect the site and prevent further looting, destruction and theft. I hope this is what they do. Besides, nothing indicates efforts to conserve functioning structures, leave alone reconstructing those that are collapsed.

For the most part, this place has been taken over by the forest, and there are stacks of stones from collapsed structures all over the place.

This is when we leave the temple compound, which is surrounded by a moat which measures 1200m by 900m.

The bridge over the moat is still intact, although it appears very worn. A crude wooden structure supports the Naga monument that marks the entrance to the temple compound.

From here we follow various simple but smooth dirt roads via Svay Leu to Koh Ker Temple.

There is a small group of people around when we reach the outer gate of Koh Ker temple, among them the district governor. We talk to them for some time and learn that we got lucky, today there are no personnel to collect entrance fee so we will get to see the place for free. Funny to be told this by the governor in charge of the district.

This is what the Lonely Planet writes about Koh Ker:

“Koh Ker, a former 10th-century capital of the Angkorian empire, is one of the most remote and inaccessible temple sites in Cambodia, long abandoned to the forests of northern Cambodia. Also known as Chok Gargyar, it served as the capital of Jayavarman IV who, having seized the throne from a rival, left Angkor and transferred his capital here, where it remained throughout this reign. His son and successor Harshavarman I moved the capital back to Angkor in 944.

There are a remarkable number of religious buildings in the Koh Ker region, considering the short space of time that it was the capital of the empire. There are more than 30 major structures and experts believe there may have been as many as 100 minor sacred buildings in the region. It was also a prolific period for gigantic sculpture and several of the most impressive pieces in the National Museum in Phnom Penh come from Koh Ker…”.

Well, the road is not too bad now, Koh Ker is fairly accessible and does not seem very remote. It still did when I came here a few years ago. Back then, the temple and indeed its inaccessibility left I lasting impression on me. On top, it was the first pyramid temple I saw in Cambodia and because back then I went here – with Sothear – straight from Kampong Thom town and much of the time through the jungle without any recognizable road. However, despite improved accessibility I don’t see any tourists, neither foreigners nor Khmers. Only a number of local people are around.

The actual pyramid is surrounded by at least two balustrades through which one follows a way through a number of smaller structures, most of them more or less intact.

The temple is actually higher than it appears in these pictures, and so are the wooden stairs that have been constructed for people to climb it. Yet climbing them is very rewarding as the top of this pyramid offers fantastic views of the surrounding area.

After some times we can see clouds accumulating and it starts raining in some places. Vothear tells me that it regularly rains at this time in the afternoon but that we will make it to Tbang Mean Chey without getting wet, because the rain is coming from the West and we stay ahead of it.

We climb down the temple and walk back to the motos. I see two armed man, not a totally uncommon sight in Cambodia yet I wonder who or what they are protecting against who around here.

From there we follow a narrow but new and perfectly even dirt road through the forest. This road provides access to a number of smaller temples around here. Some of them I have visited before. Others are ‘new’ as Vothear tells me, cleared of mines and made accessible through the road only in recent months. There are quite a number of temples in relative close proximity and we visit some of them before we head to Kulen in order to make it to Tbang Mean Chey before dark.

From here the condition of the roads varies greatly, but it is easily doable for motorbikes all along the way.

I was here before, and back then the road is very bad in some places.

This is around Phnom Kulen, a place that I would like to explore on another trip.

This is where we fill up the tanks and meet some locals.

It starts getting dark when we leave this place, which forces us to slow down. We are both tired when we reach Tbaeng Mean Chey. We check rooms in three accommodations and opt for the Prum Tep guesthouse, where we have a break and shower before we go to have tasty diner in a simple restaurant, after which we go to bed early.

There is dense fog all over the place when I wake up in the morning. The plan for today is to ride all the way back to Phnom Penh via Kampong Thom. I hope to see one or the other temple along the road, and that it will not be raining too much.

There are plenty of places that serve breakfast and we sit down to eat.

An old monk is begging for food.

After breakfast Vothear takes me to the place from where it is possible now to travel to Stung Treng. This is where you need to cross the river.

After a few minutes we leave Tbaeng Mean Chey on Road 64 to Kampong Thom. This road has very recently been upgraded. I have never traveled it before but right now it is a nice and safe ride, little traffic, few potholes, and more importantly, beautiful landscape all along the way.

This is when it is becoming obvious that it is raining just a few hundred meters in front of us.

We make it to this temple and find cover inside.

It does not seem as if the rain will stop anytime soon.

This is inside the temple.

After about one hour the rains starts getting weaker and we leave. Over there are some signs warning of land mines, so I assume this area has been demined only recently.

This town is called Phnom Dek and unfortunately is not in the map. It is about 60 km north of Kampong Thom. It was from here that we went through the jungle to Prasat Bakan last time I came here. This for is you face when coming from the south to north. Follow the road to your left to get to Tbaeng Mean Chey. Follow the road to the right and you get to Stung Treng.

From here we continue along road 64 towards Kampong Thom. The landscape along the way is scenic and the road has recently been upgraded.

It starts raining again but not for very long.

Then we reach the National Road 6 and Kampong Thom shortly after. We have lunch at a roadside restaurant. Later I say good bye to Vothear and head to Phnom Penh.

Only very few days are left before Water Festival. I come across a number of boat races and other events involving boats along the way.

Today the traffic is quite distinct from other days in the following way. The entire population including myself seems on the way to Phnom Penh, to attend the water festival, while virtually nobody is traveling the opposite direction. The traffic to Phnom Penh has taken over both of the road’s lanes in many places.

The plan for today is to ride from Kratie back to Phnom Penh. We decided to go follow the National Road 7 through Snuol, Memot (Memout), Suong and Chob to Kampong Cham. From Kampong Cham to Phnom Penh we want to give the dirt road along the Western bank of the Mekong a try.

The Adventure Cambodia guide book has a ‘Phnom Penh to Kratie’ motorcycle info section:

“If you are going to Kratie from Phnom Penh, the road to Kampong Cham is excellent, the road from Kampong Cham to the Snuol junction isn’t that great, but it’s definitely doable. The last section taking you to Kratie from Snuol has some huge bomb craters that fill up and look like lakes during the rainy season, but it’s also doable; you’re just going to get wet.”

Well, it is definitely rainy season right now but times have changed, and not only recently.

The National Road 7 between Snuol and Kratie has just been upgraded a few weeks ago and accordingly, is in superb condition, very wide and without any pothole, presumably one of the nation’s best roads at this point in time. I have been traveling on it road to conduct interviews among indigenous people a number of times in September 2003 (I, II, III) and on the way to Mondulkiri in December.

We ride fairly fast to Snuol, where we have a quick lunch and fill up the tanks.

This is the market in Snuol town.

We proceed after only a short break, heading west towards Kamong Cham.

This is in Memot, if I am not mistaken. Memot has this distinct monument in the middle of the roundabout.

This is the roundabout with the monument. In the background is another landmark which also is hard to miss: a tall gate through which you drive when you enter Memot from the east.

Clearly, many people take advantage of the good road, and in quite different ways.

This is when we cross the Mekong in Kampong Cham on the Japanese Friendship Bridge. Also here it is visible that water levels are extraordinarily high.

We stop at the Mekong Crossing restaurant to say hello to Joe and have a snack.

Then we head to Phnom Penh, on the dirt road along the Western bank of the Mekong River.

Here, too, it is obvious that water is standing very high.

We come also through at least one villages inhabited by Muslim Cham.

In the map, this place is called Peam Chi Kang, only about 15 km west of Kampong Cham. It has a ferry crossing the Mekong. It looks as it will start raining soon and we discuss whether to proceed on the dirt road or get back to the National Road. Some people join us while we check the map and kindly offer their advice. In the end we choose to give the dirt road a try.

While we follow the many turns of dirt road through the villages along the river bank there is occasionally strong wind and a bit of rain but not much. However, it is getting darker, indicating that there is more rain to come.

We keep riding until it is obvious that massive rain will come down any minute. We stop where we find some huts at the roadside. It starts raining while we put on rain gear. Hoping that it will not rain for long we decide to have a break and get into conversations with the friendly locals around here.

The rain continues and becomes weaker only slowly. We decide to leave at some point when it is already getting darker. We are not sure for how long we will follow this road until we reach the National Road about 50 km before Phnom Penh. This dirt road turns out to be difficult to ride once it is wet. Its many deep potholes are filled with dirty water and the fine sand on its surface has turned into slippery mud. This forces us to ride rather slowly and that it is getting darker quickly does not make the situation better. It is only after more than an hour that we reach the paved National Road, and by this time it is entirely dark and starts raining again.

For this weekend Maraile and I have been planning to visit Kratie province, for a number of reasons among them the fact that much of the province is flooded right now. The plan for today is to leave in the afternoon and spent the night either in Kampong Cham, Kratie or Chhlong (Chloung) depending on how far we get. Saturday we want to spend in Kratie province and return at some point on Sunday to Phnom Penh.

