If anyone's in Cambodia at the moment, and is free to embark on a mini adventure for a week or two, please give me a shout.
I'm thinking of extending the hire of my XR for a bit, and maybe heading North East, for a touch of dirt road exploration. That sounds almost like a naughty euphamism, I assure you it's not.

Any thoughts of questions readily received....

post here, or mail
bar0nb0lton [at] hotmai|,com

Have fun man! I was there in the monsoon and the north east is hardcore.

__________________
Thanks
Joe

I loved riding up to Stung Treng, got a picture of some of the local kids under the sign I will check for it later, it's worth the journey to the (flat) Volcano as you cna swim in it as it's now a LAKE.

But it's not advisable in the monsoon season, as I was riding through over a foot of that red clay crap tey have, and following the rutts of the trucks is pure hell. I dropped the bike about 8 times that day, fun but tiring.

Apart from that watch out for the locals spiking your tires if you leave your bike anyplace, you have been warned.

Lee

Thanks both, sounds like I'm in for an adventure, all be it a solo event!

I'm in Sihanoukville at the moment, and the girl I'm riding with managed to keep it upright after a blowout on NH4 just out of town! Luckily we were given tubes by Angkor Motorcycles when we rented the bikes, and managed to borrow a couple of 19mm spanners to use as levers.
I was amazed as a crowd of 28 people slowly gathered to watch the western chap sweat over the road-side repair.

I've just read Simon Manicom's books, in which he describes his procedure of scribing a large circle in the dirt round the bike, and employing a local to guard this makeshift workshop area.
I can see the merit on this, after many of the onlookers were so keen to 'help' me out.

Anyhoo, thanks for the encouragement.

Safe riding

I loved Sihanoukville I stayed near the goldern lion statue, cant remeber the name of the place I was in but it was really lovely, the beaches were quite nice and I think that more people should visit there instead of Thailand.

Hi Baron , sorry we miss each other in Cambodia, if you got some time go to Cardamon there you will find some great off road I went across it twice and love it its not too far from
Sihanoukville there you can rest on the beach and enjoy the site( treasure Island is a great place to see the sunset there ) and the Seaside hotel is great for a very confit stay.

I will be in India for few month startin in March maybe we will meet there??

Sihanoukville was superb Judda, and I could have easily spent a month there. Plenty of lovely people, and an ideal travellers rest. How long ago were you there?

I think more and more people are visiting Cambodia now, rather than Thailand, but I'm not sure it's a good thing. I've been thinking about the effects of tourism on developing countries, and haven't got any further than confusing myself and becoming suspicious.
A recent survey indicated that about 70% of children working around Angkor Wat had received sexual advances from tourists!
Since my last visit about 18 months ago, it seems the sex industry has seen a steady growth, and in the two weeks I've been here, we had an attempted bag snatch, and while I was swimming, my girlfriend was distracted while some kids stole my wallet!

Sorry, that turned into a rant, it's doesn't really reflect how I feel.
I've had a really good time here, and would certainly recommend it, but I have reservations about tourism at the moment I guess.

Thanks for the Emails Hendi, and have an excellent time in India. I'm not lucky enough to be going back there for a little while yet, but if you're back home in about 18 months, then I'd certainly like to meet up, and share some stories..

Safe riding all.

Hi,

I spent 1 week there first when I was coming from Thailand and going to Vietnam, then I spent 2 weeks coming from Nam returning to the Thai side. I actually rode over the mountian to Hat Lek the story of that one is on the GT Rider forum, in the monsoon season being new to riding, in foot deep mud riding through truck rutts.

I got offered some kids when I stopped off for water in the boonies, but I just pretended I didn't understand what the women was on about drank my water and sped off. Apart from that once it never happened again, the Cambodians are really dirt poor and I always carry sweets and crayons in my pockets or backpack for when I meet the most desperate kids, it's nice to see their little faces light up when the present you give them cost about 2p. Not like my nephews with their iPods, Playstations, Motorbikes, ATV PSP's and Nitendo DS's







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