Cambodia has a population of around 12 million and covers an area of 181,000 square kilometres that’s nestled in-between Vietnam on the eastern side, Thailand on the west, Laos to the north, with the Gulf Of Thailand stretching across a few hundred kilometres of coastline to the south. It’s a country that has suffered greatly in the past, and sadly is most commonly remembered for one of the most terrible events in the history of the world, being the Khmer Rouge’s reign of terror from ’75 to ’78 led by dictator Pol Pot. During this period the Khmer Rouge proceeded to destroy every part of past and present Khmer society. Anyone with an education or a link to the government was murdered. People wearing eyeglasses were considered educated, therefore dangerous and executed. People able to speak a foreign language were considered to be enemies of the state and executed, after torture. It is estimated that more than two million Cambodians from a population of eight million at the time died from execution, starvation, or disease, which affected an entire generation for years to come. For me, it’s hard to believe that this only took place 30 years ago, when my biggest problem was fixing a flat tyre on my BMX, or upset because I didn’t get to watch my favourite T.V. channel or get enough ice-cream for desert. We are very, very lucky in Australia, and this is rammed home hard once you’ve visited a country with history such as Cambodia, and having a general understanding of this history beforehand made my time in Cambodia one with much compassion for the people, and one of feeling a great privilege for being able to explore their land with ease while many of them still struggle to survive, can’t read, and haven’t got clean drinking water, but continue to carry on smiling with no expectations for the hours ahead. My first experience worth noting, after landing at Siem Reap airport and waiting for another flight to Cambodia’s capital city Phnom Penh, was in the airport toilets. Standing and relieving myself into the white porcelain toilet bowl I was intrigued by this little dark skinned man with a tidy coat and a big warm smile who constantly wiped down the wash basins, moped the floors clean, opened the door for people, and basically looked after the room like a chef would look after his kitchen. He clearly showed that he loved his, what we’d call – shitty job. He smiled at every person that made eye contact with him, which is something I’d never seen back home. I took this as a good sign and had a feeling at that moment I would be meeting some special people on this trip.

Why Cambodia?

It’s not the rented Honda Baja 1982 model XR 250 with the lounge chair seat, flogged suspension, tired engine and steel tank, or the cheap beers, food, and pretty women that draw you to join a tour in a place like Cambodia, it’s more the longing for a pure adventure that will remain with you until the day you die. I consider myself the adventurous type, but after meeting and talking to Ben Laffer from Angkor Dirt Bike Tours, the man responsible for guiding us through the jungles and landmine-filled areas of Cambodia I quickly realised I’ve got a long way to go before reaching the larger than life “Indiana Jones” type character he is. Ben first visited Cambodia while travelling through Asia in 1993 and instantly fell in love with the place. Friends had told him how exciting it was and that there was a lot of kaos, no law, and few roads, which meant there were a lot of trails to explore. He recalls his first exploration in Cambodia as if it were yesterday, and as we waited at Phnom Penh airport for the remaining riders for the 2005 Annual Extreme Rally Tour, mid January, he also talked me through a whole lot more over a drink while the locals scurried around us guiding the many tourists to their destinations, explaining, “I decided to go and explore the countryside by bike with a few locals and at the time the security situation wasn’t that great with bandits and Khmer Rouge guys roaming around the place. We’d heard of a new logging road being cut through the forest to a place called Mondulkiri in the northwest so we thought we’d check it out. It took a group of five of us two days to arrive at the point where the logging crew, and as it turned out, a bunch of military police were, and we didn’t want to stop as we knew they would send us back so we decided to run the gauntlet and we veered off to a small trail off the main track. We continued along the trail for about four kilometres and came across another bunch of military police who had rocket launcher’s and AK47’s, and by this stage there was no turning back and no way we wanted to stop to talk to these boys so we kept on going and then came to a junction, which had a choice of three ways to go. We went down the first dirt road, which was obviously a road to enable the bulldozers access to pull out more trees, and it came to an end after a few kilometres. We then tried the next two roads to find they were the same, but as I was riding back out to the junction from the third road I came around the corner to find two of my friends spread-eagled on the ground, helmets off, with guns to the back of their heads. I still remember clearly coming around that corner and seeing them in this situation and then looking up at this small guy with a moustache and a pistol standing on the back of a jeep firing round after round into the air. You could see the shells dropping to the ground, and I thought to myself, I’m not gonna try and run this one! I got off my bike and got to the ground quickly spread-eagled as well, and before too long the rest of our crew had turned up and joined us fearing for our lives. The keys were taken from our bikes and put on trucks, as were we, and then taken back to their camp in the jungle. I have to point out that around this time in Cambodia there were still foreigners being killed in the area so you can imagine we weren’t too impressed with the situation. But then back at camp things amazingly turned our way for the better when it turned out that one of the Khmer riders with us knew one of the guys across the table we were sitting at, and before we knew, it was cold beers all-round, which was a huge relief for us all. The following day, once things had cooled down with the military police, we tried to make our way through to Mondulkiri but had no hope as the loggers in the area were scared we were journalists documenting what was illegal logging, which pretty much put an end to the first ride that we did.”

