Upon arrival I decided that I want to do something a little different than just sit at the beach. We saw an advertisement for renting dune buggies and take a tour outside f the village.
Strapped in and ready to go I hit the road with my Cambodian guide in the passenger seat. Jenny and Ashleigh occupied a buggy behind ,one and another couple in the third buggy. Tentative at first I cautiously drove down the main road.
Within minutes we were out of the tourist district and the main over roads turned into dirt. It took a little while but before I knew it I was bashing through mud puddles getting covered in bright orange mud.
The local kids all smiled and waved and a few chased after the buggy screaming "hello hello hello!"
We continued on and on through the Khmer beach town and then off inland to some hills. About halfway to the waterfall we encountered our first huge obstacle. A giant mud pit. Excited we took turns going full speed ahead in the mud. And one by one we failed miserable. Within minutes all three buggies were stuck in the mud up to the seats.
Uh oh now what? In the back of my head I just kept praying please don't let this thing break I really don't want to pay for it. Lucky for us our guide is a master buggy driver and managed to get one free. With the free buggy he use some ropes to tow out the other two. All while this is happening locals are driving past us laughing.
After getting all down and dirty we arrived at a waterfall to clean off. To our pleasant surprise there was a monastery field trip to the local waterfall that day. All around and in the waterfall young monks were splashing around in the water. A very interesting sight to see.
I even got to snag a picture with a group of them in front of a section of waterfall. The one kid thought he was a boss wearing ray ban aviators and throwing up the peace sign in the pictures.
All of a sudden there was some commotion that died down quickly. Oh no big deal a person just fell off the edge!!!! What!! No one seemed to make a big deal about it. After a little investigation we did find out that everyone was ok. Guess it just continues to show the lack of safety priorities in Cambodia.
We settled down in some picnic hammocks to relax for awhile. This is when we noticed that we were not in your usual tourist spot. The only way to describe it would be if a random tourist group from halfway across the world decided to tour around your local park (cedar creek in my case). We def got some bizarre looks.
We decided to get some ice cream so I asked a lady and she showed e some generic stuff. Then I spotted the local treat, which at half price was the better choice. For only 50 cents I got the most delicious handmade ice cream bar made out of coconut milk, nuts, and banana. A true delight!!
Back at out buggies there were two little girls waiting. After some laughs, high dives, hellos, and jumping up and down we hit the road. This is were the day got a little sketchy. Jenny was getting ready to pull out when she accidentally had the buggy in reverse and almost ran over the little girl. Although it seemed like a big deal to us the girl quickly jumped out of the way as didn't think a thing of it.
Back in the rocky roads we hit the mud again. Then I hear a scream and more screaming. We turn around and get out of the in time to see the other girls buggy speeding straight past us. Their brakes are broken! They eventually rolled to a stop and the look on their face was pure terror.
Our guide got out and checked the brakes. The back ones were not working and the fronts were. He casually told them its ok and for us to continue on. Heck no!!! This whole safety thing is just repeating and repeating itself. Finally he agreed to drive it while the other two girls got in my car. One had to sit in the passenger seat while the stood on the back. Still not the safest but at least my vehicle was working.
We took turns standing on the back and loving every second of it. Then we got to the beach for some sand driving. Within a minute the third group drove through water and their bike shut off and would not turn on again. Great two bikes down and mines the only one working. At least I'm winning. While waiting for them to hook up the buggy so it could be towed the entire way back we shut ours off to save some gas. Big mistake. Now ours wouldn't start either.
So here we are two buggys shut off and one working with no brakes stranded on a beach. Locals kept coming over to check out the scene. Luckily we had some jumper cables and they got my buggy started again. Wahoo that was a close call.
The last leg of the journey was through the fishing villages on the stretch back to the main town. It was a whole different world. I have never seen anything like it in my life. Wooden hut upon wooden hut lined the street and jutted off into little alleyways with more. Most were built up off the ground a little and only consisted of pieces of wood sketchily put together. Everywhere there were families sitting in the hits or on the die of the road.... All smiling. The living conditions were nothing like I have ever seen. Small and awkwardly built like Nepal but times five. All scrunched together it made even more of an impact. The actually look of the buildings were different than usual as well. Although everyone had a smile on their face the trash in the street made me want to cry.
Overall it was a crazy fun day and I got to see some of the real sides of Cambodia! I would recommend this to anyone wanting to do something a little different.
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