We leave after lunch and travel the unavoidable National Road 6 northeast towards Kampong Cham. The good thing about this road is that it is in good condition; the bad part is that there is lots of traffic and cars are speeding precisely because the road is so good.

We don’t have a break until we reach Kampong Cham and ride straight to the River Crossing restaurant run by Joe. Joe is a rich source of local information. There are at least three ways of going from Kampong Cham to Kratie.

1. The first is to follow a dirt road all the way along the eastern bank of the Mekong River. This option is unlikely to work out because the road along the river is likely to be flooded in many parts.
2. The second option is to proceed on the national road to east for another 30 km or so and continue from there on a dirt road to Kratie, via Chhlong. This option involves a stretch of the same road along the Mekong River between Chhlong and Kratie but otherwise is unlikely to be flooded.
3. The third option is to follow National Road through Snuol all the way to Kratie. This is the safest option but means a long detour. Joe encourages is to try option two.

We follow the national road and actually have some difficulties finding the place where we leave it and continue on the dirt road towards Chhlong. Finally we find it and proceed on the secondary road. This dirt road is in good condition and allows for reasonable speed most times of the year. It is commonly used by mini buses and taxis between Kratie and Kampong Cham. It makes for a pleasant ride also due to the beauty of the landscape along the road, passing through scenic wetlands, rice fields and charming villages, some of them inhabited by Muslim Cham.

I have been traveling on this road various times before, mostly by minibus or by taxi. On one of these occasions I took also some pictures.

At this point we still hope to make it all the way to Kratie today, although the sun is already setting down.

We keep riding but don’t reach even Chhlong before dark. The road is getting worse while it keeps getting darker, finally we find ourselves riding very slowly around deep holes filed with water all over the street, with very little vision. At least it does not rain.

We decide to have a short break. Now it is dark anyway.

We reach the Mekong River and continue on the road along the river and pass through Chhlong few minutes later. However, only a few kilometers after we pass the center of the town, the road is getting narrower, with water closing in on both sides of it. Houses along the road are standing completely in the water and all the domestic animals are standing on the road.

When I was traveling this road by minibus in October 2003 we got stuck not far from here and it took hours until we could continue the trip.

Given this situation it does not seem likely that we make it to Kratie tonight. Indeed only a few minutes later we reach a point where the road in front of us leads seemingly straight into the water and is submerged as far as the eye can see, which is not far at this time of the day. However, people (in a boat) tell us that a number of long stretches of road are submerged. There is no way we can continue tonight and tomorrow only by using boats.

This is the road close to where it is submerged in water.

We ride back to Chhlong town, find a very simple guesthouse and book rooms, which are neither particularly clean nor very comfortable but serve the purpose. It is completely dark outside when we leave again to find a restaurant. Nothing indicates that anything would still be open. Dozens of dogs start barking in the dark while we walk down the street. Since nothing suggest that we will succeed in finding food we return to the guesthouse, chill out for some time on the charming balcony of the guesthouse and go to bed.

Hanging out on charming balcony

Many of my colleagues are in Kampong Thom (Kompong Thom) this weekend and I decide to go there and meet up. I have been to Kampong Thom many times but until recently was not aware that there are countless temples to visit along the way, in particular between Kampong Thom town and Skuon (Skon). The plan for this weekend is to meet my colleagues in Kampong Thom and also Vothear and Sokhom, two friends and guides of mine whom I have been exploring the surrounding provinces with on a number of occasions. I am sure these people are the best guides you can find in Kampong Thom with detailed knowledge of the surrounding provinces.

Kampong Thom does not see many visitors, despite the fact that the site of the ancient capital of the Pre-Angkor kingdom of Chenla is right next to the provincial capital. The ruins of Sambor Prei Kok (Sambor Prei Kuk) cover a vast area of mostly forested land in close proximity to Kampong Thom town which is an excellent starting point for journeys into neighboring provinces also. The complex contains countless structures that are nearly 1400 years old and easily accessible even by coach. If this place was in Vietnam or Thailand it would be a sensation attracting thousands of tourists daily. Tourists who make it to Cambodia pass through Kampong Thom on their way from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh or just bypass it by aircraft. While exploring the site you will meet few tourists, if any. I have been to Sambor Prei Kuk before and my interest this time is more in these lesser known temples along the way to Phnom Penh.

13.08.2005

Vothear offers to show the way to some of the temples and my colleague Lydia comes along. We visit a number of temples along National Road 6, almost all of them relatively close to the road yet with only one exception not that easy to find. There are no signs and even once you leave the main road in the right place the way to the temples are not obvious. Most likely you will require a local guide or some Khmer language skills to find these places.

We visit the following places in this order, in Vothear’s spelling:

Prasat Rokha or Prateath
Prasat Tnotchum and Prasat Komboth
Prasat or Wat Prasat
Kukhaknokor or Prasat Kuha Nokor
Prasat Broteath

In all instances I provide a picture of the place where you want to leave the National Road in order to visit the site.

Lydia and Vothear in front of the gate through which you reach the following temple.

This temple is obviously leaning very much to one side, not unlike the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It is remarkable that this structure has not collapsed yet. Even more so given what has caused these heavy stones to shift: Only a few meters away from the temple is the crater of a massive bomb, that locals tell us has been dropped here as part of an American bombing campaign.

The crater is basically what is in the bottoms halve of this picture and is covered with grass. There are school buildings right next to it and students leave in all directions after end of class.

Inside the temple.

Outside

Only few hundred meters away there is the site of a smaller temple but all that remains are a few stones, the biggest one depicting two elephants.

This is where you want to leave the main road to visit the following site.

We spend some time talking with this old man who lives next to the temple.

The next couple of places you can find by following the way through this gate, which is on your left when you are coming from Phnom Penh.

The road is somewhat muddy in some places.

Yet another temple.

The big, round stone upfront used to be the top of this temple but one day a drunken villager climbed the temple and broke it off, or so the locals tell us.

There used to be a statue on the backside of this temple and attached to it, something I did not see before. The shape of a standing person can still be recognized.

Kukhaknokor, or Prasat Kuha Nokor, is the one temple among those mentioned here that is listed in various guide books and easier to find due to a big sign at the main road. According to the Lonely Planet this 11th century temple was constructed during the reign of Suryavarman I and its good condition is due to lengthy renovation before the war. The book also says this place is 22km north of Skuon.

The ancient temple is on the ground of an active pagoda and there are some elderly man to look after it and nurture plants and flowers in the beautiful garden. There is even a guestbook. We are happy to leave a note. There are fewer entries than days in the guestbook.

This is the way to get to the above temple.

This is the last set of places we visit, pretty accessible by road.

This temple has collapsed.

We talk to an old man who lives nearby. He tells us that there are dozens of temple ruins across a wide area around here. Most of them have collapsed due to air bombings. Few of them are accessible at this time of the year. He also tells us about the hardships of his live during those times.

This is his adopted son watering the vegetables.

The following temple is close by and the last one we visit today. It appears to have collapsed partly but people have put it together again and given it a modern-style, concrete roof.

This is the access road.

Interestingly, we meet two French people who came here by bicycle all the way from France, using the airplane only to bypass Iraq and Pakistan. It has taken them about 1 year to make it here.

We spent some time talking. The sun is about to set by the time we say good bye to Vothear and head to Phnom Penh.

This weekend I find time for only a day trip. I want to use this opportunity to explore some of those parts of the more immediate souroundings of Phnom Penh that I am less familiar with than with, say, the National Roads.

The plan is to cross the Mekong right at Phnom Penh and follow its eastern bank north towards Kampong Cham, on what is marked as “other provincial road, unpaved” in the Gekko road map. Depending on road conditions or, rather: the existence of roads, the plan is to go all the way to Kampong Cham. If that is not possible I want to go as far as it gets, cross the Mekong with a ferry if there is one and decide on the flight how to proceed.

Many tourists crossing the Japanese bridge in Phnom Penh believe that they are actually crossing the Mekong River. What they are crossing is the Tonle Sap. There is as of now only one bridge in Cambodia that spans the Mekong, which is the Japanese bridge in Kampong Cham. Interestingly, a new Mekong bridge at Neak Luong (Neak Loeang) is planned and the Japan International Cooperation Agency has completed a feasibility study on the project. Japan is now expected to start soon building this bridge. There was an interesting article in the IHT recently on this and other infracture projects in Cambodia. I copy the text below this blog article.

If you want to cross the Mekong at Phnom Penh you need a boat. A ferry leaves about every half an hour during daytime, from a place between the port for persons and the port for goods, only a few hundred meters south of the Japanese bridge.

This is the place where the ferry leaves. Children are playing in the water and taxi drivers clean their bikes.