Need For Doing Tours

It wasn’t until 1998, five years later, that Ben actually got his Cambodian trail-bike tours underway with partner Zeman McCreadie. By this stage the Khmer Rouge had fled to Anlong Veng on the Thai border. Their leader Pol Pott was dead from natural causes (old age, and it is now possible to visit his grave and former house/bunker), and the security situation was settled enough to operate in certain parts of the country. Ben pointed out that it was still dangerous to leave the city at night because you would be certainly robbed or worse, and this, plus being bored, was one of the main reasons he was keen to start the tours, escaping by bike during the day to the safer regions, with him saying, “To go anywhere at the time you’d have to leave first thing in the morning to have enough time for a return trip as the Taxi’s wouldn’t go anywhere at night. But as the security situation improved two years later the tourists started pouring into the country and by this stage I had my tours well organised. I could also speak the language well enough to communicate with the locals in remote villages and towns we visited, which is essential for buying supplies, fuel, food and getting rough directions. A few things about Cambodia that set it apart from the other countries at the time was there was minimal main roads, no name’s on any roads, and no one knew which roads were open or where they went, so years of exploring the roads and trails gave me the upper hand with leading tours around the country. Like most of my friends here we came to Cambodia for a four-week holiday, fell in love with the country and stayed for 10 years. The place is so laid back and relaxed, nothing is a hassle, the people are super-nice, and even though I’ve had more guns put to my head more times than I care to remember it suits my adventurous nature and I couldn’t think of anywhere else in the world I’d like to do organised trail rides, especially now times have changed and since 2000 the security situation has vastly improved and is no longer an issue.”

