Biking to the End of the Earth

A couple weeks ago I joined an excursion to visit one of the more remotely placed Volunteers. He lives perhaps 20 km from me down a dirt road. And when I say it mildly like that, it doesn't sound like a big deal. But this road is no ordinary dirt road. It is rocky, rutted, cratered, and muddy. The quickest way to travel this road (if you're Cambodian) is by moto, as there is a narrow, smooth track along the edge where one can travel quickly and relatively safely. Cars and trucks have it worse, as there are rarely 2 parallel tracks, which makes for a beating on their shocks and a really uncomfortable ride.

As motos are forbidden to Volunteers, the three of us (two staffers and me) rode our mountain bikes. It was a relatively cool day, overcast, with a breeze. It wasn't raining but had rained recently, which kept the dust down. Basically, we rode under ideal conditions. The 20-km ride took 2.5 hours.

This is one of the larger obstacles. The picture doesn't do it justice. Woe to any vehicle that falls into the center of this. But look at the beautiful trees on both sides of the road! We got to look at 20 km worth of them. Lucky us.


This bridge was taken out by large truck a few days before we passed through. We walked our bikes over a footbridge to continue our ride. Trucks had to take a detour to go over the stream.

But at the end of the road was a warm welcome, a really nice visit, and an adorable host sister, so it was all worth it.