It is weekend again and I decided to visit Sihanoukville once more, after I have been here only few weeks ago. I also decided to travel by public transport this time, mostly for convenience. It is too late to catch the early buses so I chose to go by minibus. Initially I go to the Central Market where I don’t find a minibus to Sihanoukville but people who show me the place from which these buses leave.

One minibus is about to leave. I pay for two seats, again for convenience (at 5$ each, which is far too expensive, which I learn later on, anyway).

This is the mini bus before it leaves. People fit a lot of luggage into the bus and are just about to attach a motor bike as well (well, other people fit more than twice the amount of luggage into and on similar busses). It starts raining and I am glad I did not go by motorbike.

This is along national road 4, on which I rode only few weeks ago with the motorbike to Sihanoukville.

This is in Kampong Speu, provincial capital of the province with the same name. I am sitting upfront. As a result of paying for two seats, only three people sit upfront, rather than four or five.

Along the road, somewhere around Kirirom National Park.

It starts raining again, pretty strongly, and I am glad again not to be riding the bike right now.

We stop at a restaurant after we drove about half the total distance to Sihanoukville. We have been going very slowly and by now I expect to arrive only in the evening. From here is still 125 km away. It is raining. The place is located at a mountain range and for this reason, clouds seem to accumulate here.

Then we continue the trip, even slower because of the mountains. It keeps raining for some time. Besides, the scenery is pretty and green.

The rain is getting stronger. There is no glass in the window of the door next to me and it is getting pretty wet. People tighten a kroma across the window but it does not remain there for long and it keeps raining into the bus, right next to me.

Once in a while we stop and people get off the bus at places along the road.

It is getting dark and I cannot take pictures anymore. We continue to travel rather slow, increasing numbers of people get off and on the bus, which sometimes takes a lot of time. It is about 8pm when we finally reach Sihanoukville.

I go by moto taxi to the Sovannphoum guesthouse, where I stayed last time around, too. I have diner and spend the evening reading.

After the major part of my current assignment is done I decide to spend an extended holiday in Sihanoukville. Sihanoukville (Sihanouk Ville, Kampong Som) is where the white beaches and tropical islands are. Sihanoukville is also one of the few places in Cambodia with a high concentration of tourists and this has been among the major reason why I have never been there.

Sihanoukville is about 230km from Phnom Penh. My colleagues strongly advice me to go by bus. Yet I have been looking forward to do this trip by motor bike and decide not to take the bus. It may sound trivial, but during almost one year outside Cambodia, the idea of riding motorbikes in Cambodia became almost the essence of freedom to me. In practice I find it often tiring or boring, sometimes even painful, but in principle I still greatly enjoy riding the bike and opt for it whenever I can. I am also in the privileged situation of having Toby’s bike, so it is not a difficult choice. However, riding the bike gives me also a sense of vulnerability.

There are basically two options to ride to Sihanoukville: on national road 4, which is supposed to be the best road in the country, and on national road 3 through Kampot. I choose the first option, as it is the most time efficient, and because I have been riding on national road 3 to Kampot before, but not on national road 4 beyond Kirirom National Park.

As usually, the journey starts later than planned, after an extended breakfast. After that, I fill up the moto and head towards Sihanoukville. The first part of the trip is familiar, as I have been to Kirirom just about three weeks ago.

I take these pictures after I have been riding for about one hour.

It has been raining almost daily for about two weeks, but the landscape looks still fairly dry. This is one of the few places where I note an accumulation of water.

The road is really good.

This is a few kilometers before I reach the road that leads to Kirirom National Park, which is located at about 110km distance from Phnom Penh to the south.

Sihanoukville has the only deep sea port in Cambodia and since there is no railway network to speak of, a lot of goods are transported on this road with trucks.

The landscape turns greener and hillier after I pass the road to Kirirom.

Clouds are accumulating along the mountains, reducing direct sunlight which makes riding the bike a more pleasant affair.

There is not much traffic. While many well-of Cambodians travel to Sihanoukville on weekends, they tend to start much earlier than I do. Increasingly, the road leads up and down and big trucks struggle to make their way up the hills.

