Broken bikes, Karma and Elephants.....

The landscape had been subtly changing ever since we left Phnom Penh, from the billiard table flat rice paddies to a more wooded and more undulating scenery, but now it was changing again into dense jungle with the ground rising up from a little above sea level to around 2500ft at the hill town of Sen Monorom. With the increase in altitude came a little respite from the intense heat. Even the locals were complaining about how unseasonally hot it was; we had been expecting around 26C from everything we had read but it was at least 10 degrees hotter and reached 40C at one point. It had been our best days ride so far  with a slightly smaller, winding road, swooping gently through the hills, and by far the least traffic we’d had so far. But of course there always has to be a counter to the fun…. Just as we crested the last hill before the town, we felt a bit of a sinking sensation on the bike, followed by a rather loud noise as the rear tyre rubbed on the mudguard; the rear shock had collapsed! We coasted gently down the last hill into town we me all but sitting on the handlebars and Allie as far forward as she could possibly get on the seat, trying to take as much weight as possible off of the rear shock. I wasn’t too worried as I felt sure we’d be able to get it fixed OK somewhere in town.

Our Hotel in Sen Monoron

I pulled into a little bike shop right at the foot of the hill. Whilst the guy didn’t speak any English he soon understood the problem as I bounced the bike up and down with not a trace of damping to be seen. He pointed me back up the hill, indicating that there was a workshop on the right hand side (which of course I’d just ridden past) where they could help me. Dropping Allie at a small café so she could rest in the shade with a cold bottle of water, I rode gently back up the hill. A man from the café rode past me and stopped near the top indicating where I should go. As soon as I walked into Reini’s workshop I knew I was in good hands. A row of Honda XR250s and 400s lined one wall, whilst a couple of Yamahas were undergoing full rebuilds. The cleanliness of the workshop was in marked contrast to any of the local bike places I had been into. As I explained my predicament to Adventure Rider Asia’s proprietor, Reini, he bounced the back end of our little Honda, and agreed with my initial diagnosis. He was immediately on his phone to Mr Cheng at Angkor Motorcycles in Phnom Penh requesting a new shock and telling him that he would get his mechanic to collect it and get it on the bus up to us. It was too late in the day to get it that afternoon so it would arrive late afternoon and be fitted first thing Sunday morning. Without either Allie or the luggage the bike was just about rideable, so I went to find us accommodation, unloaded and went back to collect Allie.

As is often the case with Allie, by the time I got to her she was no longer alone! She was being looked after by an American missionary and a local family with who he lived. Not only that but we had been invited to take lunch with them all, and very nice it was too. It was a simple home but they were warm, friendly and very open; the food was incredibly good too. Suki was an amazing cook, they shared their story of how they came to be living as a family, they had a little girl of about five years old and we then learnt that it was Suki’s birthday so we wished her a very happy birthday and after thanking them for their kindness we left to go to our hotel. Our hotel is nice we have a balcony and views over looking the jungle, just below the hotel is a little shack type local house where each afternoon a lady gently sways in her hammock.

Even Leng, our Hmong guide, get interrupted by her cell phone!

With the bike effectively out of commission until mid-morning Sunday we booked the hotel for three nights and booked an outing the elephants for the Sunday. Whilst I would have loved to do the full two day trek, Allie opted for us to do the one day outing. As it turned out, it was a wise choice because by the time we got back to our hotel on Saturday evening I had developed a raging sore throat and Allie was rather dehydrated. We met up with our group at the Green House Coffee Bar and Restaurant; a rather grand sounding name for a funny little shack of a place about 300 mts up the hill from our hotel. There were 12 of us altogether and there are no prizes for guessing who were the oldest !!! Yep, granny & grandpa Robinson do it again…

  Leaving at around 8.30am our first call was at and ethnic Hmong village both to collect out guide and to see just how the Hmong live.  They are an ethnic group from the mountainous regions of Cambodia, China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand and it was fascinating to see how there lives are virtually untouched  by the 21^st century, except of course for the ubiquitous cell phone and scooter! We went into two actual homes and met the lovely, friendly people who inhabit them, including one old lady (she was actually younger that either Allie or I) who was doggedly attacking a pile of logs and reducing them to a burnable size. She may have looked about 100 but she was obviously still fit and strong. Our guide, Leng, explained the age old custom amongst the Hmong of shortening the top front teeth by cutting the tops off with a sharp knife! It made me wince to just think about it. Apparent it then took from between three and six months before the pain subsided and the teeth went black (presumably because the roots has died) which was seen as a sign of beauty. Leng told us that hers is the first generation to move away from the practice; I would guess her to be around 30 years of age.

Back in the minibus we drove on for a further 15km or so before starting our trek through the jungle to find the elephants and the waterfall. I was easy going on the way in as it was all down hill, but I was already guessing that it would come back to haunt us later in the day… Just above the waterfall there was a rough shelter set up where a couple of young girls were going to prepare lunch for us all. Not a task I would fancy on an open fire in the middle of nowhere. After a short rest we head further into the jungle to find the two elephants with their Mahout that we were to feed and see wash.

It was quite magical to be in such close proximity to these two majestic beasts, and the way they gently took the offered bananas from us was a joy. Even though these Asian Elephants are much smaller than their African cousins, they are pretty enormous when you stand right next to them. Once all the bananas had gone they sort of lost interest in us and carried on doing what elephants do for apparently 23 hours out of every 24; eat! According to Leng, they sleep just one hour each day and spent the rest of time contentedly munching away at just about anything they can get at.

 

Talking of which, it was time to head back the short walk to the waterfall for a swim if anyone fancied (and most did) before we sat down to our lunch, and boy did they do us proud! Leng had told us earlier that the girls from the village we went to, Bulong, took it in turns, two at a time to prepare the lunches. Well I think we must have had the “A” team. Four different dishes, which included two vegetarian, a huge bowl of the inevitable boiled rice plus a variety of different fresh fruits for desert; a veritable feast! For the fruits there were mango, pineapple, dragon fruit passion fruit plus a few other that I’d never even heard of. After another period relaxing on the rocks or in the river, the elephants came trundling back for their daily baths. Then came the tough bit; although we’d each been given a 1.5lt bottle of water as we had left the van in the intense heat of the day with virtually no shelter, it really wasn’t enough and Allie and I had about half a litre left for the trek back to the road and our waiting transport… and it was all up hill. We were both starting to wilt and I had the beginnings of a very sore throat. Thankfully some of our fellow trippers still had water left which they were kind enough to share with us, and one of the Swiss girls also gave Allie some dextrose tablets which helped her a lot. Anyway we all made it back to the road well before the minibus showed up.

Our last stop of the day was a coffee plantation which had a wonderful little restaurant with it right by a small lake. More ice cold water and a couple of iced coffees and we were both feeling a lot brighter although Allie opted to rest in the shade whilst I walked around the grounds with the group with Leng pointing out all the different fruits and other plants being cultivated, including of course coffee. All in all a long but interesting and amazing day that I don’t think either of us will ever forget. To see elephants in their natural habitat and so close; to be able to feed then and touch them was an absolute privilege and well worth every cent of the $35 each we paid for it. Hopefully the bike will be ready for collection in the morning enabling us to see a little more of the town before we head further north and almost to the border with Laos.