(Daniel) After eating and drinking too much last night I found it hard to get up this morning.  The Guard and his family had been up and about for ages.  Since chatting with Jalun yesterday, and sharing our food with his family over the last two days, they have abandoned any fears of us.  Proof of this was presented when I finally emerged from the tent, wrapped in a towel, to an audience of six.  The young boy who had rushed to open the gate each time I came back from the market, was playing with the ladder on the back of the Wolf.  Meanwhile the three guard dogs were sleeping peacefully under the trailer.  I had a bucket shower, while Nii made an omlette and some noodles for breakfast.

I’d planned on leaving today, Sihanoukville being a bit touristy for the Expedition, Costa del Cambodia seems to be a fair description.  My plan had been to drive up to the North East of the country and the mountain region of Mondulkiri, but the idea hit a snag when I discovered that according to my map, there were no border crossings into Vietnam around the area.  None that I could use anyway, also I would have to drive all the way back to Phnom Penh to pick up the highway to the Province.  I wracked my brain for an answer.  Time is running out to get the vehicle on a ship, so days of driving to a place only to spend days driving back again seems a bit pointless.

Close by to Sihanoukville is a jungle area and national park called Bokor.  I decided that as a poor substitute, we would could go to the village near the park and try and find a guide or route into the jungle for some offroading to a waterfall or special area.  Nii and I finished our food and set to packing away the tent and equipment.  She had worked hard cleaning and organizing our supplies and the trailer,  taking out the dried foods drawer which had been infested with tiny creatures, disinfecting and scrubbing it several times.  I lacquered it with spray lacquer and did the same to the corners in the storage area,  if there are any eggs in there that should keep them from having a second wave!  It’s funny how after a while you just get used to the insects flying around, There are several ant colonies that I know of in the Wolf, we try to keep out of each others way, I run a constant battle with mosquitoes, although ten or twelve bites hardly fazes me now.  The only thing which I can’t abide is cockroaches, but touch wood they don’t seem to have moved in yet!  While Nii packed the food and kitchen stuff away, I took down the trailertent.  Two hours later we headed out onto the road.

It was just an idea, and I hardly heard it consciously when Nii reminded me of the well stocked supermarket in town.  But the thought of stocking up on some more homely food must have appealed to me, as I headed to the street where the shop was located.  I was feeling frustrated, as I have been for a while, that the itinerary is loosing it’s adventurous nature to tourist areas and resorts.  Over dinner last night. I decided that it was simply time to leave Asia, and that was making things feel a bit stale.  I couldn’t shake the feeling that this trip to Bokor was not going to work, and that we would be better off heading for Vietnam.  At the same time I knew that Vietnam and it’s culture would take time to get into, and this was equally frustrating as I only have about ten days left in Asia.

At the Supermarket, Nii and I bought Some more Belgian beer, tinned pates and coconut milk, yoghurt, shower gel and shampoo.  A group of young children came and stood around us outside as we packed the icebox, for some reason I decided to give the doe eyed kids our yoghurts.  But when Nii saw this act of kindness she wasn’t happy, and made me return to the shop and buy two more!  Back in the car, while Nii ate her yoghurt, I had started the engine and was just about to leave, when a foreigner pulled up beside me.  He stopped me with a wave of his hand, so I wound the window down.  In a thick American accent, the man introduced himself as Tim, and asked what we were doing.  I explained the Expedition, to nods of approval.  When I had finished, he went on to explain that he had set up a Biodiesel plant which he was usuing to fund a school which was opening in the next few eeks.  The school would cater for around 400 children, and would not only be funded by the Biodiesel but would also be powered by generators running on the recycled fuel.  He asked If I would come and inspect his facility and accept some free fuel as a gesture of goodwill.  I told him that I was almost full, but a top up would be most welcome, and that certainly we would like to come and inspect a worthwhile operation such as his!    

At his workshop, the Biodiesel plant looked very professional, he explained that he had built the whole thing from scratch based on a system that he had built in America before moving over here.  The system would be moved to the school premises soon, where it could be upgraded to produce more fuel.  He gave us some free fuel, and introduced us to his staff who were amazed by the Wolf.   I wasn’t worried about the quality of the fuel, which smelt lovely by the way, almost like olive oil!  While we were filling up, and because it had been on my mind all morning, I explained our plan to visit Bokor, and my anguish at not being able to visit Mondulkiri Province.

He asked If I had considered Koh Kong Province, to the North West of there.  Apparently, the Mountainous region was pretty much unexplored, and sported some amazing tracks leading up into the mountains.  The drive there was supposedly the best in Cambodia, with huge sections of gravel road broken up by four river crossings, which meant slipping through axle deep mud onto a ferry to cross the various rivers before struggling back up the bank the other side.  He pulled out maps of the region, and sure enough it was almost unpopulated.  I felt the wheels of fate turning, and realised that this was our chance to get the Expedition back on track for some adventure.  I took photos of Tim’s maps, and thanked him for his fuel and the great idea.  He told me that if I left now, I could get to Koh Kong before the sun went down.  We thanked him and said goodbye, heading out onto the NH9 towards our first river crossing.

