“Boom Boom, Ok?”
Sometimes things don't go exactly as
planned, and finding the road towards Viel Vaeng(the first stop over
of the trip up north) was such a case.
6 out of 6 people asked, told
us that it either doesn't exist anymore or that it's in such a bad
state that it's plainly non-doable. Reason prevailed and we decided
to take the long way via Koh Kong, an additional 100km of mostly dirt
road, but otherwise a good idea since I needed some provisions,
bought a hammock and did some repairs on my bicycle. On the road
there we did one last attempt at getting info in a ranger station,
but the rangers seemed to know little more than we did.
Despite the
good quality of the road, James managed to get a flat and I 2(!).
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| One flat too many for me... |
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| Beat that combination! |
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| A local helps James, then rides away wearing my sunglasses... |
After spending 2 nights in Koh Kong and
saying goodbye to James (you can follow his excellent blog here:
www.bisforbike.wordpress.com)
we managed to get up early enough-both Peter and I are heavy
sleepers- and got going. A surprisingly new dirt road awaited us for
most of the day, with few bad stretches here and there. The flat
terrain of Koh Kong soon gave way to hills with sparse trees and by
noon we entered the mountainous jungle of the Cardamons.
There is a great sense of irony in the
signs along the entrances of the Cambodian national parks like the
one above. What they should have included in the bottom is that the
state WILL sell the land to anyone interested, all you need is
connections and enough money to bribe your way through. The Cardamons
might not be exactly that but they do come close as I found out
later.
I knew beforehand that the construction
of a hydroelectric plant was underway but hadn't realised the
enormity of the project. We did sense some of it during the first
day's riding as every now and then a truck would pass by,
interrupting the silence and disappearing in a cloud of dust. There
is lots of hills and low mountain passes, making it a slow but
beautiful ride.
By dusk we arrived at Viel Bai, a
settlement of no more than 10 families. We were offered a place to
hang our hammocks and swiftly escorted to the hang-out of the village
for some rice wine. It's a very nasty drink, high percentage of
alcohol,strong taste and I sometimes enjoy trying to figure out
what's in the jar it's kept. This one had everything in it. Bat
skulls, snakes, bones, roots, mushrooms, a bird's leg(big one!),
herbs, hell, it was as if the whole village would pass by and throw
something in. The more we drank and reached the bottom of the jar,
the muddier it got, but after a while it didn't matter, nor did the
fact that apart from a kid no one spoke english, between my 30 khmer
words and their constant laughter we got along just fine.
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| Waking up in a rainy day |
Next day's ride was a combination of
beauty and horror, a mix of rivers, mountains, jungle and
construction sites. Some weeks later I read there is a total of 5
dams, I counted 3 and passed by another two big sites, one of them
for cement processing. I'll let the photos do the talking for a
while.
Fact 1: The Cardamon mountain range
holds one of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet. It's home to
countless species, out of which 70 are endangered, and include the
asian elephant, siamese crocodile, indochinese tiger and malayan sun
bear to name a few. It's also home to 40.000 people, living in the
villages scattered in the area.
Fact 2: Cambodia has a serious
electricity issue. The dams will provide a centralised grid that will
solve this.
Apparently, the research on the
environmental impact was done by the same chinese company that's in
charge of the project. There was no independent research or
monitoring allowed. I have to admit that this is somewhat anecdotal,
but accurate information on the subject is scarce, plus I have no
reason not to believe it, after all this is Cambodia, as I've been
told by locals way too many times by now. A technicality: the dams
are built AROUND and not IN the sanctuary. New roads are also built,
and the old ones upgraded. Rivers will dry up and parts of the
lowlands will flood. The animals will be pushed further in, or die.
Not long before I was there, Australian Zoo and Flaura and Fauna
International went in and rescued a number of trapped siamese
crocodiles in one of the dams. Will there be many similar cases in
the future, and more importantly, will they always have a successful
outcome? Some villages will flood and the people will have to
relocate. Villagers that lived by and from the river will have to
find alternative ways to make a living. Logging and poaching won't
sound too bad, but how can you blame them?
Then again, I've passed by or stayed in
too many villages that didn't have electricity. A 12v battery
provides some basic lighting for some hours and that's it. The more
privileged-or usually the local store- might afford a generator.
Sometimes the powerlines are there, but no one can afford it. The
prices I've heard of are ridiculous for Cambodian standards. Will it
be cheaper once the plants are ready? The chinese company will hold
the rights for 99(!) years, it remains to be seen if there's going to
be any price regulation by the state.
I didn't hear any birds or wildlife
that day. The only noise was the trucks, the heavy machinery on the
sites and the occasional blast somewhere far away echoing in the
mountains. The wages of fear kept coming to my mind.
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| A battery recharge store |
We arrived early in Ou Saoum-a village
where the buffaloes outnumber the humans-giving us time to rest, walk
around the area, drink lots of ice coffee(me!) and enjoy the
commodities of a guesthouse-basically shower!
Next day's ride was far better than the
previous. Soon the construction sites and their constant noise ended.
