Stung Treng to Koh Ker

We started out this morning with a ferry ride across the mighty Mekong River. The bikes are packed onto the small boat and there's barely room for the riders; and yet more people get on. We are herded to the back to balance the load, and off we go. It's longer than our usual crossing because the Mekong is a wide river. At least on this crossing we don't run out of fuel, or see the ferryman bailing water out of the boat, as we've experienced before.

On the other side it's more of the same red, dusty, dirt road through villages, which leads onto a slightly smoother but still dusty road built in the 60's. A couple of weeks ago parts of this old road were barely passable using four-wheel drive, since then it's been 'dozed' and levelled and regular cars can use it once again. We start seeing the bulldozers and diggers and the land either side of the road is being cleared of trees. Later dirt is replaced by tarmac. Eventually the whole road we've just bumped up and down on, will be smooth tarmac. Cambodia is changing before our eyes and the Global Enduro guys are going have to find new routes as the existing ones are being domesticated.

Before lunch we turn off the main road. The small side track leads to a veritable adventure playground for motorbikes. It's still a trail used by locals, but just happens to have lots of fun stuff for bikes to do, water, deep sand (not such fun), mini-jumps, etc. We stop to eat our packed lunch before heading back the same way we came through the 'playground'. I manage to find the deepest part of a large water crossing and I'm left with a wet bum for the rest of the day.

It's a shame that I don't get a chance to take pictures of the difficult terrain we're handling. Some of the guys have video cameras on their helmets and some of the clips I've seen of our journey look amazing on screen. I'll try to get a few photos of the trails tomorrow.

After reaching the hotel we visit the Koh Ker temple complex. This dates from before 1000AD, and as you can see most of it is in poor condition now. The surrounding area has been cleared of mines by a Cambodian charity in this case funded by Japanese money - a small but positive step for the country.