The building to the left with the Khmer roof is the Cambodiana hotel, one of the biggest and poshes venues in Phnom Penh. The building in front of it is the Himawara. To its right is the raw construction of a massive building, by far the tallest along Phnom Penh’s river side, a dubious investment project. A building to its right houses the Naga Casino that previously had it’s home on a ship in front of the Cambodiana.

This is opposite the Royal Palace on the Bank of the Tonle Sap. Here as well, large scale construction works under way. However, I did not notice much progress towards the completion of these projects when I returned to Cambodia after more than one year.

In the background various buildings that form part of the Royal Palace compound.

These are some settlements on the banks of the Mekong, pretty much at the place where Tonle Sap and Mekong Rivers meet.

This time of the year has very high water levels, and flooding is a problem in a number of provinces right now but upstream from here. Also around Phnom Penh, it is obvious that the water is very high and much of the land is flooded.

Those fellows have just capsized their boat. They are obviously good swimmers but in the strong current it requires a lot of effort to regain the boat.

The flooding threatens the farmers but benefits the fishermen. Many people are engaged in fishing in this river and along its banks.

Most of the time I am riding on a decent dirt road that follows the course of the river. There are charming villages all along the road.

I keep riding but after about 2 hours reach a point where I face the river, with no road to continue on. Some people who live here tell me that there is no way I can follow the river here but that there is a ferry about 5 km south from here. This is from where I am coming.

Two of the major villages I passed through according to the map are Preah Ta Meak and Preah Prasab, and Kaoh Chouraam is the village next to here. This is pretty much opposite from Preaek Dambang on the other side of the Mekong, which is located at National Road 6.

I don’t have to wait long for the ferry.

It is still early afternoon by the time I reach the other bank. Rather than returning to Phnom Penh, I decide to head north, leave National Road 6 on road 61, cross the Tonle Sap with another ferry and briefly visit Udong.

What looks like a big lake are mostly fields flooded by the Mekong River.

It looks as though some rain will be coming down soon and given my direction there does not seem to be a way to avoid it.

In fact it does start raining while I am riding on the road towards the ferry and hurry up to first make it there and then put on rain gear, hoping it will not be too late. I get lucky, cloths still only partly wet and I manage to get on the ferry right before it departs.

It does start raining stronger while I am riding to Udong Mountain, just a few kilometers northwest from here. It is still raining by the time I reach the bottom of the hill. Therefore, I decide to have some food at one of the countless stalls next to the mountain.

It is still raining by the time I finish my meal and I decide to climb up the stairs anyway. It will be dark soon so there is not point in waiting. It stops raining by the time I reach the top of the mountain but not much daylight is left.

…………………………………………………….

Free Flow: Cambodia’s quest to just get the basics
By Vaudine England
International Herald Tribune

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2006

PHNOM PENH As much of the developed world gripes about the occasional pothole or late train, a look at Cambodia offers a sobering perspective. Cambodia’s roads and railways have seen more than the usual wear and tear: U.S. bombing during the Vietnam War, enduring civil conflict and poverty as well as massive refugee flows across a ravaged landscape of land mines.

A national program of rebuilding and new construction of road and rail is now under way. The hitch, says Chanthol Sun, minister for public works and transport in Cambodia, is that he has no budget.

“The main issue for us now is to have enough funding to build the roads and bridges in Cambodia,” Sun said in an interview. “We do have some through grants and soft loans, but we need a lot more in order to rebuild the efficient transport network.”

Fluently rattling off the harsh facts of his country’s parlous condition, Sun exudes confidence that it can all come about – one day.

“Infrastructure is like the blood vessel: it connects from your heart through all your arteries to other parts of the country,” he said.

More than 30 years after the fall of the murderous Khmer Rouge regime, and 13 years since a UN intervention pronounced a successful election in Cambodia, the country lags behind all its counterparts in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations except for Myanmar and Laos. While richer neighbors are building high-technology urban railways, Sun is hoping for a few bridges and wider roads.

In a sign of what might be called progress, road accidents have now displaced land mines as the No. 2 cause of death, after AIDS.

A key bridge is planned at Neak Luong, on Route 1, about a third of the way from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City. Only a ferry crosses the Mekong here, and only in daytime, causing backlogs of traffic and severely limiting trade with thriving southern Vietnam.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency has completed a feasibility study, and everyone expects Japan to build the bridge – but an official decision whether to go ahead or not can still take a few months.

Also, Sun said, the roads need to be upgraded, as some were built in the 1960s, and some are only six or seven meters, or 20 to 23 feet, wide. “Now we enlarge to 11 meters wide, and we upgrade to gravel or asphalt,” he said.

Heading north toward Laos and then to China is Route 7 through Stoeng Treng Province, across the Sekong River where it joins the Mekong.

Unsurprisingly, the Chinese have revamped that road and are building the crucial bridge, “probably one of the longest bridges in Cambodia also, around 1,057 meters,” Sun said.

He is a firm supporter of Chinese road-building for its quality and speed and says Route 7 could be finished a year ahead of schedule. When it is done, he wants the Chinese to build eastward to link with roads to Vietnam.

Meanwhile, a soft loan with generous financing conditions from South Korea is helping to fix Route 3, from Kampot to Sihanoukville in the south, while another soft loan from Thailand is fixing up Route 48, through Koh Kong Province in the south and on to Route 4 to Sihanoukville.

The railway’s missing link, a 50-kilometer, or 30-mile, stretch from Sisophon to Poipet near the Thai border town of Aranyaprathet, is a key task for Sun this year. Track for this part will be donated by Malaysia.

“That track is likely to be shipped to us in the second quarter,” he said, “so we have the track, but we don’t have the money to install, to buy the sleeper, to buy signal links and so on to get this connected. But we are determined, determined, to get the funding to start the reconstruction of that missing link this year.”

E-mail: freeflow@iht.com

This weekend it is time to go on an overnight trip to the provinces. Maraile is ready to go and we plan to visit Prey Veng and to go there via Kampong Cham. Prey Veng is not so far from Phnom Penh but not connected to any national road. Accordingly, it is said to be a very provincial and sleepy town. The road distances are from Phnom Penh to Kampong Cham 129km and from Kampong Cham to Prey Veng 80km. Prey Veng to Phnom Penh is 90km.

We start at about 9 am and head north on national road 6A and later on national road 7 to Kampong Cham. We take it easy and have a break when we are not so far away from Kampong Cham anymore, at the national road, across a place where many big buses stop.

From here we ride another 20 minutes before we reach Phnom Pros& Phnom Srei (Phnom Bproh & Phnom Sray, Phnom Proh & Phnom Srey), which are two modern hill top temples located few hundred meters from the national road on the left hand, about 5km from Kampong Cham and rather easy to spot.

Phnom Pros & Phnom Srei means literally Man Hill and Women Hill. There is a story related to these temples which has a number of variations and is mentioned in any guide book. Essentially, a man and a woman wanted to marry and Khmer custom requires that the man must go to the woman’s parents before going to his own and seek permission and blessings. The man challenges this tradition and they organize a competition on who can build a higher mountain before sunrise. The women outbuilt the men by lighting a fire at night that makes the men belief the sun is rising and they stop working while the women continue. That is why Phnom Srei is higher than Phnom Pros and also why Khmer men are still expected to ask the women’s parents for permission.

We ride up Phnom Pros on a wide and not very steep road, passing two gates. This is one of them.

This is one of the temples on top of the hill.

Over there is Phnom Srei.

This is inside.

A wooden elephant.

There are some food stalls close by and we have some rest.

The monk is feeding lotus seeds to the monkey.

After some time we continue the trip to Kampong Cham, where we find a restaurant and have lunch and coffee. Then we continue the trip to Prey Veng, with short visits to a Mekong Island and a Rubber Plantation.

This is just outside the restaurant.

This is at the bridge. The water level is considerably higher than just a few weeks ago. Moreover, the tower on the opposite bank was under renovation last time and painted only white while it now has gotten also some red painting, which looks good.

From here we ride a few kilometres along the river until we reach the place where there is a big island right in the river. Last time there was not much water but a provisional bridge from the mainland to the island. Now there is much more water and no bridge anymore.

This is where the bridge used to be.

From here we head back to the bridge, cross it and follow the excellent and wide road. It is about 15 to 20km from here where one turns left to continue to Prey Veng on road 11. Opposite the junction is a rubber plantation. We first turn left and ride for some time on some sort of road into the plantation. There is not much to see so we ride back to the road and follow road 11 to Prey Veng.

The road is in good conditions. There are plantations on both sides of the road for a long time.

There are a number of vehicles but not many. Those there are tend to travel risky. This mini bus has containers filled with what I assume is petrol on its roof, on top of which some people are sitting.

These guys do not seem to have fixed the heavy goods on their trucks at all but race each other and engage in overtaking manoeuvres that are quite risky.

