New adventure offered by Cambodia Expeditions – just finished a tour of Afghanistan? Call Basra home? This is the wind-down boat cruise for you: http://www.tothepointnews.com/content/view/3617/85/

Been a great few weeks on the jet boat for seeing wildlife: in two weeks we’ve seen three Killer Whale (possibly the same Orca we’ve seen the last three years, John  Coe from Scotland), Basking Shark twice, Minke Whale and by far the best sighting of Risso Dolphin I’ve had since starting to work on the boat ten years ago. And, of course, many, many common dolphin. Who says you need to go to New Zealand to see big fish – come to Wales, Mun.

In the rapid evolution of Countryside dynamics ox-cart trails become dirt tracks, dirt tracks get graded, then covered in tarmac. More and more of the country is going under the plough for rice, more and more wild areas being slash and burned and occupied. It’s an old mantra we keep repeating but worth repeating again “get over to Cambodia while it’s still the best place in the world to ride dirt bikes – it won’t stay this way for long.” Having criss-crossed Preah Vihear a whole bunch this season I was struck with how much quicker it is to travel the old dirt trails. Probably caused by the advent of the Iron Buffalo, the single cylinder, two wheeled, metal beast of burden, which will drag a laiden trailer through most conditions. And these are flattening out and widening even the most remote backwater moto trails, faster and much more efficiently than the lighter, slower ox-cart. Up the road scale a notch I’ve also noticed (had to by trying to rent them) but as roads improve and proliferate the old jacked up, mad-max Nissan Mighty X pick-up truck is also becoming obsolete and more difficult to find. A nuisance when it comes to moving motocycles, as they are being replaced by minibuses. More expensive and less secure, I’ve never felt hugely confident in sticking a couple of 120+ kilo 400cc dirt bikes on a minibus roofrack.

Outside Osom, on the edge of the Cardomon Mountains, there is a small Siamese Crocodile reserve. The locals and a foreign NGO have teamed up to protect this small piece of wetland heritage that is home to the rare croc. Always keen to catch sight of a little wildlife, the Three Jeans, Chris and myself, rode the 10k’s out of Osom to see if we couldn’t get a closer look. The environment reminded me of part of Chitwan National Park in Nepal, the part that is home to the Mass-Mugger crocodile, only slightly larger than the Siamese and easily seen basking in the sunshine at waters edge. We rode our bikes to the edge of the wetlands, where upon a couple of ‘guides’ presented themselves. Lots of Crocs they said, easy to see they said. OK. So we followed. Easy at first, then, wearing all our motocross gear, the guides led us straight into the swamp. Walking over a bed of floating grasses that occasionally gave up, plunging you waste deep in water, our sunset stroll turned into an army patrol in full fatiques. Must keep going we said, get to the end to see the crocs, must get back before dark. Swamp stomping ain’t easy in MX boots and pads! finally we make it across to the waters edge all expectant. “Where are the crocs then” I ask.
Looking at us side-ways he said straight faced, in Khmer, “of course you can’t see them they’re underwater.” Of course, stupid Barang.

For various reasons, most of them created out of my own maddness I’ve been unable to get near the old blog of late – but with the just launched and newly revamped website will come a flood of new and facinating blogs…err…hopefully.

Southern Laos – great riding country. Coffee plantations, plateaus, lots of river crossings, pleasantly cool climate. DR-Z Bill from Sihanoukville recently rode there and put details records of where to and how to on that excellent bikers resource website GT-Rider,

http://www.gt-rider.com/thailand-motorcycle-forum/sth-laos-hcm-trail-nong-fa-lake-attapeu-t5189.html,

or Golden Triangle Rider. Detailed and regularly updated forum with info about the entire region. They produce a really good map of Laos and well as GPS stuff. Worth checking out. www.GT-rider.com

A couple of spaces have come up for riders to join the last TombRaider/Hill Tribe Safari of the season leaving Phnom Penh on March 20th, 2009. The Eight Day Ride takes in some of the best riding, habitat and adventure to be found in country, including camping in an Angkorian Temple, visiting one of the country’s last remote hill tribes and a ride of the ‘Death Highway’ from Mondulkiri to Ratanakiri. A Cambodia Expeditions Showcase Tour. For more details contact us here at CamEx on tour@cambodiaexpeditions.com or give me a call on 00855 (0) 12 583759.