The road continues to be in excellent conditions.

I ride for about another hour and than have a short break.

This is how it looks like around here.

Shortly after I come across a junction with an accumulation of food and gas stands. I assume this is where road 48 to Koh Kong meets national road 4. I have a seat at one of the food stands and drink some water.

After a short break I continue my trip through green and hilly landscape.

Increasingly it looks like it will rain soon but it does not.

It is about 20km before I reach Sihanoukville that the engine turns off and for some reasons it does not start again. I use the unwanted break to study the map.

This is where the engine stops operating.

After very few minutes two cars crowded with Cambodians stop and ask what the problem is. I explain to them and they are extremely helpful. One of them removes one of the small pipes that lead from the tank to the engine. There is air in it and he lets it fill with petrol before he puts it in place again. After that we push the moto and he manages to start it. I am really grateful.

However, the engine stops working again after only very few kilometers. I repeat the procedure and manage to start without pushing. The same happens two or three times again until I come across the place of a moto mechanic. I point at the spot on the moto where the problem is according to my imagination and ask him to do something about it. There is a lever at the pipe from the tank to the engine which says ‘on’ and ‘off’. He brings this lever into a position somewhere in between. I am not convinced but the problem does not occur again (I will find out only after my return that there is a third position, ‘reserve’).

This is only a few kilometers before I reach Sihanoukville. It is the first time that I get to see the sea, and some tiny islands in it.

Down there is the port of Sihanoukville.

There are countless guesthouses and hotels in Sihanoukville. I checked the guide books before and opted for Sovannphoum guesthouse, a reasonably priced accommodation close to Ocheuteal (Occheuteal, Ocheateal, Ocheurteal) Beach. It takes me some time to find it. When I reach it, I get a decent room with Western bath, van and TV for $5. Later I see that there are rooms with TV starting at $3 but overall I am very satisfied with my guesthouse. It is a pretty late back location.

My back hurts from riding the moto all day and I decide to visit the local Seeing Hands massage place, where I get a very therapeutical 11/2 hour massage for reasonable 4.50$. It is dark when I leave. I ride back to the guesthouse, have some foot and later go and walk along the beach. There are many bars and guesthouses along a large stretch of the beach. Customers seem predominantly Cambodians, but I see some foreigners, too. Overall, most places are very empty. Later I come along a part of the beach where there are no bars and no people. Next to it, a new golf course is under construction. After some time I walk back to the guesthouse and go to bed.

Today is Sunday. I have spent a busy week in the office. The schedule does not look like workload will be lower next week, so I use the chance for a bike trip to Kampong Speu (Kampong Spueu). Yesterday I took it easy, met some colleagues in private and some Cambodian friends in the evening. I go to find the Phnom Penh Bike Shop but find that it is no longer. I find the previous owner in his brother Darah’s bike repair shop and talk to both for some time. Good to meet those guys again, after more than one year.

The plan for today is to get a motorbike from Lucky Lucky and go on a trip to Kirirom National Park in Kampong Speu province. Oddly, none of my guide books has a section on Kampong Speu. Only the Lonely Planet has a paragraph on Kirirom. It says that Kirirom Mountain is 675m above sea level and about 112 km southwest of Phnom Penh. It also says that Kirirom “is not the most interesting of Cambodia’s national parks, but it is the most accessible from the capital and the scenery is notably different from the flat agricultural land that surrounds Phnom Penh, and the climate is also noticeably cooler”. While this does not sound particularly promising, at least the ‘noticeably cooler’ appeals to me. It is very hot in Phnom Penh these days, which makes working and sleeping a major problem in times.

After I have some breakfast I go to Lucky Lucky, as I did many times before. The manager and owner recognize me and I get a Honda XR without objections. I check the bike they propose and find that neither of the front blinker works. Noting my dissatisfaction, one of the employees starts reluctantly working on the bike. He spends about ten minutes doing that and then proposes another bike. This time the back light and the back blinker don’t work. I get the point and I don’t want to be small-minded. Neither do I want to burn my time. So I get the bike, fill it up at the next gas station and head to Kirirom.

