Life's a Trip: Chapter Twelve - Cambodia Dreamin'
January 3, 2007
Back in October I had decided that I wanted to take a vacation over winter break. Faced with almost a month of potential vacation time, my imagination raced with possibilities. There were so many places and activities to choose from that I didn't even know where to start. Eventually, I began by simply typing “adventure vacation” into Google to get some ideas. After perusing quite a few sites I had narrowed my search to some sort of mountain biking tour in a foreign country such as China, Laos or Cambodia.
As I was flipping through sites I came across the “Dancing Roads” website. Dancing Roads is a company that is offers dirt biking tours across the Cambodian countryside. Of course, I immediately fell in love with the possibility of ripping around on a 250cc off road motorcycle and the idea that I'd get to travel the country in a unique way. To top it all off, I read that they offer a tour which stops at the Ankor Wat. For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, the Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument in the world and it boasts some absolutely breathtaking Buddhist art. I have wanted to visit it ever since I did a project on the history of the Angkor Wat in my high school world history class. I was ready to start packing...
But of course, my fantasizing was offset by the practicalities associated with the trip. The first and foremost issue that came to mind was the fact that I'd never ridden a dirt bike. Of course, I've been mountain biking for about 5 years now, so I figured that there should be some transferability between the two disciplines. However, we're talking about switching from city/trail riding in Toronto, where my top speed on the trail is about 30-40 kph and my top road speed is 70 kph, to some pretty challenging dirt biking conditions. I'd be riding in through countryside and jungle at speeds of 60-80 kph and on-road I'd hit speeds in excess of 100 kph. But then again, no one ever learned to ride a dirt bike by sitting at home worrying about whether or not they could do it. I had to just jump in.
The second concern that came to mind was Cambodia's reputation. According to internet sources Cambodia is a pretty dangerous place, with a pretty dark history and it has the highest number of active land mines among all the world's nations. This is thanks to the Khmer Rouge regime which systematically starved and killed devastating numbers of the Cambodian population during an attempt at creating a socialist agrarian revolution. During their crusade the Khmer Rouge littered the country with over 10 million landmines (one for each member of the Cambodian population). This fact definitely made me think long and hard about going off-roading, but after contemplating my potential fate I decided that I should be passionately pursuing my desires even if it meant dismemberment or death.
I began to write to the operators of Dancing Roads to inquire about their tours. The company is run by a lovely couple named Paeng Ton and Sonia Taheri. Paeng was born and raised in Cambodia and has been cruising through life on the seat of a bike since he was youngster, while Sonia is a British ex-patriot who immigrated to Cambodia years ago as an English teacher. Over the course of two months Paeng and Sonia patiently answered (literally) hundreds of my questions and addressed all of my concerns. By the time that I actually met Paeng and Sonia, I felt as though I was seeing friends after a long separation rather than meeting people for the first time.
When I arrive in Phnom Penh at 8:00 am, I'm confronted with a hoard of people holding signs as they wait for friends, family or tourists. As I scan the crowd I find my name and meet Paeng for the first time. From the moment I meet him, Paeng has a beaming smile on his face. It gives me the impression that he's someone who truly enjoys every second of life and that he's passionate about what he does. The following days that I spend with Paeng overwhelmingly confirm my initial impression.
We load my baggage into Paeng's truck and head into the downtown core of Phnom Penh where we eat breakfast and discuss our plans for the day. We decide to stop by my hotel so I can settle in for a little bit and then Paeng will pick me up later in the day for my dirt biking lesson and some practice riding. However, when we get to the hotel we're told that my room isn't ready, so we leave my things with the hotel staff and we immediately head to Paeng's place to get the dirt bikes and go riding.
At this point everything seems surreal. Cambodia is unlike any place I've ever been before, so just being there for the first little while is strange and fascinating. To make things more surreal, I've been in Cambodia for less two hours and I find myself standing in Paeng's garage in full dirt biking gear as he tosses me the keys to one of his bikes and says, “Let's go!” Our plan is to hit the Choeung Ek Memorial, which marks the place of the notorious Cambodian Killing Fields, and then we'll go practice in a field near the Killing Fields...I try not to think of this as some sort of foreshadowing.
I've never really been dirt biking before this. I went for about two hours with my friend Hide while I was still in Japan but that was about a month before I left for Cambodia and I wasn't even good enough to leave the gravel parking lot near Hide's family's house. Now I'm heading into the most lawless traffic that I have ever seen in the busiest city in Cambodia. Greeeeeeaaaat. We hit the streets of Phnom Penh and I'm overwhelmed. I'm trying desperately not to stall the bike with my amateur shifting skill, and we're on the way to my lesson...I begin to think to myself, “What's the lesson going to consist of? Jumping through fire?” I watch Paeng as he rides ahead of me and do my best to mimic him in regards to steering, positioning and shifting. By the time that we get 15km out of Phnom Penh I have forgotten all of my fears and worries and I'm simply in love with dirt biking.