Something about Aussies that inspires nicknames, possibly because the average Aussie always refers to his mates by some obscure tag that the sufferer picked up somewhere along the way. Amongst one of the last groups we took out we had Princess, Bug and best of all ManWhore, or Mal. Stopping for a drink in a small village we attracted the usual crowd of bemused locals – a bunch of ten foot tall Aussies, dressed like colour blind power rangers and pulling wheelies on request were bound to attract a little attention – with one local guy in especially high spirits and leading the crowd. A natural mimic he was copying everything the Aussies were saying and throwing it right back at them. Then one of the guys pointed at Mal and proclaimed him ‘ManWhore Wussbag’ and it struck a chord. Our new friend repeated an immaculate ‘ManWhore Wussbag’ which had everybody in immediate hysterics. So he did it again, got the same reaction, bikers and locals in fits of laughter. So if you’re a dirt biker travelling from Ta Seng to Don Diek and someone comes out of a village and accuses you of being ‘ManWhore Wussbag’ don’t be offended, it’s just the Aussies have been through town. Hopefully Taz got it on helmet cam so it might even make YouTube…watch this space…

Guys down here in Sihanoukville are grabbing the initiative and starting the First Cambodian Bike Week, March 27th-29th. Hosted at local bar and nightclub PocoLoco apparently there will be DJ’s, Miss Cambodian Bike Week competition and, hopefully, lots of interesting motorcycles. Thai Bike Weeks in Pattaya and Chiang Mai are both HUGE and Sihanoukville would be the best place to hold one in Cambodia, with a great link road to Thailand via Koh Kong already attracting a steady flow of interesting tackle, including hoards of roaming Harley Davidsons. Of course the fancy motorcycle owners club, Barang or Khmer is tiny compared to Thailand but you gotta start somewhere. For more info try the website www.cambodiabikeweek.com which I’ve so far failed to open….or e-mail cambodianbikeweek@yahoo.com.

The trip over the Cardomon Mountains, stretching from Pailin to Koh Kong has always been one of the toughest and most rewarding rides to be had in Cambodia. An old trail running the gaunlet of the mountain ridges, overgrown and rain battered, it was always a challenge, blessed with fantastic views of the jungle. The small amount of local traffic on motos (no four wheelers out here, oh no) kept the track open. The ardent Cambodian travellers built small bridges, (often out of no more than one tree branch) cut up fallen trees and endevoured to find routes through the bush around immovable obstacles. But the old road from Osom to Koh Kong town would seem to have had it’s day, quickly being reclaimed by the jungle, as the local people have stopped using it.

The reason being is that the Chinese have moved in, claiming to be building a hydro-electric power plant at the foot of one of the country’s largest waterfalls. All they seem to have done so far is cut down trees and built red dirt roads like termites. Savagely clear cutting that was, less than a year ago, prime virgin forest. One of the workers we spoke to said that there will be two new roads banged through to KK at the rate of one kilometre per day. First one expected to be finished somewhere around the end of Feb 09. The new trail already runs from Pramoay/Veal Veng, past round Osom and 20 kilmetres further into the bush. The new route doesn’t follow the old, taking a flatter route between two mountain ridges instead.

We were the third group in a row to turn back on the old road, due to conditions, including the legendary Leng and Peng of Dancing Roads two tour leaders who arguably know the trail better than anyone, and, Leng especially, ride a dirt bike like they were born on them. Although Ben and the Extreme Rally Raid did make it through a couple of weeks later, but, it’s not called the Extreme Rally Raid for nothin’…