In front of Lucky Lucky. I wonder if there is a word for ‘maintenance’ in Khmer.

It takes me some time to get used to Phnom Penh traffic and driving behavior. In fact I find a concrete guardrail in the middle of the road all along Monivong Boulevard. Because I cannot cross the road I have to ride to the south and loose my way and ride in circles until I find myself on Sihanouk Boulevard. From here I ride to the Russian Federation Boulevard, where many ministries are located, and head towards the airport. There is massive traffic and I travel relatively slow. Traffic remains dense after I have passed the airport. The road is very wide after I turn right in Phnom Krang Dontey.

They way to Kirirom is mostly along National Road 4, which is supposed to be in excellent condition. After some times I reach a tolling point, which looks a bit like a border checkpoint to me. Occasionally I read in the newspaper that people and parties complain that a company is taking user fees along the road. I see a number of people in uniform stopping some of the cars but they do seem to stop motorbikes so I keep going.

I ride for about an hour. It is almost lunch time and I want to be back in Phnom Penh before it gets dark, not least because this moto’s backlight does not work. After I have passed the industrial outskirts of Phnom Penh I reach the countryside. It is very hot and very dry. Not surprisingly, as it is dry season. The landscape looks very different from when I was in Cambodia last time. There seems to be only dry land where I used to see green rice fields all over the place.

There is not so much traffic anymore and only occasionally I see trucks so I can ride fairly fast. There are no indications in the guide book on how to recognize the spot where one has to leave National Road 4 to the west, in order to reach Kirirom. Increasingly I am concerned that I might have missed it.

I stop in a small town, where I have some water and ask for the way. I learn that I am on the right way.

Yesterday I bought a new crash helmet for US$ 16.

This kind of place can be found everywhere along the road.

Increasingly I see hills in the otherwise very flat landscape, which makes me think I am close to Kirirom, which is a mountain. I ride for another 30 minutes. By now there are surprisingly few cars on the road and I ride frequently at top speed, yet try to watch out for signs.

Finally I see a sign. On my way back I take a photo to share it here. This is what you want to look out for if you come from Phnom Penh and want to visit Kirirom. I do not see any other sign.

This is where you actually leave National Road 4, following the other road straight ahead.

This tall antenna can help to identify the place. From here it is still about 20 km on a narrow but paved road before you enter the National Park. The road is actually nice to ride, few potwholes but many turns.

This is how it looks like along the road. There are some clouds along those hills, which help to make the temperature more bearable.

This is only a few hundred meters before I enter the park. The Pepsi sign to the right reads “You have arrived at Kirirom Hill Side Resort’.

I turn right behind the bridge and find the gate of this resort. I learned before that wealthy people like to spend some days out here in this institution for relaxation. This resort includes a wide range of facilities offering hotel and restaurant, shopping, playgrounds, a waterfall, a zoo, fishing, canoeing, horse riding, sauna and tennis, among other things.

This is in front of the gate to the resort.

However, this is not what I am looking for and after talking briefly with hotel staff I decide to head to the park.

This is the check point where I enter the park. Khmers pay 2500 Riel of entrance fee per car. Foreigners are charged 20.000 Riel (US$ 4). Prices are written on the sign to the right. At first, these guys try to persuade me that I do not need a ticket, after I have paid for it. I insist and finally they give me one, maybe because I have taken a picture of them before, but maybe not.

From here the road leads uphill, not steeply but continuously. The temperature seems to fall a bit. The road is mostly in good condition. It has many turns, too, which makes riding it a pleasant affair, in contrast to the national road. There is forest along the road.

These steps lead to a temple. I talk to these tourists, who are Cambodian Americans and cannot advise me on where to go around here. After some time I continue until I come across this sign which indicates that there is a water fall to the right.

After a few hundred meters I meet another official who charges me another 1000 Riel, not sure what for but maybe for the bike. At least paying this fee makes me confident that I found one of the places worth visiting. After few minutes I reach some sort of parking lot, with a number of food stalls.

Down there is the parking spot.

