Well, the moto problems were worse than I expected. What we thought would be one night in Phnom Penh turned into six nights. It started out with being told that my moto had problems inside the engine and not just the simple fixes that have been the problems in the past. After a day I was told that it could be fixed and I couldn't have been happier. The next day, we got up and got ready to go pick up the moto when I got a call. The fix is harder than expected and it's going to take longer. So the next day I decided I didn't want to sit around Phnom Penh doing nothing (except going bowling for an afternoon) and I would rent a moto and drive it the last leg of the trip. So I got up early on Monday to get to school and get my passport which I needed to rent the moto. When Erin got to school I quickly learned that he had put the passports in the big safe upstairs and not in his desk drawer, which I can't complain about. And where was the key to the safe? With Sambo in Takeo province where he was attending a wedding, and the icing on the cake, he wouldn't be back until sometime the next day.
So we went out to dinner and Soriya and I had the idea to call the mechanic. We had both succumbed to the fact that it would not be fixed easily, but it was worth the call anyway. Much to our surprise we were told it would be ready in the morning and we could hit the road instantly. The only thing, the new parts needed to be broken in easily and I couldn't drive too fast. My solution? Drive slowly to Kampot right after I picked it up.
We made our way to Kampot with no issues. The engine was louder than normal but it seemed to be going fine. We got to the place we wanted to stay, just as Vilde ran out of gas, and asked for a room. Nothing until tomorrow. So we stopped at the two other places on the Kampot river to see if they had any availability. Nothing. We headed back into town and stayed the night in a guesthouse that was recommended by Soriya. There was nothing wrong with it, aside from the lack of sink in the bathroom. We decided one night there and another three in the place we wanted to stay with bungalows on the river. We spent the next day moving to our new location and the afternoon lounging around the common area, reading, napping etc.
The next day (today) we slept in a little bit, and decided to make our way up Bokor Mountain to see the old ruins from the French colonial era. Again, make a 1 kilometer climb up a mountain with a fragile moto was probably not the smartest decision, but I sit here now with a living moto and pictures from the top. We walked among the ruins of old hotels, outposts and a church which had some number of bullet holes from the battle between the Khmer Rouge and Vietnamese in the late 70s. We spent a little bit of time up there, and then decided the clouds coming up over the mountain ridge looked a little too menacing and we started our descent. First we decided to go to a waterfall on top that was only a few kilometers away. We drove about five kilometers and then, we came to the end of the road. Literally. In front of us was forest and the end of the road, nothing more. So after finding nothing, we made our way down without issue, aside from a sore butt from riding on the moto.
Tomorrow will probably be a bit more of relaxation and a waterfall that is only a few kilometers up the road from our guesthouse. Then we are off to the sleepy seaside town of Kep, our last stop on our trip. After that Vilde leaves to go home and I have about 10 more days in country and I make my own return home. So there will probably only be one more update after this, unless there are issues with the moto in the end of the trip. Of course I hope nothing happens to the moto, but I am fully prepared for the worst case scenario which would result in a bus ride back to Phnom Penh and a moto ditched on the side of the road.
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