e packed our tents, loaded up the bikes and left Pak Bong for Khong Jiem on HW 2368, our destination was a small village called Ban Tamui. We were in Ban Tamui to meet up with Rak Thai who had a project called “Uncle Hoo: The Wise Owl.” The concept of the project was to bring knowledge to children who lived in far away places, restricting their access to a broader education. Uncle Hoo was actually a real person named Khun Prateep who drove around in a minivan loaded with books and various other educational materials – somewhat of a moving library. He would drive into town, unload his van and set up various learning stations. Khun Preteep along with volunteers will then guide children from one station to the next – each station focusing on one particular subject - there were global warming, irrigational, fishing and ecosystem stations to name a few. As always, Rak Thai/CARE goal was to educate people to be self-sufficient. In the case of “Uncle Hoo,” he was literally bringing knowledge to the people on four wheels.
The next day we rode 350 km from Khong Jiem to Chong Chom in Surin province, crossing border into Cambodia at O Smach. From there it was a short ride to the town of Anlong Veng. One of the things that worried me the most preparing for this trip was having the proper registration papers for our bikes. We had a tight filming schedule and couldn’t afford to have a major hick-up; not being able to cross border would had been a big problem. We got to the Chong Chom/O Smach border and got through the Thai side easily. However, on the Cambodian side one of our vehicle registration number did not match the paper works (due to a typo) and we were not able to cross border with it. We fixed the problem by having one of the driver’s drive the 4-wheel car back to Bangkok, while the crew would ride in our Cambodian guide’s truck. After being held up for about 3 hours at the checkpoint we crossed border into Cambodia and continued for Anlong Veng.
On the ride to Anlong Veng I desperately had to relieve myself so I stopped by the road and started heading for the bushes. As I was walking our guide yelled at me and told me to come back right away – he said they were many unexploded landmines and it’s still highly dangerous in this area. I got back on my bike and decided instead to hold my bladder until we arrive in Anlong Veng.
Anlong Veng was the Khmer Rouge former strong hold. It is home to Pol Pot, Nuon Chea and Ta Mok, some of the most notorious leaders of Democratic Kampuchea. Until falling to government forces in 1998, Along Veng was considered a very dangerous place seeing almost no travelers passing by - the Chong Chom border, where we entered, was just recently declared an international border crossing. Most travelers who came to Anlong Veng were interested in the history of the Khmer Rouge, especially that of Pol Pot. For us we were just passing by on our way south to Siem Reap.
The following morning we left Anlong Veng traveling 170 km on main HW NH67 for Siem Reaps. However, calling the NH67 a main highway is preposterous since it was one of the worst rode I had ridden on this whole trip. The rode was just recently bulldozed through the jungles and the entire route was either under repair or construction – basically 90% of the time we where riding on red dirt. There were red dust in the air and half the time you couldn’t see where you were heading. I was driving along at about 90 km/hr with dust in the air and all of a sudden the dirt road turned into sand causing my bike to wobble and eventually me falling off. I promised myself that I would not fall again after my much mishap on the Pink Route in Tak, so obviously I was quite disappointed with myself. Hui got off his bike and just started laughing - I thought to myself what’s so funny about this. He took a picture of me and my entire body was covered in red dirt – it looked like I had just ridden out of hell with some monster breathing down my neck. I gathered all my belongings (which had fallen of the bike), checked that my bike was ok and we continued for Siem Reab.
Somehow our guide had gotten a good deal and booked us into a nice 4 star hotel in Siem Reab. Walking through the lobby, Hui and I looked completely out of place and everyone was looking at me, pointing and laughing. With the film crew behind us I told the tourist in the lobby we were at Angkor filming Tomb Raider 3 – I thought some of them actually believed me! I got into my hotel room, spent an hour in the shower and laid on the bed - falling asleep within a few minutes.
In Siem Reab you couldn’t avoid visiting the various temples so the following day we headed for Angkor. Personally I prefer Ta Prohm to Angkor Wat. Unlike the other temples of Angkor, Ta Prohm was literally swallowed up by the surrounding jungles, giving it a truly mystical feel. There was something poetic about the place, the duality between manmade vs. nature, stones vs. trees – intertwining together to create something that was truly unique and surreal. Cambodians have weathered years of bloodshed under one of the most brutal regime the world has ever seen - Ta Prohm and the other temples of Angkor remind them they are the descendent of the mighty Khmer empire, something for them to be proud of.
Almost every Cambodian I met lost half of their family during the reign of the Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot. What impressed me the most was despite all the hardship they’ve been through, they still remain some of the friendliest people I had ever met – always willing to help with a smile on their face. Next week we continue our Journey to Kompong Thom and on to Phnom Penh where we came upon atrocious remnants of the Pol Pot regime. At the same time we also see the brighter side of Phnom Penh - one of Indochina loveliest French-built cities.
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