There are only few people and 3 or 4 cars. I am asked if I want to have food and decline. Instead I head to the waterfall, going down some stairs between a number of huts that have been constructed for mostly local tourists who come here to picknick.

Huts.

As it is dry season there is hardly any water in the river and also the waterfall is not very impressive.

Down there is the waterfall. A bunch of people is enjoying themselves under the little water that is actually falling down. I was told before that few people come here at this time of the year, as it is too hot, because there is not much water and because the surroundings are much more attractive when everything is green during the rainy season.

Downstream, to the left some of the huts that are all over the place.

I walk back to the parking lot, talking to one of the girls who are serving food on my way.

Scenery close to the waterfall.

Since the waterfall did not give me much satisfaction I watch out for other spots. Trying to find a good overview I ride up some sort of mountain (in the background of the above picture) on a narrow trail. I find that there are many paths and sort of dirt roads but none of them leading to a particular interesting spot.

By the way, this is the handle bar of the bike. Does not look particularly trustworthy to me.

After some time I find my way to the main road in the national park. Following it I reach some sort of monument with a Buddha statue in its center and surrounded by a small garden.

Those are some Khmer tourists at the statue’s back. The girl to the rights takes a picture of me so I take one her, too.

This is the front side.

Downstairs.

On my way back to the moto I meet a Khmer guy with two young women. He tells me that they came here all the way from Phnom Penh on just one moto scooter. He also tells me that Kirirom Mountain is not far from here and worth seeing.

After riding for about 5 minutes I reach a huge sign next to the road saying that this is Kirirom Mountain. The sign also says that this is the way to the guesthouse. The ‘road’ is quite bumpy and I wonder if this is really the way to this park’s main attraction.

At the top of the mountain I find a guesthouse and a restaurant. Both are nicely located and one can sit on the roof of the restaurant which sits on the highest point of this hill. Nobody is here except the waiter. He looses interest when he finds that I am looking for neither food nor accommodation. I go upstairs and take some pictures, a bit disappointed that there is no free view in any direction.

Restaurant on hill top with waiter.

It is already afternoon and increasingly I realize that I have not enough time to enjoy and appreciate this park. What I see makes me think that this would be a good place for hiking when it is cooler. This guesthouse would then be a nice place to spend the night.

Back on the road I realize that there are a significant number of cars. I ride for some time, following other cars without seeing any more signs. I come across a number of junctions and finally this gate which looks like it might lead to an interesting spot. There are other cars and I follow the road for some time. However, it does not seem to lead anywhere.

At this point I decide to turn back and head back to Phnom Penh and to come here again with more time. I enjoy riding the sharp bends and take a picture once in a while.

I am concerned that there might be dense traffic on the road which might make it impossible to reach Phnom Penh before dark. Many people travel to Sihanoukville, the seaside city to which national road 4 connects Phnom Penh, over the weekend. The weekend is almost over, but there are still not many cars on the road, which is nice.

Dry landscape all along the way.

On my way to Phnom Penh I stop only twice. The first time is to get petrol, the second for a short rest and some cold water at a shop in a town whose name I do not know.

This is where I have rest.

Much of the time I travel at top speed, which does not mean much anyway. Not surprisingly, the traffic gets denser when I get closer to Phnom Penh, until I am finally back on the city’s roads. I am riding with much more confidence now and faster than when I started in the morning. Since there is no point in riding this bike at night in Phnom Penh I return it to Lucky Lucky. With a moto taxi I ride back to the guesthouse, have a shower and some rest and then have lunch on the veranda with a newspaper.

Place where I have lunch.

Later in the evening I meet Dara and some of his foreign friends in a pub at the riverside. They have been on a multiple day motor cross trip over Khmer New Year, which involved Mondulkiri, Rattanakiri, Stung Treng and Preah Vihear provinces, among others. They also have a comprehensive slide show of pictures and videos they took during the trip. While this is not my preferred way of traveling I find the idea very appealing to go on more moderate bike trips to these places during the coming weeks and months.

This is me on the moto I have just gotten.