The scenery along the road is actually pretty; houses build in light forest with many ponds in front and behind them. It also seems that there was more rain here than closer to Phnom Penh.

At some point not so far away from Prey Veng we stop at the roadside to have a break. It does not take long until a number of villagers have gathered. Among them is a 14 years old boy who speaks excellent English and introduces us to all the other people around. It seems those people are as impressed with his English as we are and seem also proud. He claims that he has a car, and points out a car on the opposite side of the road, that he uses to go to school every day. Although this fellow is very young I tend to believe him.

Prey Veng town is not far from here. We ride there in one go and aim for the Mittapheap Hotel based on a short review of the (short) list of hotels in the guide books. The Mittapheap Restaurant is right across the road and described in the Lonely Planet (which is old) as the “only one real restaurant in town”. It is very easy to find and we make a short ride through the town to check if there is a place that strikes us as being more appealing. We do not find any and return to the Mittapheap, where we get two decently sized and cleaned rooms at modest $4 each.

This is in front of the hotel and the road ahead leads straight to the riverside.

After only a short rest we go on a walk to the riverside.

This is road 11 and in this direction leads from here to national road 7 and Kampong Cham. In the other direction it leads to national road 1 which it meets at the Mekong River in Neak Luong (Neak Loeang, Neak Loeung), where the ferry is. Mittapheap Hotel is right at the turn of the road, next to the Tela gas station.

This is at the market.

This is apparently the place where hair dressers do business.

This is the road that parallels the riverside. I think it is very beautiful.

This is in front. It is possible to come here by boat so I assume this is a river. By now there is not much water in it. I assume the whole place is flooded later in the rainy season, and that those homes are temporary ones.

It does not take long until some children emerge from the settlement.

We hang out for some time. At some point I note that one of the kids is called by its parents for diner. It disappears in one of the huts but returns after very few minutes with a plate of rice and fish, to have diner right here.

We continue walking along the riverside.

We arrive at some sort of bridge with a road on it that reaches about 100 meters into what is the river during the rainy season. It is almost dark now and there are many people hanging out here socializing. We hang out, too. For some time it seems to start raining very soon and we see lightening but it does not rain.

Later we go home and have diner at the Mittapheap Restaurant. The food is good. What is irritating is that there are a large number of insects, covering a wide range of species and sizes. Some of them are very big, it makes a loud bang when they fly or jump (depending on species) into various objects in the room. When they jump on your shoulder you can feel the weight.

Later we walk over to the hotel. There are many insects wherever there is light and presumably also where there is no light. We hang out on the veranda of the hotel for rest of the evening. The road is getting very calm quickly, there are no people on the road and besides some animals roaming around and a child screaming here or there it is very quite.

The plan for today is to visit Wat Hanchey (Han Chey) in the morning, attend my friend Ny’s wedding in the afternoon and ride back to Phnom Penh before it gets dark. Yesterday I agreed with the guesthouse guy that we would meet at 7:30am and that he would show me the way to Wat Hanchey. The guide books say that Wat Hanchey is a beautifully located hill top pagoda that was an important religious centre during the Chenla period. They also suggest it is easy to visit Wat Hanchey, which is about 25 km from Kampong Cham town, by boat. Anyway, I take the bike for convenience and time efficiency.

We start at the agreed time without any breakfast and head north along the Mekong. After very few kilometres we are riding on a narrow and bumpy dirt road. The road leads along the Mekong through a couple of villages in a nice and rural setting. We are not the only ones on the roads. There are all kinds of vehicles, like oxcarts, minibuses and bicycles.

Homes next to the river at the periphery of Kampong Cham town.

We ride for about 40 minutes until we reach the bottom of the hill on which Wat Hanchey is located. The hill is situated next to the Mekong and a good but steep dirt road is leading up to its top.

The view from up here is remarkably beautiful and in fact the nicest view I have ever seen on the Mekong River. The pagoda is located on a mountain that sits next to a river bend with a huge and green island right in front of it in the middle of the river.

The water level appears to be rather low and there are wide, beach like stretches of land along the banks of the river and the island.

Many rather small fishermen’s boats can be seen on the river.

There are many small buildings and religious monuments spread out over an area of considerable proportions on the hill top.

After walking around for some time we leave, riding down the hill on the other side and then heading back on the dirt road along the river to Kampong Cham.

Ny’s sister comes to the guesthouse with the moto taxi to show me the way to the village where Ny’s wedding is taking place. The village is located about 20 km outside Kampong Cham town on the same bank of the Mekong as Wat Hanchey but towards the southwest. I follow her moto bike on a dirt road, again through pretty riverbank villages.

She tells me that we will visit first the house in which she and Ny grew up. Here I have a chance to meet and talk to their grandmother, which is more than 80 years old, and other members of the family. The grandmother does not attend the wedding because she feels weak today. One of her sons remains in the house to take care of her as well as a cow which is likely to deliver a calf today.

After about one hour we leave on three moto bikes to the location of the wedding, which is the house of the bride and only about 2 km from here. Ny met his wife in Phnom Penh but they are from the same district and almost from the same village.

We arrive at the place where some ceremony is going on. There about 20-30 guests, many of them children. Bride and groom are sitting next to each other in colourful costumes and with three assistants each. A man and a woman are giving a comical show in front of them, which I do not understand. I am asked to sit behind the couple along with their parents.

This is the couple (in front of a massive stereo system that will later deliver a continuous stream of mostly local and enormously loud dance music).

The guy who is doing the show.

From behind.

The show goes on for some time and then it is getting more serious. One after the other, family members cut off some hair from bride and groom. I do not understand what it means but Ny’s sister indicates to me that this is significant.

This is when the groom’s father cuts of hair, while classical music is being played.

Now it is the bride’s turn.

I am also asked to cut some hair from both of their heads.

Then the couple and their entourage stand up and leave to one of the houses on the compound, to change their dress. In a Khmer wedding, the bride changes her dress many times throughout the ceremony.

After some time I follow with some of the family. A number of people are inside, talking to each other and posing for pictures. I get some shots of the couple and its family.

Myself with the bride, Ny’s sister and some other relatives.

The couple with Ny’s friends …

… and with their respective parents.

Some of the family gathering outside in a tent.

Later the couple and its entourage take a seat at the gate. Here they wait for visitors to greet them rather formally. In fact they have to wait for about two hours. Meanwhile I sit down with Ny’s friends and talk.

By now extremely loud and mostly Khmer pop music is being played. People are moving towards the tables and later I sit with some of Ny’s friends down to have food. Plenty of food and drinks are being served, while the couple is still waiting at the gate.

I stay on for some time. It is about 4pm when I decide to leave, so I can still make it to Phnom Penh before dark. I ride back to Kampong Cham, fill up the moto and head towards the capital. It looks rainy almost throughout the trip and sometimes there are strong guts of wind. I come across areas where there was strong rain before but in the end make it to Phnom Penh without getting wet.

The last few kilometres are getting very frustrating as it is Sunday and there are hundreds of restaurants and entertainment places along this road outside Phnom Penh. There is immense traffic now in the early evening which is moving very slowly and chaotically. I guess the last 5 km take me about forty minutes. It is dark when I arrive at home.

My friend Sok Ny gets married this weekend in Kampong Cham and invited me on the occasion of this event to join in the celebration. I decide to attend on Sunday and visit a number of places in around Kampong Cham town on Saturday evening and Sunday morning.

Today I just want to travel to Kampong Cham, which is about 129km from Phnom Penh, check in at some accommodation and visit Wat Nokor (Angkor Bahjay) before it is dark.

I leave shortly after lunch. After only about half an hour it starts looking rainy and indeed it does start raining, although not very strong. I stop at a gas station and wait at one of the footstalls for the rain to stop.

This is the road to Kampong Cham, which is pretty good throughout. Yellow boxes like the one upfront can be found everywhere in Cambodia. They are used to store and cool soft drinks and wherever you see such a box you know you can find refreshment.

I have a drink and a smoke and after 15 minutes it stops raining and I continue.

Only ten minutes later it starts raining again and the rain gets stronger quickly. I am on some sort of bridge and take some pictures before I ride back to find cover under the house of a young family next to the road.

This is the family that generously extents the cover of their house to me.

This is the bridge next to the house. Rain is getting weaker already.

I continue the trip. The sky is covered with clouds and I see rain and sometimes a rainbow but I do not get wet until I reach Kampong Cham town. I go straight to the Kimsrun (Kim Srun) guesthouse where I have spent the night before on the way to Mondulkiri. Last time I came here I was with my friend Pongro. Back then, Pongro went with an employee of the guesthouse on a short tour in the evening when they had an accident and got hurt.

When I arrive at the guesthouse I meet the same guy again. He does not recognize me and I do not manage to explain to him that we met before and that he got hurt on this occasion. I get a simple room for $3. The room is very basic and not very clean. A wide range of different insects is all over the place. In fact I think last time I had the very same room and it seemed ok but now I do not find it very appealing.

