Motorbiking Cambodia

Freedom is a
250cc Honda Degree

Cambodia is infamous for being the country with the most land mines in the world and some of the worst roads. Sounds ideal for some independent exploring via motorbike. Actually it really is, despite the negative impression on the surface. The bad roads mean that most of the traffic is other motorbikes and bicycles, and larger vehicles have to go a little slower. land mines are a concern, but as long as you always follow a path that has been driven or trod before you are safe. In Cambodia the amount of freedom you get with a motorbike is unparalleled, and having a motorbike opens up the door into the heart of the country. Motorbiking Cambodia is not a risk free endeavor by any means, but it was an amazing experience that I would love to repeat on a larger scale someday.

We bused into Cambodia from Vietnam and arrived in the capital of Phnom Penh in the early afternoon. We checked into a nice lake front hotel, the "Floating Island," for a record low $2 each. Then spent the afternoon just checking out the city some with a friend we made on the buss, a friendly girl from California named Endy. That evening Kala and I made a flurry of preparations and figured out the logistics for the 3 day motorbiking adventure we wanted to attempt. With our time constraints and the host of concerning "what if" scenarios, I was a little tentative to commit fully to the trip at first. But eventually the intrigue and challenge of it swayed me, and I am extremely happy with our decision to go for it now.

In the morning we got up early and went to the "Lucky Lucky 2" rental shop to secure our ride. We got a big 250cc Honda Degree dirt bike with plenty of power and massive shocks. The last time I had ridden a motorbike was up at Canyon Ferry back in high school, and this bike seemed huge at first and I could only vaguely remember how the clutch and gears work on a dirt bike. Needless to say I was slightly intimidated by the beastly bike, but I was still confident I could master it. I gave the bike a shaky test drive just down the block and was happy with the bike. But, then an issue surfaced.

They did not have the helmets we had been promised the night before. At first they told us they were very important and that we should buy them or we might get maimed or killed. Conveniently, one of the guys know someone who could sell then to us for just $12 each. However, the bike rental was only $10 per day ($30 total), so it would have almost doubled our costs to $54 all totaled. Pushing for the sale one of the employees said, "$12 is nothing for the safety." Not willing to be scammed we insisted that the helmets had been included in the rental price. At which point they changed their pitch to saying we did not really need helmets. It was not until I looked around at some nearby rental shops and we convincingly threatened to walk away that they were able to magically make a call and find some helmets. They told us they had to buy the helmets new just for us and tried to get us to pay $2 each a day for them as a rental fee. But, we stayed firm and vehemently insisted that they had been promised in the verbal rental agreement we made the night before. Finally, they gave in. But we had to ride across town to get the helmets, without helmets.

We strapped our bag to the back with some strips of tire tube and then mounted. I got on first and stabilized the bike while Kala climbed up and wedged herself between me and the backpack. With everything and everyone loaded on the bikes shocks sank about 6 inches. Then with our boatload on two wheel we headed off following some of the employees, who were on their own bike, to get gas and helmets. The first thing we had to do was cross the main street in town without the aid of a stoplight to get across to the gas station. Talk about a pressure situation right off the bat. It was only the 3rd time I was starting the bike from a stop and it was to cross 4 lanes of insane, interweaving, and illogical traffic. But we survived, got across the street, and got gassed up. Then we crossed the street again and headed across town to get the helmets. Along the way I got more and more of a feel for the bike and by the time we reached the shop I was feeling reasonably good on the bike.

They gave us the two helmets begrudgingly, which were certainly not brand new, and we then we headed to the central market in town. There we got a chain lock for the bike and the most essential thing, a detailed road map of Cambodia. Finally, we were all set to go and we vroomed off down the road heading south out of town.

to be continued...