We spend the next hour or so walking through the Killing Fields with a tour guide who recounts chilling details about the events that went on there.
The Choeung Ek Memorial
Lighting incense for the victims of the Khmer Rouge
Some remains from the over 8,000 Cambodian people who were killed at this particular site
After we finish our tour of the Killing Fields, Paeng and I sit by our bikes and simply chat for a while. I ask him about his childhood in Cambodia and his personal experiences with the Khmer Rouge and ask him why he wasn't killed or enlisted. He's very patient with me and answers all of my questions without reservation. I can honestly say that this conversation with Paeng is one of the most interesting conversations that I have ever had. Many times people try to convince you that life is this way or that way and that they know something about life, while you don't. But Paeng doesn't seem to care about being right or wrong, by simply telling me about his experiences many of my perceptions about life and the state of the world are changed. As I listen to him it's humbling to realize how narrow my experiences have been and how good my life has been.
During the afternoon we stop at the side of the road and order a traditional Khmer lunch at a family's house. Among the dishes that we order is some type of chicken curry soup. As soon as we order it, a young man comes out of the family's house and grabs the chicken that's milling about near my feet, taking it inside to make the soup. That's freshness...
When the food arrives, one of the most notable characteristics is the way that the chicken is prepared. It's as though someone has plucked the chicken and then subsequently chopped it from end to end, leaving the bones and internal organs intermingled with the chicken meat. When I ask Paeng about this, he tells me that the meat has been left on the bone so that you can chew the bone and absorb some of the calcium from it. That's the interesting part about Khmer cooking, aside from being delicious, it's also very practical and hearty.
After lunch we drive to a nearby cow field and Paeng lets me practice for a few hours, while he watches and gives me pointers. As I practice, an audience begins to assemble. Many of the children who tend to cows in the surrounding area have come to investigate the rumbling sounds that sweep across the otherwise quiet plains and they're delighted to discover a pair of dirt bikers.
Ready to roll...
Some local kids
Finally cruisin'
Night falls and Paeng drops me off at my hotel so that I can grab a quick shower. It feels great to remove the thick layer of red dirt that had accumulated on my skin. When I'm clean we head out for a nice dinner with Sonia and some of her friends on the bank where the Tonle Sap and Mekong river meet. It's a beautiful night, but I can't enjoy it for too long because Paeng is going to be at the hotel tomorrow at 6:30 am and we're going to be on the road every day after that. Let the adventure begin!
Nighttime on the river
Back in October I had decided that I wanted to take a vacation over winter break. Faced with almost a month of potential vacation time, my imagination raced with possibilities. There were so many places and activities to choose from that I didn't even know where to start. Eventually, I began by simply typing “adventure vacation” into Google to get some ideas. After perusing quite a few sites I had narrowed my search to some sort of mountain biking tour in a foreign country such as China, Laos or Cambodia.
As I was flipping through sites I came across the “Dancing Roads” website. Dancing Roads is a company that is offers dirt biking tours across the Cambodian countryside. Of course, I immediately fell in love with the possibility of ripping around on a 250cc off road motorcycle and the idea that I'd get to travel the country in a unique way. To top it all off, I read that they offer a tour which stops at the Ankor Wat. For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, the Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument in the world and it boasts some absolutely breathtaking Buddhist art. I have wanted to visit it ever since I did a project on the history of the Angkor Wat in my high school world history class. I was ready to start packing...
But of course, my fantasizing was offset by the practicalities associated with the trip. The first and foremost issue that came to mind was the fact that I'd never ridden a dirt bike. Of course, I've been mountain biking for about 5 years now, so I figured that there should be some transferability between the two disciplines. However, we're talking about switching from city/trail riding in Toronto, where my top speed on the trail is about 30-40 kph and my top road speed is 70 kph, to some pretty challenging dirt biking conditions. I'd be riding in through countryside and jungle at speeds of 60-80 kph and on-road I'd hit speeds in excess of 100 kph. But then again, no one ever learned to ride a dirt bike by sitting at home worrying about whether or not they could do it. I had to just jump in.
The second concern that came to mind was Cambodia's reputation. According to internet sources Cambodia is a pretty dangerous place, with a pretty dark history and it has the highest number of active land mines among all the world's nations. This is thanks to the Khmer Rouge regime which systematically starved and killed devastating numbers of the Cambodian population during an attempt at creating a socialist agrarian revolution. During their crusade the Khmer Rouge littered the country with over 10 million landmines (one for each member of the Cambodian population). This fact definitely made me think long and hard about going off-roading, but after contemplating my potential fate I decided that I should be passionately pursuing my desires even if it meant dismemberment or death.