This is the view from the guesthouse balcony on the Japanese Bridge over the Mekong River.

It may not appear as big as it actually is. This is the bottom part of just one of the pillars supporting the bridge, with a fisher boat next to it.

This is an observation tower on the other side of the Mekong, built during the French colonial rule to monitor traffic on the river. Last time I saw it was in bad shape, just the outer walls standing with trees growing out of the roof. Now the tower looks much better and seems to be under renovation.

Anyway, I have a shower and head with the bike to Wat Nokor, which is very few kilometres outside Kampong Cham town on the way to Phnom Penh.

This is the gate of the 11th century temple, inside the outer walls of the compound of Wat Nokor.

There are beautiful carvings on the inner side of the gate. The gate is prevented from collapsing by a number of concrete pillars.

This is the gate to the central sanctum, with some statues in front of it.

This is the central sanctum which was devoted to Mahayana Buddhism. It is not in a very good shape, but the structure and some of the carvings are intact.

The roof of the building and its walls are collapsed and instead a pagoda was built in its place, with old and new structures adding to an interesting blend. This is inside.

This is the backside, with most of the building and many carvings in a pretty good shape.

Bizarrely, I find this corps attached to one of the walls. It looks like a bat to me, and somewhat crucified.

This is the gate at the back side.

Tall palms line the path leading to it.

The temple is located at the centre of a compound with considerable proportions, with many religious monuments and accommodation for a substantial number of monks. This is one of the ponds on the compound, obviously not of ancient origin but fairly new and mostly made of concrete.

This is yet another gate of the original temple. In the background is the roof of the modern pagoda that was integrated with what remains of the ancient structures of the central sanctum.

This is another pond, or rather what remains of its ancient structure.

There is also a modern pagoda among the many buildings on the compound.

Then I ride back to Kampong Cham town. There is still some sunlight left and I ride for some time along the bank of the Mekong.

The water of the river appears pretty low, with huge stretches of sand exposed along its banks.

There is a huge island in the river. There is not much water on either side of it. People built a temporary bridge across one of them on the northern bank of the river.

For some time I observe what is going on. Then I head back to the town, have diner and ride back to the guesthouse.

Lying on my bed I do some reading in the evening. This is an irritating experience, because I observe all kinds of insects, small and big, appearing from under the mattress and walking all over it. I decide to find a better accommodation when I come here again.

I get up at 7:30 am. The plan is to have breakfast at riverside and buy some stuff in the market before heading to Preah Vihear.

This is where I have breakfast at riverside.

People ensured me that it is possible to reach Tbaeng Mean Chey, the provincial capital of Preah Vihear province, in only one day from Phnom Penh. Yet it is the second half of the distance where the road is said to be adventurous. At the same time not many people live along this stretch of the road. So it is here where I do not want to get stuck or ride at night. I am planning to go just the 165 km to Kampong Thom, which is more than half the total distance, but on national roads. Actually, as I have been traveling to Kompong Thom by moto before I expect this to be a two hours’ ride.

After I return from the market I pack my stuff and tight it carefully to the moto. Learning from past experience I have reduced the weight of my luggage significantly.

I have gotten the moto yesterday evening at lucky! lucky! As usual this is not a smooth process. I talk to the managers’ sister and she promises me one of the best bikes for just $8, as I am a frequent customer. However, I learn that a group of five people will have the first choice in the afternoon, as they pay $14 per day.

When I get back in the evening there are only few bikes left. Among those, a Honda Baja seems to the best choice. I talk to the manager and he insists on $9, because I go to the countryside and he is concerned about his moto. As usual, he keeps telling me how good and well maintained his bikes are.

I decided to ride the Bike to the Phnom Penh Bike Shop and have those guys check it. After all, lucky is their competitor. After a short ride and a critical check they say the bike is ok but the front brake needs new lining. So I ride back to lucky. After some discussion the owner agrees to replace the lining and one of the employees starts taking care of that, not very enthusiastically, though. I am prepared to wait for a bit. However, it takes a long time to readjust the brake. It is taken apart and reassembled several times but still does not work properly.

This is busy Monivong Boulevard, at lunchtime on Saturday.

This is lucky in the background, with this man taking care of my brake in the foreground.

Meanwhile I try to convince the manager that he should provide me with spare parts and tools. He does not like the idea and all I get is a clutch cable. In particular, he says I don’t need a clutch lever or a tube. One after the other, various mechanics work on my bike. I wonder how much they charge the stand, after I broke the stand of one bike various times on another trip. On one occasion the bike drops and falls down with my luggage, in a lot of noise. The owner has been reading the newspaper and looks pretty upset. Ironically, the clutch lever is broken and he has to replace it. Watching those guys managing their bikes does not exactly help me to thrust this company and the way they maintain their bikes.

I actually spend almost three hours before I can kick of. There is not much to do and I get bored and inpatient. I kick off only at about 2:30 pm, still assuming to reach Kampong Thom after two hours and having the chance to see the temples there (Sambor Prei Kuk).

The first 84 km from Phnom Penh I travel towards Kampong Cham. I have been riding this road half a dozen times and travel with good speed. I reach Skun after about one hour and turn left to remain on National Road 6 to Siem Reap. The road is still good and there is not too much traffic. Once in a while there are short but bumpy unpaved stretches, forcing cars to reduce their speed. Like the one in the background.

No problems with the bike so far.

Overall, the road is pretty ok.

Last time I was traveling this road in the rainy season. Compared to that, it is a very dusty affair this time whenever unpaved road is involved. Only later on the road is getting more bumpy, about 50 km before Kampong Thom capital. However, after only few hundred meters of bumps my headlights brake off all of a sudden. Those headlights are big and this is one of the advantages of this bike. Furthermore, the starter and mountings are attached to the headlights. It takes me some time to belief that those two big headlights are hanging down the handle bar, kept from falling only be electrical and hydraulic cables. And this after not even two hours of traveling on national road. Only few hours ago the owner told me all about the virtues of his bikes.

Bumpy road.

Broken headlight.

There is significant traffic, involving a lot of dust.

I stop for some time to think what I do next. I take some pictures and than continue slowly on the bumpy road, watching out for a mechanic. After about five km I find some sort of garage. It is obvious what the problem is and they agree to fix it. People are really nice and appear to be trustworthy. So I leave my stuff here and look for a restaurant, to make efficient use of the few hours that remain today.

This is where I find the mechanic.

I find a place which looks like a restaurant, without customers. I ask for food and agree on soup with beef and noodles. What I get after few minutes is a cooker with a pot and boiling water. One of the ladies adds vegetables and spices. And she brings more spices, various noodles, beef, eggs and vegetables. I learn that she usually sells shoes in the market. This restaurant serves as karaoke place at night. It takes time to prepare the food, which turns out to be very tasty.

This is the food I am having for just about $1.50.

I spend about one hour before I leave, confident that my bike might be fixed already. Yet when I arrive everything is till very disassembled.

Obviously, this will take at least another hour. Yet people seem to be competently working on it. I sit down and start talking to a man. He looks like he is 45 but tells me he is 61 and has five children. He has been a teacher for more than 16 years. This is his home village and he studied in Kampong Cham. I think this is a god chance to work on my Khmer. So I ask many words and write down, practice counting and so on. He is a good and patient teacher and a nice person. However, I am slightly frustrated that it would be too late for anything in Kampong Thom by the time I arrive. Shadows are getting longer and there is still not much progress.

Many vehicles pass on the road outside.

Finally, everything works out. They ask for modest $5 and I give six before I leave to Kampong Thom, which is only about 40 km from here. The road is getting worse. I feel it has been much better just three months ago. And it is getting dark rapidly. Closer to town there are more vehicles on the road, creating a lot of dust. It is impossible to evade all of the potholes. There are long, unpaved stretches and sometimes I cannot see anything. Moreover, cars coming the other direction are blinding me constantly, forcing me to go significantly slower until I can see again. On one occasion I do not see a construction side in time and ride into a heap of sand, almost loosing control. On another occasion, an insect get stuck in my helmet and bites me really bad.

Finally I reach Kampong Thom. The Arun Rea guesthouse is said to be cheap and clean and I find it easily at the main road, next to the market. I check in and get a clean room with bathroom, TV and fan for just $3. I have a shower, watch a bit TV and spend some time sitting on the terrace watching the social interaction in the street below me.

Main road in Kampong Thom provincial capital.

Still later I go to bed.

Those are my boots in the morning. They had gotten pretty wet yesterday, since they where filled with water several times when we had to cross creeks. Those are Meinl boots, equipped with a gore tex membrane which makes them water proof. Although those boots where outside all night while there where strong winds they are still pretty wet in the morning. Getting into them still feels like water is standing in them. I am somewhat surprised that it takes so long to dry those boots. And even of today, almost one week later, they are still not entirely dry, which I find quite disappointing. After all, what is the point of having water proof shows if they never ever get dry once they get water inside?

