Be sure and check out Cambodia Chronicles part one and part two.

The next morning we set off again heading up to Preah Vihear.

This time the terrain was pretty easy, mostly dirt roads with a few fallen bridges. We covered a lot of ground this day. We stopped at a crossroad where there were a few houses and a restaurant. Out front of the restaurant they had a monkey chained up to a fence. I’m not sure why it was there, we figured it was just a pet. While Paul and the others were ordering food, a few of us went for a walk behind the restaurant. There were many other animals, chicken, pigs, and even porcupines. It was nice because we were in the middle of nowhere. Just a lot of empty field, trees, and this small restaurant with a few animals. There were a few kids there who, like the rest of the children, were full of smiles. For kids they moved at a casual pace, sometimes even holding their hands behind their backs as they strolled around. They were really cool, showing us the animals and joking around with the camera.

After we had finished eating and gassed up our bikes we headed off again to Preah Vihear. About two more hours driving.

Preah Vihear sits up top of a small mountain on the Thai/ Cambodia border. This area of Cambodia is under constant dispute with Thailand. It is internationally recognized as being Cambodian, however on many maps it is shown as Thai. Thais have been known to push the border closer to the temples sparking small border disputes with Thai and Cambodian military.

We continued up a steep rough road to the top of the summit where we parked our bikes. There were smaller patches of fire around the temples and brush. The others quickly headed off to check out the temples and I followed behind with one of the guides and filmed the temples. The temples were peaceful in a way because of their location. They sky was clear and the sun was setting which was a nice temperature change being up top. The temples were lined in a row of four, and as you reached the fourth temple you arrived at the highest point with a cliff overlooking the countryside. It was here I met up with the boys and we sat down to enjoy the rest of the sunset. After the sun went down we hiked down the other side of the hill to a small village. Paul had set us up to bunk with the police chief at his home. I remember walking into his house and quickly realizing this wasn’t the police I was accustomed to. There was no uniform, just a tall limber guy who had been kind enough to take us in, with an AK-47 hanging on the wall beside his bed. He was actually really nice. We showered up out back. The showers consisted of a small wooden room in the dirt with a few big buckets full of water and a scoop to pour the water on your head. It was refreshing and felt good to be cleaned up after being covered in red dirt all day. That night they had made a huge feast at the police chief’s house. Afterwards they asked us if we wanted to pitch in five dollars apiece, and they would fire up the generators and set up a party. Of course we said sure. Everyone in the village came out and we sat around and drank Angkor beer and some sort of moonshine and danced to Cambodian music. It was fun.

The next day we got up and walked for another 10 minutes or so and crossed the border into Thailand. It was an amazing difference. We were walking towards the border and then the whole world around us changed. The paved road started without warning. We walked down the paved road and everything was different. The buildings, the shops and even a few tour buses. There were even signs promoting forest fire prevention.

We finished up our breakfast and headed off again for our last day of dirt biking. We had a lot of ground to cover this day. We had to travel 200 kilometers back to Siem Reap before dark.

Will had bought a couple soccer balls at the market in Tbeng Meanchey to give away somewhere along the way. We were keeping our eyes open the whole way back for a small village with a lot of kids. This of course was easy to find. About half way home we stopped along the side of the road. Like before the locals came out and gathered round. Will took out the soccer ball and it seemed that the kids didn’t know what it was. He put it on the ground and showed them how to kick it. Then it quickly erupted into a full on aussie rules game with no teams. The kids were chasing the ball around just trying to get a kick in. They were screaming and laughing as we tried to keep up with them. Then the highlight came when we went to leave. They tried to hand us the ball back but we wouldn’t take it. Then it sunk in that the ball was a gift to them. They took the ball and went running down the road shouting and screaming. We got on our bikes and headed off back to Siem Reap where we prepared for our entrance back into the real world, or the world we thought was real but is actually completely fake.