30,000 Kilometers And Counting

Just got into Phnom Penh from a five-day trip to Preah Vihear via Kampong Thom and to Prey Veng via Kampong Cham.

My first trip to Preah Vihear by motorcycle was surprisingly easy, considering that it is widely considered one of Cambodia's 'remote' Provinces. When I first visited this province after Cambodia's 1993 elections, it was remote. There was no land access out of Kampong Thom; we went in by UN helicopter.

That has changed.  Read More!

But there remain plenty areas in the province that are remote: areas along the Thai border and away from the main highway north. Therefore, even though getting in the province is so much easier than ever was, don't worry that it has all become civilized and boring. Far from it. Even ten kilometers off the main road near Phnom Deik where we were, travel is slow and difficult.

In Prey Veng I aimed to visit Ba Phnom, the ancient temple site--also hadn't been there since 1993. At that time I was training Cambodian interpreters for UNTAC in advance of the elections. Ba Phnom was disappointing, though another temple in the northwest of the province was very interesting--Prasat Prey Daem Srok.

But this post's aim is not to talk about all that, but to document a milestone for me: 30,000 kilometers on my Honda CL in Cambodia. And counting. Nothing more than that. :)