However, I do not manage to get my bike started when we want to kick of. We try hard but fail. So we ride with Pongro’s bike to the bike doctor and have the mechanic check the bike on the spot. With the assistance of the mechanic we manage to ride it to the garage. Here I learn that the suspension of my bike both in front and in the back is loose or otherwise needs to be fixed. Since they cannot take care of it here they advice me to ride slowly. And they don’t have a stand either. After a short look at Pongro’s bike they think it is ok and at any rate there would not be much they could do anyway. So we just fill up the bikes and leave.

Although I was told this bike has multiple problems it feels alright and gradually we increase the speed. For the first hour we ride back through the mountainous area with many hills and turns. When we approach the lowlands the road is getting straighter and after some time we travel with the top speed of those motos on the broad, unpaved road, mostly covered with fine red or white sand.

While we keep riding more than one hour I sort of expect that we reach Snuol soon. Yet it is only after 2 hours that we arrive there. Since we really ride fairly fast I seem to have misjudged the distance when we came. However, it is still early lunch time when we approach Snuol. We have a short break, drinking something, fill up the tanks and rest a few minutes. Funnily, since my bike does not have a stand anymore I look out for trees or signs to lean it against for the time being. However, I cannot see many suitable objects. I try a number of road signs and a bamboo tree but find them incapable to support my heavy moto. Only after a few minutes of pushing this bike from one object to the other I find a pile capable of supporting it.

Again, the road is in excellent conditions from Snuol all the way to Phnom Penh. We continue riding and with the paved road and less dust I feel more comfortable riding the bike fast. Not much happens while we ride through Kampong Cham province. Still, we are traveling with the top speed of those motos where the traffic permits it, which is most of the time before we reach the provincial capital. Hours go by and increasingly I feel very tired. Sometimes I have to wait for Pongro. On one occasion, only few kilometers before we reach the town I wait for about 30 minutes. When Pongro shows up I learn that his bike ran out of petrol. I check my tank and since it is only about 5 kilometers from here to the town I decide to try without refilling it. However, after about 2 kilometers I ran out, too. This is when it starts raining occasionally. It is not a big deal to get petrol, since there are small shops all along the road and most of them sell petrol.

We arrive in Kampong Cham and ride straight to the same mechanic where we had the bikes fixed on the way to Mondulkiri. The idea is to check those bikes and fix them to ensure that their state is acceptable to the shop where we got them. Not least this is a matter of getting a new stand for my bike. Initially, I am told that there are no spare parts available. Yet I ask them to check the bikes. Meanwhile I feel really tired and wonder whether I should go to the guesthouse and have at least one hour of sleep. Yet I agree with Pongro that we should better continue as soon as possible. So I go to a café opposite from the garage, while Pongro goes to get some food.

We arrived at about 2 pm. Time goes by and nothing happens. I see one of the employees at the bike shop leaving with my bike and wonder why he does it. Pongro does not show up. Then it starts raining and storming heavily for some time. Later it keeps sprinkling a bit. I keep waiting, talk to an American guy who is on his way to Sen Monorom. As it happens he has company of the moto driver who I went with many times on my last visit, not least to the hospital. So we spend some time talking with each other. The American claims he did the trip from Banlung (Rattanakiri) to Sen Monorom (Mondulkiri), which is actually considered one of the toughest in Cambodia even on moto bikes, alone and on foot in six day. He seems to be crazy enough to try it yet I am skeptical whether he actually did it. However, now he is on his way to Mondulkiri to do the trip the other way around.

After a long time Pongro shows up. He does not show much interest in how to proceed but I manage to go with him to the owner of the shop to ask what happened to the bikes. Pongro translates only reluctantly and it takes me some time to sort out that the owner found a stand somewhere and send a mechanic with the bike to fix it. However, he says this will take some time. I do not get more concrete information. It is frustrating that we have to wait hours just for a spare part after we had made such a good time. And increasingly it looks like we have to ride in the dark again. And finally I find it upsetting that the decision to bring the bike somewhere else was made without my agreement. Not least because a stand would have been readily available in Phnom Penh and I could have gone home while the shop takes care of it.

We keep waiting, now for more than two hours. Increasingly I get a sense of fever and regret that I did not go to the guesthouse to get sleep. The owner tries to comfort me, saying that the bike will be back in 30 minutes but it is not back after 30 minutes and not after one hour either. Shadows are getting longer, we sit in the garage, Pongro talks to everybody but to me and I hate the idea of riding at night. Once in a while it rains, although this is the height of the dry season. Finally, it is almost dark; the mechanic arrives with my bike. The owner proudly presents it to me. The new stand appears to be taken from a moto roller, looking pitiful and entirely incapable of supporting the weight of the bike. Despite this sad view the owner enthusiastically ensures me: ‘original, original’. I do not find this upsetting anymore but funny after all. This guy appears to really care for the satisfaction of his customers, although he failed to understand the actual need. I still find him sympathetic and he only charges me six dollars.

We leave Kampong Cham when the sun is leaving, too. We keep riding, now significantly slower due to the poor vision. Again, there is the nasty choice whether or not to open the dark visor of the helmet. In addition, after about 20 minutes it starts raining and the rain is getting stronger. We are happy enough to have jackets with us. Yet now it is really getting difficult to see anything on the road. Particular slow moving ox carts. Many cars ride without light. In addition, most vehicles are badly overloaded and in instances where head lights are working they are mostly not adjusted, so that approaching cars blind us constantly. It is impossible to open the visor in this rain, but the wet visor together with the blinding light brings the vision down close to zero.

Maybe after 30 kilometer we have a break. It is about 6:30 pm. We decide to wait for some time, hoping that either rain or traffic or both are getting weaker. We spend about half an hour under the reed roof of a shop at the roadside and than continue the ride to Phnom Penh. The rain is rather stronger than weaker. However, there are not as many vehicles on the road anymore. It takes us almost another hour to reach Phnom Penh. I do not expect the bike shop to be still open. Yet I give it a try, as I would prefer getting rid of those bikes rather today than tomorrow. We are happy and the shop is still open.

We have to wait another 30 minutes for the staff to count and check tools and spare parts. They pay attention to the bikes, too and I am prepared to explain the story with the stand. Yet I am surprised that they do not mention it. They do not object to the state of Pongro’s bike either, much to my surprise. I am told that, other than the broken battery I would have to pay for the mechanic bill, since those costs are not covered by the shop. I am happy with the prospect of being able to leave soon.

A few minutes later Pongro and I get on moto taxi and ride home without much farewell. There is no chance to take pictures while riding the bike and being tired and sometimes frustrated prevents me from doing it during our few breaks. So comes that I take only one picture the entire day.

Japanese Bridge in the morning

So I go with the same moto taxi driver who was helpful yesterday to find a mechanic. After asking in a few shops we find a mechanic who is willing to take care of our bikes and claims to be familiar with big motos. So we go back to the guesthouse and later we push the motos the few hundred meters to the shop and go to a food place close by to have breakfast.

This is the street where all the mechanics are.

Later we learn that in fact the sparking plug is broken in my moto and can easily be replaced. The battery does not work on the other moto and one of the blinker is broken. Other than that the bike got a number of new scratches, which we don’t care much about. We ask them to fix the motos. Later we go to the market to buy appropriate clothing for the cooler temperatures of the highlands of Mondulkiri.

This is at the market.

When we get back after half an hour we still have to wait some time before the bikes are ready.

Mechanics working on my bike.

Then we leave to the guesthouse, collect our stuff, fill up the tanks at the gas station and continue the trip to Sen Monorom, which is about 263 km from here. We are traveling on national road 7 which is mostly in excellent conditions, like here.

Other stretches of the road, closer to Kratie province, are being paved right now, like here.

At lunch time we reach Snuol in Kratie province, which is about 168 km from Kampong Cham. From here it is still 118 km to Sen Monorom.

I have been to Snuol before, doing interviews with indigenous villagers. We stop at the market and have food and café at a restaurant. Before we leave we fill up the motos.

Immediately behind Snuol the paved road ends and what follows is called ‘other national road’ in the register of my map. The road is unpaved but very broad and in good conditions. There are only few potholes and with those bikes it is an easy ride. However, very dusty. Riding behind the other moto or other vehicles on the road makes it effectively impossible to spot potholes in time. The helmet of the visor needs to be cleaned many times.

About ten minutes behind Snuol we reach a junction where we turn left (whereas the map actually suggests a turn to the right, which is irritating). We see only very few settlements along the road. Mostly it is dry forest, yet open and in many places cleared. Sometimes there are clear indications of logging.

