Moto Diaries.

abandoned home that many homeless cambodians have made their home.
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This is literally a ghost town.  Gorgeous french architecture.  Ocean.  Green hills.  Not a barang to be found.  This town showed us just what the reminents of war really look like.  Buildings that are burnt to pieces.  No windows, doors or outer icings because it has all been stolen.  Bullet holes in every wall.  There are just empty, historical buildings that people now call homes.  People have just moved in and made the spaces their own.

little ms.smiley. she was all about hanging around the camera as much as possible.
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While riding around Kep, you get the feeling that you are moving in slow motion through a silent film.  It's one of those moments that you can't get enough of your surroundings and you want to know everything that there is to know about the town's history.

The Journey to Kep:

Day one:  we had our three brushes with bad luck.  The first; while battling the dirt, bumpy roads, something went wrong.  Not quite sure what, but something was very wrong and the next thing I knew Laureen and I were in a ditch.  The second; while traveling about 45 mph, on a  decent road, the kickstand fell.  It made quite a scary sound and caused all sorts of unsteadiness.  Ended well.  The third and thankfully the last; again, traveling about 45 mph, the moto begins to fishtail like crazy.  I look down thinking that it's the kickstand, but that's all good and well.  The bike is swerving all over the place... my immediate reaction is to put my feet down in an effort to balance and catch the bike everytime it weaves too far to one side.  This would look really cool in the movies, but I have to be honest... it doesn't feel so cool when you are wearing flip flops.  In fact, it's rather hot to feel asphalt on your feet.  I knew something was dreadfully wrong when a family of khmer's ran out of their home and chased us down the street.  Ready to react.  I don't know how we managed to get out of this accident, but we did.  With Reen's driving skills and my Fred Flinstone brakes we came out clean.  A few scrapes and burns on my feet, but I refuse to complain.  Turns out we popped a tire.  Never good.  Despite all of these events, we managed to still make it to Kep much later that day.

we had a crowd of children as we ate our chicken feet, eyeballs and brains.
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Day two:  my first moto lesson.  Laureen took me out on some dirt roads and gave me a crash course.  I was beginning to believe that I was a natural until I put us in a ditch.  What can I say, I'm a beginner.  We were sure to get helmets before our long journey out to Kep.  Drove for over four hours that day and I'm quite proud to say that there were no more streaks of bad luck.  After today I can officially say that I will be the proud owner of a vespa when I return back to the states.  I can't justify driving anything else.  The geek factor has officially kicked in because I want to be a bad-a$$ chick on a moto (with a basket, of course).