There is nothing quite like a jungle trail ride involving a classic Honda and some poorly marked but very active Cambodian minefields.
🌴 Into The Unknown ⚠️
Most of you reading this post probably already know I live in a remote part of the Cardamom Mountains here in Veal Veng, Cambodia, near the Thai border. Being close to the Thai border means landmines, but the remote mountainous area means that this place has never been a priority for CMAC or HALO to clear, so the unknown areas are marked with bright red skull and crossbones signs that read "Danger! Mines!"
There is not a single road for around 15 to 20 kilometers near my home other than the two-lane highway that dead-ends at the Thai border, yet to become an official local or international crossing. The only places to semi-safely explore on a moto are the disconnected remnants of the old highway. Near my home one of these old highway roads is home to a Metfone cellular tower, but after reaching the cellular tower things quickly turn dangerous and exciting.
🛵 Pressing On After The Destination 🏁
Even the walking path to the cellular tower is lined with landmine signs, and you can only assume what is mowed is safe and what's not is not. The path to the cellular tower is serviced by a pickup truck, so it's easily ridden, but after the tower it quickly turns into singletrack and contains many more landmine signs. I had originally planned to reach the tower and come back, but I couldn't resist going a little further into no-man's land.
I kept riding only along what I could clearly see someone else before me had done successfully, but the longer I rode the less clear it became where moto tires had once traveled. I started to get a little nervous when I saw discarded landmine signs, as if the HALO/CMAC had just given up halfway through marking off a new danger area. I rode very slowly and saw some remnants of old shacks, but didn't dare leave the singletrack path.
☠️ Singletrack Of Doom ☠️
I even promised myself that if I was caught off-guard by sudden tummy rumbles 45 minutes from home in the middle of a minefield, that I would just do my business right in the middle of the singletrack path, and even run over it on the way home if I had to double back. From a previous look at a map, I knew the old highway came within 300 meters of the new highway on the top of the mountain pass where there is a small shrine and rest area.
Obviously I don't have any pictures of the sketchy parts of this trip because I didn't want to put my feet down. I can tell you that I road all the way to what appeared to be a dead-end with only a few signs that other villages had come this far in the past. I knew I was close to the shrine on the new highway, and there was a clear and easy path to get there, but because none of the grass was knocked down and I couldn't follow a previous tire track, I turned around and drove back the hard way another 45 minutes. Good news I'm alive though.
🤔 Strange Insect Side Mission 🪳
When I reached home I discovered a cockroach-ish bug on my cooking oil jug, very camouflaged for the forest floor and tree bark. Oh yeah, just a reminder that this content is from May because I am still playing catch up from my Hive hiatus and trying to slowly bring you all back into present-day content. I did ask the villagers if I could ride all the way through and to the shrine, returning home on the new highway, and they said it was possible and safe. The only reason nobody does it is because it's too far, so I will complete this on/off-road loop one day when I have time for another try.
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