After about one hour behind Snuol we stop at this building to ask for the way. We meet a guy in shorts and without t-shirt. We learn that this is an army base. The guy kindly offers tea and provides information. He actually has never been to Sen Monorom himself (like most people we met on the way) but beliefs that we have to keep going to reach there before it is dark.

This is in one of the few settlements we pass.

The landscape still does not look like highland to me.

Wherever we stop we do not need to wait long for company.

We keep going with relatively high speed. Only significantly later the landscape changes. The forest is getting denser and the road has many bents and turns, and ups and downs. I realize that Pongro still sticks to the fifth gear, which makes him very slow when it comes to riding uphill. In contrast he reaches dangerously high speeds when he is riding downhill. I follow his bike closely and in this particular turn downhill I cannot but reduce the speed while Pongro keeps going way too fast to get through the turn. When he starts applying the brake he is almost off the road and has still significant speed when he looses control and disappears in a cloud of dust. It still takes me some time until I manage to stop my bike on the way downhill and I hurry back to Pongro, believing that this one is serious. However, when I reach him he is already standing again, still wondering what happened. Yet he beliefs he and the bike are ok and we can continue.

Downhill: it is actually steeper than it appears on both pictures.

We keep traveling through the jungle. The road continues to be in good condition and easy to ride. However, as the hills are getting steeper Pongro is getting slower when traveling upwards. At one point he complains to me that his bike ‘does not climb’ because it is so much weaker. I ask him which gear he is using and he innocently says five. Frustrated I repeat my suggestion to use lower gears once in a while but without much impact.

Only shortly before we reach Sen Monorom we leave the jungle behind. What follows is an open landscape with long grass and smaller groups of trees. This is about 1000 m above sea level and about as high as it gets in Mondulkiri. Shadows are getting longer and longer and it is getting cooler than it would get in the lowlands.

We reach Sen Monorom when it is about to get dark. It does not take us long to find our way to the Long Vibol Guesthouse, which is a recommendation of my guide book. It is situated next to the old airport north to the market. It consists of a number of small buildings on a piece of land which is nicely decorated with all sorts of flowers. The rooms are nice and clean and we manage to push the price to $4 per room.

In front of my room.

As it is not entirely dark yet we go on a short ride through the town.

This is the old airport, looking from the south to the north. The market is to the left almost outside the picture. The hill to the left in the background is called Doh Kromom, which actually means bosom.

Of course there is a pagoda, too.

We go back to the guesthouse and rest for some time. Later we have diner and discuss what to do during the next days, without much input from Pongro. We manage to find a guide for the next day and agree to meet at 7:30 am to go to the Bou Sraa waterfalls, which actually is what appeals to most tourists in Mondulkiri.

Later in the evening I have a short discussion with Pongro suggesting that he takes some part in the preparation, too, since he studies tourism and knows Khmer.

I was contemplating to go with a guide who is knowledgeable both about Mondulkiri and big motos. However, none of the few suitable persons I know had time or interest to go. On the other hand I was talking to Pongro who is one of the Khmer guys I hang out with on occasion. As he studies tourism he was very interesting in traveling to Mondulkiri and I might have raised his expectations that he could go with me. Yet I had decided to go rather alone for a number of reasons. Pongro has never been to Mondulkiri and has almost no experience with big motos. So I though his company might be rather an additional source of uncertainty. In addition nowhere in Cambodia it is a problem to find guides locally. And finally I cannot easily afford and would not usually consider paying other people’s holidays.

The day before I actually join a party at my project manager’s house and leave there only by 4:30 am. So I do not get to sleep much the night before Friday and am happy that I only have to make the few kilometers to Kampong Cham. Already a few days ago I talked to the Phnom Penh Bike Shop to make sure that a decent bike is available on Friday. So after I packed my stuff and I pay the guesthouse and want to leave to have lunch. In front of the guesthouse I meet Pongro, who is apparently waiting for me for some reasons. I cannot but invite him for lunch, as I do frequently. While we are sitting and having lunch I feel bad about having the chance to go to Mondulkiri while Pongro cannot afford it but would like to go, too. So I decide spontaneously to offer him to join and of course he agrees. While he goes home to get his stuff I go to the moto place to make sure we get another bike in time and have tool sets and spare parts.

We manage to departure at about 4 pm, which is good enough since we don’t want to go further than to Kampong Cham today, which is just about 129 km excellent road from Phnom Penh. As usually traffic is dense and slow close to Phnom Penh and we ride carefully. After we have passed the Japanese bridge and all the night clubs, brothels and beer gardens along national road 6 we can travel more quickly. The road to Kampong Cham is about the best quality I have seen in Cambodia. I have been traveling this way many times and feel very comfortable riding it. And it is good exercise for Pongro, who had less opportunity to become familiar with big motos.

I cannot but mention the following observation: people on mopeds in Phnom Penh tend to arrive at the top gear of their moto long before the vehicle actually reaches 15 km per hour. Pongro is no exception in this regard. This maybe makes perfect sense in the slow traffic in Phnom Penh, where everybody is riding very carefully to avoid abrupt movements. Yet Pongro does the very same with the big moto wherever he is riding it. That is even in very slow traffic he travels in the fifth gear. Maybe it is no coincidence that his moto happens to turn off many times, while it takes him a long time to find neutral and restart the engine. Yet he is resistant to my suggestion to use other gears once in a while.

This is maybe half way between Phnom Penh and Kampong Cham. Some people appear to shoot a movie and are doing a stunt scene with a sports car. We have a short break. When we want to continue it takes a long time to start my moto, which does not have an electrical starter.

We continue riding while it is getting dark. Riding in the dark is not a pleasant thing to do because there are people, animals and all sorts of vehicles moving on the road. In addition, the dark visor of our helmets force the choice between even worse vision with closed visor or the continues stream of insects flying into the face with open visor, which does not make you a safer rider either.

We ride another 30 minutes in the dark before we reach Kampong Cham. We have a short break at a shop and ask our way to the Kim Srun Guesthouse which is said to be clean and friendly. When we want to continue I do not manage to kick start my bike. Other people give it a try but it does not work out. We agree to leave the bike here and get rooms first. So we go both on Pongro’s moto (in the fifth gear) the few hundred meters to the guesthouse at riverside, occasionally turning the engine off. We manage to get decent rooms for $3. After we check in we agree to look for a mechanic. I find a moto taxi and after Pongro’s bike does not start for a longer time I suggest I leave first to find a mechanic. After all, locations are only a few hundred meters away. As garages are closed by this time I go with the moto driver to the house of one of his friends who is mechanic. However, he is not at home. We go back to my bike, trying again to restart it for some time. Some people who are sitting nearby offer their help. One of them tries for a while and suggests that the sparking plug is broken. There is in fact a sparking plug among the spare parts I brought and the guy tries to replace the broken one. However, after some time we find that it is not the same model and does not fit. In some ways this is good news since a new sparking plug won’t be difficult to find in Kampong Cham.

While we keep trying a guy comes and talks to the taxi driver, who tells me that Pongro and a guy from the guesthouse had an accident. I don’t get much more information and of course we hurry back to the guesthouse. On the way we find Pongro’s moto on the ground with a number of people surrounding it about 50 meter from the guesthouse. A lady gives me the key. It is difficult to get consistent information but I understand the guesthouse guy was riding with Pongro on the back of the moto when they bumped into a car got hurt. Later they went to the hospital. People indicate that a guy standing close by is actually a military police officer who knows the driver of the car and will follow up on this case. I go with the moto driver to the hospital, which turns out to be more like a two room health center with about three dozen people surrounding the few people laying in beds. We find Pongro and the other guy together with a number of people in the second room.

I manage to understand the following: Pongro agreed to let the other guy ride the bike, who is maybe about 18. Just a few meters from the guesthouse they wanted to overtake a car. Without a signal the car turned to the left. While trying to avoid crashing into the car they fall with the moto. Pongro actually hits the ground with his head and his ear gets torn. The other guy has hurt his food as well as knee and shoulder. The guy with the car left to Phnom Penh. However, the military police guy saw the accident and will take measures, whatever that means. Both have gotten their wounds cleaned and bandaged. The guesthouse guy had to pay about $10 for the treatment, which they ensure me he will get back from the car driver. Pongro says he is ok but has a headache. I suggest to rest and decide later what to do. After some twenty minutes we leave and I collect two broken motos and push them to the guesthouse.

This is when we hang out in front of the guesthouse, to discuss how to proceed.

Pongro’s ear.

The guest house guy’s foot …

… and shoulder.

Later I go with Pongro to a nearby restaurant to have some food. He is not very talkative. However, he ensures me that the headache is getting better. Later we go to the guesthouse and hang out on the terrace for some time. We do not hear from the military police guy again.

Japanese Bridge at night.

We decide to wait for tomorrow to make the decision whether or not to continue the trip.

