Motorcycle Explorer September 2016 Issue 13 | Page 32

Feature: cambodia
We had to prise ourselves away
from Siem Reap… Here we caught
up with fellow overlander David
Kretz, a Swiss youngster travelling
on a KTM690 with a vague notion
(like ourselves) of one day making it
around the world. David introduced
us to the party-life in ‘Pub Street’
best viewed from the rooftop bar of
the X-Bar, with its live rock-band
playing decent covers through the
night. Later we descended into the
mayhem of ‘Pub Street’ itself, where
two nightclubs vied with each other
to see who could play the loudest
music. We were highly amused to
see a tiny young Cambodian lass
berate David through all the din.
“What was all that about?” we
shouted at him… “She was telling
me off for bringing you, my Mum
and Dad, down here into this chaos”
he replied with a cheeky grin!
Now feeling ancient, we rode
across Cambodia on the main
transit highway to the capital,
Phnom Penh, stopping to visit
more Khmer ruins at Kamphong
Thom along the way. We
witnessed the drought that has
been plaguing the country with
mile after mile of dried up
paddyfield that should have been
awash by this time of year and
ready for the next rice crop. It was
harsh to think that not so long
ago these vistas were scene of
the infamous Cambodian Killing
Fields and in Phnom Penh our
education into the tragedy would
be completed in a harrowing
manner when we visited Tuol
Sleng, a former high school that
became the Khmer Rouge ‘S-21
Interrogation centre’ and the
Killing Fields memorial at
Choueng Ek.
David's Beer Goggles
Heading down Pub Street