Tours themselves

“They can be pretty hardcore at times. Like it’s an endurance thing and if you go out there with a ‘balls to the wall’ type attitude you ain’t going to last very long. The days are hot, and mostly very long and testing, with sandy trails that test even the best riders. And it’s not like we’re staying in air-conditioned motels with hot water showers every night, sometimes we camp where we pull up in the middle of the jungle. I make it very clear to any rider wanting to join the tour that they need to be a decent rider with a good amount of off-road riding experience under their belts, because if we get to the remote area’s where there’s no way out except to ride you need to be up for the mission, plus there’s the change of terrain from rocky, sandy, hard-packed, and rutted out hills to deal with along the way as well. If I feel any rider hasn’t been totally honest about their ability and isn’t up for the harder stages after the first day or two I always have to re-direct them on easier roads to towns to wait for us as it’s not only dangerous for their safety but a drag for the remainder of the tour. I divide my tours into three different categories – taking into mind that I try and stay away from the complete novice riders as I believe that’s only asking for trouble, especially in this country where you don’t have the luxury of backup vehicles and hospitals within close proximity, but in saying that riders that want a relaxing tour with time to hang at beaches, visit waterfalls and the like can come on the tour where we stay on the more flat type roads down along the coast and stay in nice motels every night. This tour is very mild and you could bring your girlfriend along if you wanted too. The next step up is where we go off the main roads more to visit several of the ancient temples in the northern area’s of Cambodia and the very popular Angkor Wat temples around Siem Reap, which I still consider a very basic ride. Then there’s what I call the more extreme rides up to 12 days like this one where we cover a large amount of kilometres and get to take in more of Cambodia’s countryside, remote villages, temples, and jungle areas. Basically I can work these rides around what the customer wants to see such as the Gem Mines in Pailin, hill tribes in Rattanakiri, waterfalls in Mondulkiri, the Casino on the Thai border near Koh Kong etc.” Ben likes to show his customers a great time from the word go, and as soon as the remaining few arrived he piled them into a van and took them out to shoot AK 47’s at a local range before gearing up for a night on the town to set the mood for the tour ahead. With the temperature sitting around 30 degrees I opted for a taxi ride to the Flamingo Hotel downtown Phnom Penh where I unloaded my gear and checked out the local markets and tourist attractions while I had the chance. Besides the Cambodian Reil, the American dollar is most commonly used and around three was enough to hire me a Cyclo (three wheeled moto-taxi) for the afternoon. It was actually a good idea as it gave me a great insight into how the traffic flows. Basically you don’t stop for anyone unless it’s a truck, bus, or anything larger than you for that matter. Just look for the gap and turn the throttle was my first tip. Don’t worry about looking over your shoulder when turning was another, whoever is behind will just dodge you when you start turning. Before I even got to throw a leg over my own motorcycle my mind was churning over on the first day with thoughts like – ‘this place is crazy, how am I going to survive on the roads for over 2100 kilometres, do I really need to eat from one of those road-side food stands, what’s the go with the dried fish with the flies swarming all around on display in the open, and the skinned chickens and other strange looking things hanging up, and shit, there’s another mozzie, gotta watch those as there’s no way I’m going home with Malaria’ … It’s kind of funny how the conditioned mind reacts to new environments.

Just Go With The Flow

“OK, now listen carefully guys”, Ben yelled out to 20 of us as we rushed around packing the final things into our backpacks, while also checking we had our goggles, gloves and helmets ready to go out front of the Flamingo Hotel, which at the early hours of the morning was already buzzing with the sounds of mopeds by the thousands manoeuvring along the dirty streets piloted by locals with no helmets and up to three passengers squashed on the seat tightly behind. “The first 50 kilometres or so leaving the city can be quite dangerous so make sure you stick together as much as possible, be aware of the kaos that is the traffic around you, don’t do anything stupid, and of most importance it’s best to just go with the flow! Oh, and when we hit the main road at the end of this street we have to turn left, and as there’s so many of us, trying to cross through the on coming traffic (they drive on the opposite side of the road) to turn could be difficult so just follow me against the flow staying to the left until a gap appears and then we’ll cross over and blend in with the rest”, Ben said confidently, while myself and the other riders I hadn’t had much time getting acquainted with from countries such as Australia, England, America, Tanzania and Finland adjusted our views on road rules and thought about the dangers that awaited us while riding in what already seemed to us a country not so big on law. I kissed goodbye the comforts of the Flamingo Hotel – hot shower, working TV, clean air-conditioned room, fresh towel, and twisted the throttle on my hired Honda Baja XR 250 – the machine I put my trust in to hold together for one more exciting journey around Cambodia – towards my first main road crossing and off on the adventure of a lifetime. My previous days experience as passenger on the moto-taxi gave me some degree of confidence on the road as I made my first turn left to face what seemed an endless flow of overloaded buses, trucks, cars, vans, taxis, mopeds with sometimes a pig or what seems a month worth of supplies strapped across the back, cyclo’s (three wheeled bicycle) and bicycles, people pushing food stands looking like custom made wheel barrows, on a day like every other day. Up ahead a gap appeared and Ben took the first swerve across to join the flow of traffic on the right hand side, and like sheep the 19 riders including myself followed across in autopilot making the transition with only a few close calls. By the time we’d successfully passed through four roundabouts, three intersections, four sets of traffic lights, and passed 100 vehicles my senses were red-lining and my mind was starting to get used to processing the data happening around me the way it was. I was happy to hit the main road away from the city and into more rural area’s, which still kept you on your toes as there was the same full-on traffic, cars overtaking coming towards you every chance they could, kids playing on the side of the road to watch for, pigs and cows making the odd stroll across when they felt like it, and an unusual series of light, misty showers that was considered strange for what was the dry season. Jay, one of the Aussie riders, was the only victim on our departure when he tried to overtake a bus on the footpath side of the road and just as he thought things were going well a moped rider decided he wanted to pull over and did, which sent Jay into a panic, brakes locked up and sliding down the wet road. In the process he was not injured, luckily, but he later found out his Army pants pocket split open and his wallet with passport, money and credit card was gone and probably well run over by now or in someone else’s happy hands.