This is the last weekend before I go back to Germany. I did not have much vacation so far and manage to get a day off on Monday. I always wanted to travel to Siem Reap and to see Angkor Wat but unfortunately I did not yet get the chance to go. So I thought better one day in Siem Reap than not at all.

I have planned to go to Siem Reap by moto for quite some time. And I have tried to find somebody to give me company. However, I did not find anybody who had both time and interest to go. After all, it is a distance of about 350 km one way.

So I decide to go on my own. The plan is to leave Saturday early in Phnom Penh in order to arrive in Siem Reap early enough to buy the ticket and see the sunset. The next day would be dedicated to visit the temples. And on Monday I would have to travel back early enough to go to work on Tuesday again.

Saturday I get of at about 8 am and go to riverside to have breakfast. This picture is taken from the restaurant at the Mekong River, which is in the background.

I have extensive breakfast. Then I take the moto dop to ‘Lucky! Lucky!’, my preferred moto rental service. The manager is not here today and I get to speak to his sister, which happens frequently. Usually he tries to give me the smaller bikes. However, she is very friendly and not as concerned about the bikes. Typically she is happy to give me whatever I ask for.

I came with the intention to get one of the lower (and cheaper) 250 ccm bikes. However, the lady tried to persuade me to take one of the bigger bikes. This is getting me into the area of the $8 bikes, which is still a fair price. Since I am choosing among the bigger bikes now I go for the biggest one available among them. After all, this is my last weekend in Cambodia.

The lady is still ok with giving me the bike. However, she informs me that it is $10 instead of $8 when the bike is driven outside Phnom Penh. I though this is still an ok price and I do not want to spend more time with negotiations. So I decide to take the bike and finalize the paper work. I bought some strong stripes the other day and take some time to fix my bag well to the moto. Then I leave to the north, to reach the road to Kompong Cham.

I have been traveling on this road before and thought this is one of the best roads I have been traveling on in Cambodia. I presume it is national road number seven, but are not exactly sure about the numbers.

As long as I am still close to Phnom Penh there is dense traffic which allows only for very low speed. Shortly after one crosses the Japanese bridge in the north of Phnom Penh it takes about 12 km until one reaches the first point where national police is monitoring the traffic. This usually means for the involved officers to collect bribes from bus and truck drivers. I have heard that tourists on big motos are easy targets for underpaid police men to extract some money. One of my guide books advises not to see the police in the first place, since it is too late after eye contact is established.

Since I am riding with a helmet with dark visor there is not much eye contact anyway. However, when I pass the spot two of the police men use their pipes, apparently to stop me. I am pretty sure that this was aimed at me but by that time I had almost passed them. So I just kept driving with the traffic without moving my head or reacting in any way to those signals. Only for a short time I am concerned they might be following me.

Going to Siem Reap it is important to leave this road at the traffic circle in Skun. This is about 50 km before one reaches Kompong Cham town. One has to turn left to get on national road six to Kompong Thom and Siem Reap.

Few km after I passed Skun I stop to have some food. I see this sort of restaurant, which does not look particularly charming.

I order some fried noodles and a soft drink. A Khmer guy comes over to sit on my table. We start a conversation and it turns out quickly that he had spent some time in Germany. Eastern Germany. He went to Rostock to study mechanical engineering. And he speaks fair German with this funny accent they have up there. This guy is working as an assistant to a German physician who is practicing here in town.

An animal transport arrives some time later. A good number of pigs are tight to a rack and to each other in two layers on this truck. This is a good number of pigs. Those pigs are tight well to the truck, so that they cannot move. But they make a lot of noise, indicating that they are not exactly comfortable.

It is a hot day around here and the pigs are getting a shower.

After some time, when the driver wants to leave again, the car get stuck. This does not come as surprise, since the truck is badly overloaded with all those pigs. People try reluctantly to free the car, but do not have much success.

However, I have still a long way to go and leave without waiting for the final result of those endeavors.

The road from here is not as plain as the road through Kompong Cham. After only 20 km from Skun one reaches the border of Kompong Thom province. Not only is the road not plain, but on a high number of relatively short stretches it is not paved and very bumpy. There are not as many cars on this road as there are on national road 7. Together this makes riding the motor bike an enjoyable affair. Whereas cars have to reduce the speed significantly to pass the bumpy distances with the moto one can travel with more steady and relatively high speed. And I know that I still have a long way of about 170 km to go.

I stop only few kilometers before I reach Kompong Thom. This is how the road looks like around here. This is what is called dust road and is comfortable in the current condition, when it is not too wet.

This is the moto, when it is still fairly clean.

I keep driving and pass Kompong Thom provincial capital. Shortly after passing the town one has to turn slightly left in order to stay on the road to Siem Reap. The road is getting better. It is mostly paved and pretty even, partly without any potholes. Moreover, there are only few vehicles on the road. So I can travel with fairly high speed.

Maybe about 30 km later it looks increasingly like it will start raining soon. When it starts raining I am getting wet a bit but manage to make it to this small restaurant like business at the road. People are very friendly and provide me with some plastic to cover my bag on the bike.

This is how the road looks like most of the time on this stretch.

This is how it looks like behind the shop at the road. I though this place is pretty cute.

Rain is getting stronger.

Only after I have spent about 45 minutes the rain starts getting weaker and finally stops entirely. I get on the bike again and keep driving. It is still very cloudy. The paved parts of the road are increasingly interrupted by unpaved and partly bumpy stretches.

This is what I see when I look down on me. The bike would have been the first one I see in Cambodia with a functioning tachometer.

More and more it looks like it is about to rain.

It starts raining after I pass one of the view towns. I am looking for a place where I can wait without getting wet. However, I cannot see something suitable. The rain is getting stronger and I decide to stop at one of those small huts, which provides a bit of cover from the rain. Given that there are quite strong winds and the fact that the roof is not exactly tight the hut does not prevent anything from getting wet.

I am lucky enough to have my complete rain gear with me. However, deep down in my bag. So it takes me some time to get on those pants and the jacket. After I made it I feel much better prepared to cope with the weather. But I decide to wait since the rain is very strong.

Although it keeps raining for about one hour, vehicles and people with animals keep passing this place.

The rain does not really stop but is getting somewhat weaker. It is still raining heavily when I decide to continue the trip. I am kind of concerned that it gets dark long before I reach Siem Reap, which is not a pleasing prospect. I do not know the area and I do not have time to spend the night somewhere else then in Siem Reap town.

The strong rain makes it difficult to recognize potholes or other obstacles on the road. So I cannot ride as fast anymore. Passing cars, predominantly trucks, splash big amounts of mud and dirty water all over the road. When those splashes hit my helmet it is difficult to see anything at all. Open the visor does not make it easier, since the stuff is flying straight into my face.

I presume that the road is most of the time not paved, since there is so much mud around. Even if parts of this road would be paved it would not make much of a difference given the thick layer of mud.

The rain is sometimes getting weaker or stronger but does not stop entirely. I continue driving without knowing how far it is from here to Phnom Penh. At some point I check the petrol and decide to get some fuel on the road. Even that turns out to be difficult since I cannot recognize those small shops along the street anymore through the thick layer of mud on my helmet. Finally I manage to get it.

It is getting dark while I am still riding on this road with relatively low speed. Only when it is almost entirely dark the road becomes better rapidly and the traffic increases. Shortly later I find myself in the dense traffic of Siem Reap provincial capital. This town turns out to be much more urban than I expected. I checked both of my guide books earlier and hat decided to go to the Popular Guesthouse, which is said to be cheap.

It took me some time to find the place. I kept getting contradicting advice in poor English and continued to drive around. Only after about half an hour I managed to find the guest house. This is in the court yard of the guest house together with the owner and one of the employees who is trying my helmet and glasses. At this point the moto is not clean anymore and neither am I.

Most of the rooms are occupied and what I get is a room with two beds for the price of a room with one bed which is $5. This is acceptable, given that prices in Siem Reap are generally higher than in Phnom Penh.

I feel very tired. So I decide to have a shower and some diner. I talk to the owner of the guesthouse in order to find a guide for tomorrow who is capable but not too expensive. He introduces me to Mr. Kim, who is 24 years old and supposedly studies ancient history of the temples. Mr. Kim appears with a book about the temples in his hand which makes me confident. I thought it would be a good idea to go on a ride through the town to get accommodated. What I get to see is a number of roads and markets which present a strong contrast to the rural areas I was passing on the way here. There are dozens of expensive hotels, restaurants, bars and a high proportion of tourists among those walking on the streets.

Mr. Kim turned out to be only moderately helpful, since he did not know too much about history and his English was fairly poor. However, at this point it would have been impolite to tell him I won’t need him tomorrow and I decide to explore the temples with him tomorrow.

In order to see Angkor Wat during the sun set we have to start at 5 am. This is quite early for me, particularly after this exhausting day. So at about 10 am we ride back to the hotel to get enough sleep.