We had to wake up kind of early again today because we were going to go for a long motorbike ride in the Cambodian jungle and mountains. We decided the day before to hire a company called Khmer Ways to give us a tour. All of their reviews online were positive and we were excited for an adventure. We didn't know what we were getting in to (both good and bad).
Us on our cool rides
Time kind of got away from us in the morning so we were rushing to pack up and leave. Our guide was waiting for us in the lobby and he had a tuk-tuk give us a ride over to their place. Their little area is basically a house on the edge of town where they store all their motorbikes. We got on the bikes and drove around their yard for a little bit just doing small oval shapes so we could get a handle on accelerating slowly and braking. After about 15 minutes, we worked our way up to driving down their alleyway which had some obstacles to avoid and a long stretch of road so we could go faster.
I'll be honest, at this point I was very nervous and I think Lacey was too. We felt woefully unprepared for this level of driving. The thought of just saying "nawww" and heading back was on my mind but the guides pushed us to keep going and start the trip. We had 2 guides who rode together on a bike and then Lacey and I each had our own. We had 2 guides in case one or both of us didn't feel comfortable driving, then one or both of them could take over for us. So we had a caravan of 3 motorbikes total.
Crossroads market
It's nice that their place is on the edge of town because we didn't have to worry about too much traffic. It was clear from the first 5 minutes that we did not dress appropriately though. The weather everywhere we had been up to this point was SO HOT AND SUNNY. At the guides suggestion, we wore our long pants but really should have worn our long sleeves too. It was about 65 degrees and cloudy the entire ride to the base of the mountains. That probably sounds great to Minnesotans right now but it's pretty cold for us on a bike in the wind.
For those wondering, we drove Honda Dream 125cc motorbikes. There was no clutch but we did shift up or down with peddles as we drove up steep inclines.
Dirt road
The first part of the drive was pretty good. We alternated between some paved roads and some dirt roads. I missed being able to talk to Lacey and kept thinking weird thoughts in my head about her crashing or me crashing. Lacey said she talked to herself a lot. Our first pit stop was at a crossroads with a market. There was a butcher cutting up meat and some dead chickens and lots of people staring at us haha. Both of our right hands were tingling from holding the gas down.
The next stretch of driving was looooooong. We drove for over 1 hour 20 minutes straight to the base of Kulen Mountain National Park. About 33% was on a cool dirt road but the rest was on a long, boring stretch of highway. Yuck. It didn't help that it was overcast the whole way. My hand started to go numb and so did Lacey's. This is when the really weird thoughts were going through my head and it really sucked not talking to anyone at all.
Example of jungle road we drove on
At the base of the mountain, we had a snack of some jackfruit. Lacey didn't like the texture and I thought they were just okay. Fun to try new stuff though! Our next 45 minutes or so were up the side of a mountain and then through lots of lush green jungle. The peaks of blue sky with the green jungle and red dirt roads was incredible to see. After the hard, boring drive here, this driving was worth it.
Waterfall
We made it to a waterfall and took some pictures. Some European people were swimming so we had to wait for them to move to take good pictures. We could have swam but we really didn't want to. There was also a couple there taking wedding pictures. The waterfall was pretty and made me think of Costa Rica even though I've never been there. On the walk to the waterfall, there was a lot of tourist stuff like restaurants and things like that. It was nice to have the guides with us because the salespeople wouldn't really bug us then.
We ate lunch at the waterfall restaurant. Lacey got beef kebabs that were awesome and I got hot basil chicken that was just alright. Before leaving, our guide said that instead of the more challenging road to an Elephant Buddha statue, he thought we should go see a slightly less challenging Buddhist Monastery instead. There was no arguing from us!
View from Big Buddha
The road to the monastery was quite a bit more sandy and rocky than the other dirt roads. There were also a lot of potholes and the guides would point them out for us since they were riding first. At one point, Lacey's back wheel slipped on a rock and she went into the ditch. By some miracle, she and the bike were not hurt at all. It did really freak her out though (understandably) so she had one of the guides finish the drive up to the monastery while she rode.
The monastery was very cool. There were different monuments all over and the view down the mountain valley was pretty. Our guide told us a little about Buddhism and how the monks live. We also stopped at a big Buddha statue that apparently was carved around 900 AD, making it older than the temples we had been seeing at Angkor Wat. Crazy! The view from the big Buddha was also really pretty. It was nice to talk to the guide (who spoke pretty good English) and ask him about stuff we had seen in Cambodia like party tents and roadside sales people. Our guide also really liked telling us about all of the trees in the area.
Pano of view we drove by
Again, driving through the jungle with the colors and wind and knowing not many people do this was so amazing. We made the descent down the mountains and stopped at the mountain base camp. At this time, both me and Lacey had very. very sore butts and hands. We were resigned to the fact we would be in pain for the next couple hours.
Lacey's favorite time driving was on a red, dirt road back to the city. We were passing a bunch of different houses on each side of the road. Kids would stare and some would wave as we drove by. The sun was peaking out from the clouds and it was just incredible. It was a very special moment for both of us.
Favorite time of driving by houses
We finally made it back their place after an absolutely exhausting, but rewarding day. The tour was quite expensive (most expensive single activity we did all trip) but it was something we'll remember for a long time.
We got back to the hostel and ate dinner there again. I feel bad about not venturing out into Siem Reap and really experiencing the food but we were just so tired and our butts hurt and we had been kind of cold all day. All we wanted to do was eat and then lay down, which is basically what we did.
Fried Rice and drink for Lacey at hostel
Tomorrow is our last day in Siem Reap so we're doing sunrise at Angkor Wat temple and then flying back to Bangkok.
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