The road was surpisingly good, the packed gravel had me a little worried on some of the corners, but I soon gained confidence with the four wheel drive powering us around them.  As we approached the first ferry crossing, I could see that the bridge that was under construction was almost complete.  Changing the road forever and presumably bringing with it traffic development and trade.  We pulled off the great road surface and onto a mud track which was deep with puddles and thick slippery mud.  I ploughed through to the ferry dock, where a small ferry was pulling away filled with four cars.  The ferry consisted of three small boats tied together with a deck of planks built across the top.  It sat low in the water, but cruised across without problem.  A short while later the boat returned for us and docked sticking its ramp into the slippery mud on the bank, I drove on.  The ferry men charged us about 2 dollars for the crossing which took about ten minutes.

On the other side I was greeted with a sight which I hadn’t seen since Malaysia.  Thick mud, axle deep stuff, I could see a standard car trying to make it way to the ferry, it was sunk up to the doors and had about six people pushing it.  I got up momentum and cruised past the car, soaking two girls at the same time.  I powered on for about 700 metres where the road started again.  We cleared the tyres as they are designed to do in about 50 metres and then carried on at the same pace through jungle scenery until the next river crossing around 40 kms along the road.

This time the mud was much thicker. In places it had been shored up with sticks, but the worst was around the entrance to the ferry itself.  Which had pulled up and was unloading passengers.  The first vehicle got off ok, but a Toyota Hi-lux got stuck pulling off backwards.  I walked over to see what was happening, and was surprised to see that no-one was helping the poor guy who was well and truly stuck.  A little known fact about getting stuck, is that a little push goes a long way, when you get stuck like this, it is because you have no traction. That means that it is fairly easy to push the vehicle as it is not sticking to the ground.  I walked over and managed to push the vehicle out of the muddy situation.  Fortunately I had changed into my British Army Highlegs, which have been indispensible on this trip.

The man thanked me and drove off.  Meanwhile it was my turn to board the ferry.  The Men indicated that they wanted me to reverse onto the boat.  I could see from the mud that this would be impossible.  But they wouldn’t listen, so I turned the Wolf around, and backed up towards the boat.  The reverse braking action of the trailer meant that the wheels locked almost immediately and I only got another 5 meters before the trailer squewed off at a bad angle, each time I had to pull forward to try again.  After about six tries, I told them that it would be much easier to reverse off on the other side.  They didn’t agree, but I turned around anyway and drove onto the ferry forwards.

On the other side, the exit from the boat was much easier, I made it first time without a hitch.  The mud on this side was terrible again, and we ploughed through the 800m to the road again.  The gravel surface was only intermittent at this section, and we went from mud track to gravel and back several times.  The next crossing when we reached it had a steep downhill entrance to the ferry.  Again the ferrymen insisted that I reversed onto the boat, however this time the downhill slope counteracted the reverse braking, meaning I was able to back on to the boat without problem.  On the other side, the exit was extrememly steep.  I pulled up, but in firt gear high range, the gear was not quite enough and I had to drop the clutch at the top to get the last metre.  I felt the plate slipping, but it made the final metre and drove out through the thick mud, climbing a steep hill to the road.

Another 50kms later, and we reached the last river crossing.  The mud was the worst yet.  A group of men shored up the biggest holes with stones and branches, they stopped us and asked for money for their efforts.  I didn’t want to give them the money, reasoning that I had spent extra on a vehicle that could get through without their help, but felt sorry for them in the end and handed over a dollar.  Their gratitude made the cost worthwhile.  The track was great fun, reminding me of the jungle mud of Malaysia and Cameron.  We boarded the ferry in reverse again, disembarking on the other side without problem. 

As we drove back out onto the road, the track became very steep, I was in third gear, which started to struggle a little for power, all of a sudden the clutch plate slipped, the engine revving up, I dropped to 2nd and slowed down, this stopped the problem, but when I sped up and changed back to third it slipped again.  This was the third time that the clutch had slipped today, and I am not carrying a spare!  I eased the vehicle the last 30kms to Koh Kong where we found the guesthouse that Tim had recommended.

In the compound a few men approached us and asked about the vehicle.  I started to talking to them while Nii went to check out the room.  I mentioned that the clutch ha d potential problem, asking if there was a local mechanic who would know if it was possible to get parts in Cambodia, perhaps from Thailand?  Within ten minutes the mechanic was standing next to me.  We spoke in Thai, I explained that the clutch had slipped several times, and although it did slip sometimes when it got hot, it was happening too often these days, and perhaps it needed replacing.  I explained that I had intended to go offroading in the area, and that I wanted the clutch to be in good order for this reason.

He told me that tomorrow we could take the clutch apart and give it a clean, then see what the situation was.  I thanked him and agreed to bring the vehicle to his workshop tomorrow.  Meanwhile the other guys who had found the mechanic sat down with me, and explained that they had were in the drinking water business, they showed me photos of their mountain spring, which could only be reached by boat.  I told them about my plan to go offroading in the area.  They loved the idea, and told me that a few locals would probably like to come along too, and would know the area well enough to act as guides.  I mentioned that we could try to get to their spring, an idea which they thought was excellent.  We agreed to meet in the morning and make a plan.

Afterwards I walked back to Nii, who had checked into the room, and ordered dinner for both of us.  We sat in the room and ate while I typed up the days happenings in the diary,  I only made about halfway before falling asleep!

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