Like every other country on this planet Cambodia wears its load of decent people and assholes.
But when it comes to driving it wouldn't be racist to say that you'll be confronted to a bunch of monkeys regardless if they hold a Cambodian driving license (aka Monkey's license to Kill) or not. It's just a fact.
When driving you can ignore absolutely all traffic regulations because it's not what will keep you alive.
The most important thing is to know that anybody, at any time, can just decide to crash into you, not because they hate you, just because ... well ... I'm not sure... because they don't see you? or think you shouldn't be there? or they're just monkeys behind a wheel...
The only problem with ignoring the traffic regulations is that you'll be financing the police task force party fund, which should cost 5000 to 10000 Riels ($1.25 to $2.5), but 5 to 20$ for foreigners who won't have the time to bargain their way through... or in my case below, 4 cans of Angkor Beer (let's cut the middle man and get these people what they really want, straight at the source).
Now, what happens when you don't think about the fact that you can be abused at any moment by a monkey on wheels with his monkey driving license?
This:
Yes, I was driving, minding my own business (my 1st mistake), when a huge bus decided to pass another huge bus on a narrow road, without considering that I was coming from the opposite direction. He had seen me but was obviously unimpressed... Both buses taking the whole width of the road I had to decide whether to make my point and crash like a bug on the monkey driven bus... or be more diplomat, jump off the road and hope that there's no tree or rock or pillar or any obstacle there to crush me like a bug.
The bug Vs the monkey: Monkey 1 - 0 Bug
Of course the monkey driver didn't stop and I had to drag my sorry ass and my knee burger to the nearest doctor who tried to extort me 50$ while the bill was only 5. After all medicine can't be about helping people or we'd be too many on this planet.
It's much more fun to watch a fire burn than to go and help...
There are water ponds every 50m in Cambodia and this area has city water... every house has at least half a dozen buckets... But it's much more fun to watch a fire burning than to go give a hand to make sure that at least the fire will stop before devouring the next house.
I thought that there was solidarity in Cambodia, well... at least they join forces to watch, I also some laughing, amused by the spectacle...
There's no firemen in Cambodia, you'd think they'd be used to help one another.
No wonder the Khmer Rouge could do what they wanted when they wanted, I guess neighbors were watching executions laughing before to take their turn and make other laugh.
I've passed in front of there many times and always thought I'd have to spend a night up there.
I arrived in the afternoon and took many pictures but of course I didnt' see that my camera was on "macro" mode, so I had to throw them all away. I took many again in the morning though.
I asked to sleep in a corner, next to the cliff, to set my hammock between 2 trees, but the hermit monks had me sleep in a fully painted pagoda with a stunning view over the plains of Battambang.
These monks are not like Buddhist monks, they eat in the evening (Buddhist monks don't eat after noon), they wear white cloth and not orange, they put their white only when the pray and stay in civil clothes all day, they are men and women alike, they don't shave their head, and they don't pray to Buddha, they pray to the Hermit (Ey'Say in Khmer, Reu'See in Thai).... and they fart a lot and very loud, a real ice breaker.
They are the keepers of the shrine on the top of the hill though, where the majority of the paintings and idols are of Buddha, but many are of the Hermit, some of them picture the hermit as being a main disciple of Buddha and has the ability to speak with animals.
Find below all the unsorted pictures of the place (the morning pictures), as well as a video of the room they let me stay in. Fantastic, I go back there next week!!
After I got the bike from Japan Motorcycles in Phnom Penh I took it for a ride with Peter (green track on the map).
We did about 80 miles painlessly but I had a couple of things to fix on the bike which had not run for a couple of years apparently.
Engine was smooth still but it was not going faster than 75 mph.
Went to buy some boots (nice boots for 20$ (50$ at first, then down to 20... shit happens) at the Orissey Market in PP, got a nice hammock with mosquito net, locks for the bike, cooking gear, tools for the bike, then off on the road.
Took the N5, thinking I'd go all the way to Pursat but after 50 miles I had to turn back, problems with my carburetor, unable to accelerate half of the times... great, so much for my fantastic bike...
I turned back 10km from Kampong Chnang, called Peter to get moral support... my world was collapsing on wheels.
Back at Japan Motorcycles I had them to clean thoroughly the carburetor, which they were supposed to have done before, but in order to make sure it would be done properly I promised them 3$ and 3 cans of beer... the beer did the trick, the bike is now really good to drive.
Next morning off on the road again, this time I covered the whole orange line on the map in 1 shot, stopped by the Tonle Sap river bank trying to find a place to stay for the night... couldn't so I took off again. The bike is really not easy to drive on the sand, we're about 360kg altogether... but she went on well.
I tried my newly cleaned carburator and hit 90 mph, more than I need in Cambodia, all is good.
I slept by the road that night, somewhere half way between Kampong Chnang and Pursat. Set my hammock at the back of a roadside restaurant. All went well, slept like a baby.
That evening a Cambodian dude, apparently staff in that restaurant was bugging me for hours, asking me so many thousands questions about myself that I started to think that he was a cop trying to find out if I was not an escaped criminal of some sort.... real dodgy Mr Phad Dey.
Woke up at 6h00, took a pic of that Khmer girl who had tons of dishes to wash first thing in the morning, and then took off again, all the way to Battambang where I had to stop for a couple of days because a friend wanted an urgent and cheap :( website...
SECOND DAY: I made my way to Battambang. stayed a few days there to make a couple of websites for friends:
Nothing much, just worked there but on my way out I spotted that temple on the rocks and I'll surely go and sleep there a couple of days next month. I hope they have a couple of trees where I can hang my hammock on the top of that rock.
I also met that french guy who's travelling on bicycle with his wife and his 9 years old kid. They've already done 3000Km through Turkey and Cambodia... WOW!!
I've passed in front of there many times and always thought I'd have to spend a night up there.
These monks are not like Buddhist monks, they eat in the evening (Buddhist monks don't eat after noon), they wear white cloth and not orange, they put their white only when the pray and stay in civil clothes all day, they are men and women alike, they don't shave their head, and they don't pray to Buddha, they pray to the Hermit (Ey'Say in Khmer, Reu'See in Thai).... and they fart a lot and very loud, a real ice breaker.