I began to write to the operators of Dancing Roads to inquire about their tours. The company is run by a lovely couple named Paeng Ton and Sonia Taheri. Paeng was born and raised in Cambodia and has been cruising through life on the seat of a bike since he was youngster, while Sonia is a British ex-patriot who immigrated to Cambodia years ago as an English teacher. Over the course of two months Paeng and Sonia patiently answered (literally) hundreds of my questions and addressed all of my concerns. By the time that I actually met Paeng and Sonia, I felt as though I was seeing friends after a long separation rather than meeting people for the first time.
When I arrive in Phnom Penh at 8:00 am, I'm confronted with a hoard of people holding signs as they wait for friends, family or tourists. As I scan the crowd I find my name and meet Paeng for the first time. From the moment I meet him, Paeng has a beaming smile on his face. It gives me the impression that he's someone who truly enjoys every second of life and that he's passionate about what he does. The following days that I spend with Paeng overwhelmingly confirm my initial impression.
We load my baggage into Paeng's truck and head into the downtown core of Phnom Penh where we eat breakfast and discuss our plans for the day. We decide to stop by my hotel so I can settle in for a little bit and then Paeng will pick me up later in the day for my dirt biking lesson and some practice riding. However, when we get to the hotel we're told that my room isn't ready, so we leave my things with the hotel staff and we immediately head to Paeng's place to get the dirt bikes and go riding.
At this point everything seems surreal. Cambodia is unlike any place I've ever been before, so just being there for the first little while is strange and fascinating. To make things more surreal, I've been in Cambodia for less two hours and I find myself standing in Paeng's garage in full dirt biking gear as he tosses me the keys to one of his bikes and says, “Let's go!” Our plan is to hit the Choeung Ek Memorial, which marks the place of the notorious Cambodian Killing Fields, and then we'll go practice in a field near the Killing Fields...I try not to think of this as some sort of foreshadowing.
I've never really been dirt biking before this. I went for about two hours with my friend Hide while I was still in Japan but that was about a month before I left for Cambodia and I wasn't even good enough to leave the gravel parking lot near Hide's family's house. Now I'm heading into the most lawless traffic that I have ever seen in the busiest city in Cambodia. Greeeeeeaaaat. We hit the streets of Phnom Penh and I'm overwhelmed. I'm trying desperately not to stall the bike with my amateur shifting skill, and we're on the way to my lesson...I begin to think to myself, “What's the lesson going to consist of? Jumping through fire?” I watch Paeng as he rides ahead of me and do my best to mimic him in regards to steering, positioning and shifting. By the time that we get 15km out of Phnom Penh I have forgotten all of my fears and worries and I'm simply in love with dirt biking.
We spend the next hour or so walking through the Killing Fields with a tour guide who recounts chilling details about the events that went on there.
The Choeung Ek Memorial
Lighting incense for the victims of the Khmer Rouge
Some remains from the over 8,000 Cambodian people who were killed at this particular site
After we finish our tour of the Killing Fields, Paeng and I sit by our bikes and simply chat for a while. I ask him about his childhood in Cambodia and his personal experiences with the Khmer Rouge and ask him why he wasn't killed or enlisted. He's very patient with me and answers all of my questions without reservation. I can honestly say that this conversation with Paeng is one of the most interesting conversations that I have ever had. Many times people try to convince you that life is this way or that way and that they know something about life, while you don't. But Paeng doesn't seem to care about being right or wrong, by simply telling me about his experiences many of my perceptions about life and the state of the world are changed. As I listen to him it's humbling to realize how narrow my experiences have been and how good my life has been.
During the afternoon we stop at the side of the road and order a traditional Khmer lunch at a family's house. Among the dishes that we order is some type of chicken curry soup. As soon as we order it, a young man comes out of the family's house and grabs the chicken that's milling about near my feet, taking it inside to make the soup. That's freshness...
When the food arrives, one of the most notable characteristics is the way that the chicken is prepared. It's as though someone has plucked the chicken and then subsequently chopped it from end to end, leaving the bones and internal organs intermingled with the chicken meat. When I ask Paeng about this, he tells me that the meat has been left on the bone so that you can chew the bone and absorb some of the calcium from it. That's the interesting part about Khmer cooking, aside from being delicious, it's also very practical and hearty.
After lunch we drive to a nearby cow field and Paeng lets me practice for a few hours, while he watches and gives me pointers. As I practice, an audience begins to assemble. Many of the children who tend to cows in the surrounding area have come to investigate the rumbling sounds that sweep across the otherwise quiet plains and they're delighted to discover a pair of dirt bikers.
Ready to roll...
Some local kids
Finally cruisin'
Night falls and Paeng drops me off at my hotel so that I can grab a quick shower. It feels great to remove the thick layer of red dirt that had accumulated on my skin. When I'm clean we head out for a nice dinner with Sonia and some of her friends on the bank where the Tonle Sap and Mekong river meet. It's a beautiful night, but I can't enjoy it for too long because Paeng is going to be at the hotel tomorrow at 6:30 am and we're going to be on the road every day after that. Let the adventure begin!
Nighttime on the river
posted by Christopher Janca at 5:43 a.m.
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