This is Dara on his first moto bike, which he started riding when he was eight. Dara is always up for entertainment and rides on this bike on its back wheel down this busy road for some time.

This is Vuth testing ‘my’ bike.

After some time John shows up. He is 46 years old and has been living in Cambodia for 5 years. Before he was living in Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. John is from the US and married to a 21 years old Khmer lady, with who he has a kid. He has studied health but is working as musician (he plays guitar in a local rock band) and sells antiques via the internet. He is a late back guy and turns out to be ok.

After some time the three of us leave. We go north and after only a few kilometer leave the street and continue the trip off road. First we have some sort of dust road, which is easy to ride. However, after only a few kilometers there is not road and sometimes not even a path anymore. It is difficult for me to maneuver the moto on this very uneven ground.

This is when my moto is down the first time. Unfortunately, I lost balance next to this hole, which is about 1.5 meter deep. Accordingly, the moto falls straight into this hole, handle bar first, and it takes us some time to pull it out again, before we can continue the trip. At this point I have no idea how often I will have to lift and kickstart this moto again during the next hours.

From here the terrain is getting ever more difficult. We have to cross all sorts of creeks, rice fields, wet land and so on. A number of times I ride the bike into the rice field and have difficulties pulling it out. And this is becoming a much more exhausting activity than I expected.

I do not have the opportunity to take pictures very often. Once in a while we are riding on dirt roads, which is very enjoyable compared to rice fields. Many times the path consists just of very fine, deep sand. This is difficult to ride. I learn that the only way to deal with the sand is actually speed. Over a certain speed, maybe about 40km/h, there is some sort of aquaplaning effect, which gets the bike into a stable position. Even if one moves the handle bar the bike continues to ride the same direction. Sometimes those sand stretches are fairly broad, so that it is easy and not to risky to ride them fast. However, on other stretches the sandy path is very narrow and has many turns. And this is where it is really difficult for me in the beginning, and sometimes my bike is down twice on just 20 meters.

We continue riding and given the relatively high speed we ride quite a distance. Most of the time I have no idea where we are, but assume it is somewhere in Kompong Spey Province.

This is some hours later, when Vuth just fall with his bike and broke his mudguard. However, he is ok and we continue the trip.

This is John.

This is Vuth.

This is at one of those sandy stretches. Where the path is broad like here it really is not much of a problem to ride it fast. And it is fun. Oddly, all of us have the same sort of bike.

This is again some hours later, already later afternoon. Vuth has some problems getting his bike started but as he is a good mechanic he manages to fix it within minutes. From here we have still a long way to go and I feel already very tired. At this point my moto was down many times and accordingly I had lifted and kick started it so much that I am not very excited about the opportunity to continue doing it.

As it is dry season the land is extremely dusty. And as I am usually riding behind John and Vuth I am eating a lot of dust. When we pass villages I am sort of concerned I might hit a child, as I really cannot see very much. Moreover, sometimes I feel speeding through those villages is not particularly sensitive behavior. However, people do not seem to care much about it. Quite the opposite. Wherever we pass a village, people, particularly children will stand cheering along the road.

Wherever we stop we do not need to wait long to have numerous company, like in this village. Here the scenery is somewhat different with fine with sand all over the place.

Here we enjoy some coconut milk before we continue our trip. It is already close to getting dark and we still have a long way to go. At this point my need for moto cross is more than satisfied and I am a bit concerned that it is getting more difficult as soon as it is dark.

So we continue the journey. By now I am much more confident with the bike and do not fall as often anymore. However, the terrain is still challenging and it is getting dark rapidly.

We are still riding when it is entirely dark. Although I got light on my bike I cannot see anything. There is so much dusk that the light does not reach the ground. I just continue following those guys, as they know the area well. Once more I end up in the rice field when I am to fast to follow the turn of the road.

Again 30 minutes later we are back on some sort of road and from here riding is not a problem anymore. I bring the bike back to the shop and am glad that I can go home by moto taxi, without having to ride myself.

This is how I look like by the time I reach the guesthouse. Although it is not even 8 pm I feel very tired and go to bed early.