A Taste Of More To Come

A huge, cruisy 385 kilometres was covered on the first day to a town called Sen Monorom, northeast of Phnom Penh, on mostly tar and dirt main roads. It took me a while to adjust to the amount of people and goods that can be loaded into and on top of a van, bus or truck that I passed frequently. Once there’s no room left inside its pile up the roof racks, or every inch of the back of a pick-up. I figured a repairing axles business would be successful in Cambodia. We rode close to the Vietnamese border, which used to be bad-arse territory a decade ago with foreigners going missing, and took the logging road from Snuol, the area Ben got held up by guns in ’93. We passed through barren, rolling hills that’s part of the Ho Chi Min Trail with no trees or vegetation in sight thanks to the chemical named Agent Orange that was dropped in the illegal bombing campaign by the Americans during the Vietnam war. Many ponds also fill the countryside in the same area due to leftover bomb craters. I was told more bombs were dropped in Cambodia during the Vietnam conflict than they dropped on Japan in the Second World War – over half a million tonnes worth!

Ben told me before the tour started that he rarely ever gets a rider make it to the end of his Annual Extreme Rally Tour, which is harder than his standard tours, from either exiting on day eight (option available), a breakdown, too hard, or injury, and is proud of the fact it’s not your ‘run of the mill’ tour. He also makes his expectations to a customer very clear before you sign up so there’s no excuse along the way for riders not up to the task. So with my first day completed and the sun going down my thoughts pondered on the next, which was where the tour took its first serious turn into jungle terrain, goldmines, and the first of experiencing remote villages, sketchy river crossings, late night journeys past land-mine-filled territory, and also whether I’d be one of the rare riders to make the distance … But you are going to have to wait until the next issue to hear about that!

Things You Need To Know

• The 2006 Extreme Rally Tour will cost around $1400US for 12 days. This covers all costs – bike hire, main meals, accommodation, fuel, but doesn’t cover your airfare, entry fee to Angkor Wat (which is US $20), beer, cigarettes, massage and souvenirs etc. Places on the tour are limited and most spots are booked at least 3-4 months in advance.

• Airfares from Australia range from $1200-$1500 depending on season and airline.

• Tours run from November through till March.

• Standard tours start at around $160US a day and need to be booked at least a month in advance.

• Bring U.S. dollars.

• Average cost of a beer is 50c-$1 a can, food $5-$7 for western main meal.

• Bike hire (mostly an ’82-’88 model XR 250) is included in tour cost but an upgrade to a newer model XR 250 may be available. Ask when enquiring about tour.

• Travel insurance is compulsory.

• I didn’t take Malaria tablets or shots for Hepatitis, Typhoid etc, and there was no problem whatsoever, especially going in the dry season where mozzies are not as common. It’s a personal decision though and it’s best to talk to Angkor Dirt Bike Tours and your local doctor at least a month prior to departing.

• Riders are required to bring correct safety gear like proper boots, helmet, pants, gloves etc. And be prepared for change once on the tour, as in change of route if a rider is injured or time is running short. It is a group effort so a sense of humour and laid-back attitude will make your journey more fun.

Contact Ben Laffer at: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Mobile: Aus – 0405 217 177 or 02 987 94410 Cambodia – 012 390 969.

Check out the website:  www.toursintheextreme.com