It was a no-brainer that we'd keep heading north towards Battambang
instead of taking the main road to Pursat. After Pramaoui the road
kept deteriorating on a steady pace, making it a slow and muddy ride,
beautiful nonetheless. I realised that in a masochistic kind of way,
the more demanding the ride, the more I enjoy it, and no matter how
identical the scenery might be for days in a row, nothing beats
riding through the jungle.
There's not that many villages in this
side of the mountains so it was already dark when we reached a small
settlement called Paou Pien. We went to the store and asked for food
and shelter. The lady started yelling at me like there was no
tomorrow, something I hadn't experienced since I got to Cambodia,
people here never lose their temper so I was caught completely off
guard. I tried really hard to understand what she was saying, or
better said the words she was spitting at me as she was pointing to
where we had come from. Was she telling us to go back? I did get that
she would cook for us so I calmed down a bit. She sent her son down
the road and told us to follow him. He led us to a house, showed us
our room and sent us to a nearby puddle to wash.
Going back to the
store, Srei Ia was calmer, she even laughed when I showed her we were
clean, I guess that's all she wanted from the very beginning, she
wouldn't allow us to eat in the condition we were before!
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| Getting directions in Pramaoui... |
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| ...and then some lunch. |
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| A few ks before Paou Pien |
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| Srei Ia and her children |
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| A night view from our balcony |
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| Her son, waiting for us to wake up |
The next day was long but fascinating
in its variety. After riding for a few hours we left the mountains
behind us and not much later the jungle gave way to a more colourful
and not as dense forest. The road went from bad to worse to extremely
shit, sometimes I pushed while being knee-deep in the mud. Must be
fun cycling in the rainy season over here. The villages grew bigger
and more frequent, soon corn-fields replaced the forest, the road
improved dramatically, and after the world's most terrifyingly boring
straight-as-a-ruler 10km it was bye-bye dirt, hello tarmac. I have to
admit, as much as I'd enjoyed it, after 500 something km of mostly
bad dirt roads, it was a joy. 30 easy and relatively busy km led us
to Battambang. With the exception of Koh Kong, I had spent the last
10 days in quite remote locations. Entering a city as big as
Battambang was a bit of a cultural shock-so much that I didnt take
any photos,hehe, lame excuses...
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| Offering some entertainment to the locals |
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| The never-ending stretch |
I still don't know how to embed a
google map, so here's a high quality(!) photo of my marked map.
Working south to north, the first X is Chi Phat. Details on the ride
from there to Thma Bang(the second X) can be found in a previous
post.
Thma Bang to Koh Kong:70km, half dirt,
half tarmak, can be done easily in 4 hours. Most of the second part,
though in the main highway, is quite scenic.
Koh Kong to Viel Bai:60km. The road
starts to get mountainous after a while, don't expect to do much
more. From now on it's all dirt road.
Viel Bai to Ou Saoum:50km
Ou Saoum to Paou Pien:68km. Pramaoui
sits conveniently midway through. It's a biggish town, lots of food
and supplies for you. Remember to take the road right across the main
square. It leads to a narrow trail that after 10km will get you to a
proper dirt road. Turning left goes north, right to Pursat.
Paou Pien to Battambang:96km. There is
a very tricky junction in the forest exactly 44km from Pramaoui,
where you need to turn right instead of straight. There is no traffic
at all over there and we had to wait for a while to get directions.
Apart from a big puddle on the right, there is nothing else around.
Remember to bring big bottles of water
with you(3 will do), you will not find any after Koh Kong. You'll
cause a small ecological disaster, but there's no other way but to
buy small ones and refill. Get biscuitsand bubblegums for the kids,
paracetamol or similar drugs for the people that let you stay at
their houses, most of the times they are very poor. Be prepared to
give them some money as well. Nothing is expected-usually- but will
be appreciated.
I think that the road connecting Thma
Bang to Ou Saoum will be ready soon, in which case the Koh Kong
detour won't be necessary, saving you about 100km, but in the other
hand it's not a bad ride, plus you'll get to eat ice cream in the
riverside!
At some point during the second day we
come across a hut, identical to many others in the country where one
can buy a cold drink and enjoy the shade. Two good looking girls work
there. We get our drinks and sit for a while. As I'm about to pay,
the girl asks me, “boom boom, ok?”. I go “Huh?”. Still
looking at me, she goes behind Peter, starts rubbing his nipples and
repeats “boom boom, ok?”. We are up in the mountains, not a soul
in a 10km radius, stop to get some water and the place is actually a
brothel... We laugh, pay, and leave. A couple of minutes later it
hits me: Maybe a month before, while I was in Otres beach, it was
decided we would buy firecrackers, build a sandcastle, and explode
it(boys will be boys, I know). I had spent an afternoon looking
around in Sihanookville, but not knowing how to say firecracker in
khmer, I'd say “boom tom(big)? Boom boom tom tom?”, asking kids,
women in bookstores, everybody. Had I been going around town asking
for a big fuck? How I got away with it, I'll never know...
Equal Rights.After all this mud and dirt, we both needed a shower...
