Travel is a fickle mistress.

Well, this was unexpected.

One day you're going about your business doing things in Cambodia, the next you've changed plans and decide to go to Sri Lanka - somewhere you never considered going. Ever.

Its not quite South East Asia (more like, South East of India) which is where I wanted to focus this trip, but it looks like I'm about to wongder a bit further than envisaged. But I'm not really one to pass up an opportunity like this.

For the past three-ish months I'd had a pretty solid plan, though lacking in finer details (dates, budgets etc) - northern Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia then (maybe) home (depending on how poor I was). I was actually really looking forward to going to Myanmar in the next few weeks and I've got a tourist visa which is valid for three months. (I'm still going to Myanmar, but I've just put the trip off for another month.)

But every so often things change. Ok, things change all the time. Always. Stay with me, ok? (I even changed this sentence a few times.)

Best laid plans, as they say.  

You may recall from my last post about travelling with a group of about six people into Cambodia from Laos and our little motorcycle gang. It was cool. We all split up after Kampong Cham - four of us went to Phnom Penh, the rest to Siem Reap. But even in Phnom Penh we split up again. I have a feeling that, little did I know, the decision I made that day of which way to head after departing the bus would set off the chain of events that led to me agreeing to go to Sri Lanka.

One of our group had booked a place to stay where she would meet a friend who was on a short vacation. I, along with two others, a couple, decided to go together toward the riverside. I'd read about a decent backpackers near there and their hotel was close by too. It so happened we had roughly the same itinerary and amount of time that we wanted to spend in Cambodia. Naturally (as attested to in another post) we ended up travelling together all up for about two weeks. (Incidentally the longest I've ever travelled with the same people.)

Together we had left Phnom Penh for southern Cambodia - Kep, Kampot and the beach town of Sihanoukville. (Then I was to go back to Phnom Penh then Battambang in the northwest then Siem Reap, while they eventually decided to go to the Thai islands and then to Bangkok.) Throughout our travels, the couple had been chopping and changing their plans and budgets on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis on which country to go to next. Thailand? Vietnam? The Philippines?

I chortled quietly at their indecision *chortle, chortle, chortle*. "I'm pretty sorted", I thought to myself, "Myanmar, Myanmar, Myanmar - yeah!" *Chortle*

"Sri Lanka?" he suggested based on a website which charts which countries have good weather in any given month.  
   
"You could come with us."

After a little (and I mean a little) research, I had no conceivable reason not to.

I had more than enough time, (arguably) enough money, flights were cheapish and I could get a 30 day visa on arrival (according to my research).

And so here we are. Tickets booked to a country I have no idea about and had no idea I'd be going to two weeks ago.

Let the fun continue!

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Freedom.

Sometimes you meet people who change you. Change the way you think about things, the way you see the world - in a literal sense at least.

Since I crossed the border from southern Laos into Cambodia a week ago I've been with a group of people who more-or-less shunned the day tours in favour of more travelling freedom in the form of motorbikes/ scooters.

In every town I've been to so far - Banlung, Kratie and Kampong Cham, I've been on the back of a motorbike exploring the surrounds a paid day-tour would not take me. Important to note though, I haven't been driving. Not because I don't want to, but because I don't know how - and I have skin missing from my big toe to remind me. (Story below).

Since I left New Zealand at the end of April, by default (because it seemed more convenient and a good way to meet people and because of the reason above), I had always booked day tours around each place I'd been to. And they are, by all means (mostly) worth the money in terms of hitting all the major tourist attractions in one go and for meeting other travellers. Day trips though and even treks, are highly regimented with a set schedule of where to be, what to do and even when to eat. Renting a motorbike or scooter for the day (which is cheaper than a day trip and more fun) never crossed my mind.


For more intrepid and able travellers, the motorbike is the ultimate way to get around (except maybe in the larger cities where the traffic is heavy and hectic) and see parts of the country that not many other tourists may go - and where no minivans or buses could go either. There is a great sense of flexibility and adventure when you're on a motorbike - sure, you may not see all the things you would on a day trip, you may very well get lost, run out of petrol or injure yourself, but that doesn't matter. Its just more fun. 


The freedom to go and stop where you want, do what you want and see what life is really like for the locals is worth so much more than the $5 it costs to rent for the day. And from stories I've heard, even if you do damage to the bikes (which are mostly owned by locals so you're actually riding their bikes) doesn't cost that much. 

Six of us left Kampong Cham, Cambodia's third biggest city, on four motorbikes and planned to travel along both sides of the Mekong and taking a car ferry across the river. We left late morning (because we could) and took the road to Stung Trong and across on the the ferry. The road there was pretty good - a mix between sealed and dirt roads, but all sans potholes. The other side of the river was a different story. All dirt with massive holes in the middle of the road which resembled a dirt bike track rather than a main thoroughfare through several villages.

The places we passed through, including a few Muslim villages were full of smiling children greeting us in their cute and high-pitched voices ("Hello! Hello! Hello!") followed by a wave as we sped past. They weren't the only ones though - all the villagers, old, young, big, small, greeted us or acknowledged our us with a nod of the head (and helped us out when we thought we were lost). Some seemed truly bewildered to see a small motorcycle gang briefly interrupt their daily life.

But alas, I feel this may be the end of this brief fling with freedom. Our group is going its separate ways and, despite my best efforts, I do not think I'll be riding a motorbike or scooter anytime soon.

(I now have a bandage wrapped around my big toe after trying to ride a motorbike (sorry mum). It was nothing serious, but I lost control of it because I was heavy-handed with the accelerator and ended up driving into the kerb where the bike fell onto the ground. I was wearing jandals and scraped a few layers of skin off my big toe. The bike was unscratched.)

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