The beautiful south......

The fuelling issue with the bike is bugging me. After consulting a couple of online motorbike forums; a few possibilities emerged. Spark plug failure; clogged air filter or contaminated fuel (ie water in the petrol). So with the help of the hotel owner, we went to a very local roadside mechanic. He diagnosed the contaminated fuel option; he purged the carb and revved the engine for a while and declared it OK. It only cost me US$0.50, so even if it made no difference, I'd lost nothing. The bike certainly initially ran much better, but the problem creeped back for a while, but then seemed to get better again. I have no idea!?!

Anyway: today's ride, it started well enough but the road was being worked on with lorries and heavy machinery churning up the mud from the previous days rain into a world war 1 trench style quagmire. Deep, gloopy sludge. Usually on an uphill or downhill section. So revs up (momentum is your friend...!) and feet down to paddle through as the rear wheel fish-tailed it's way forward. Amazingly, I didn't drop the bike. Light bikes rule; if I'd been on a 1200GS, I'd probably still be there.

Conditions improved as the ride went on. Followed the track into ever more remote areas; the occasional Chinese dam the only sign of life. This was more the kind of terrain and riding I was hoping for: just me and the bike rolling ever onwards in beautiful terrain. Red dirt roads and lush green forest, and then the blue of the sea appeared. Great day.

Arrived in Koh Kong to find a sleepy town, again suffering from the economic fallout from Covid. Many places listed on Google Maps, TripAdvisor etc apparently gone forever. The nearby closed border with Thailand not helping either. Beautiful area though. This south eastern corner of the country really is stunning.

Again, one night only......I really need to learn to slow down a bit. As I saddled up, I noticed fuel slowing dripping from the in line fuel filter that Monsieur Spliff had fitted. It was just a slow seep so I decided to ride anyway; I always think more clearly on the bike; that Zen like focused mind would tell me what to do!

Leaving Koh Kong, the road climbed and curled eastwards. The dodgy road was tempered by the beautiful scenery. A morning of dodging potholes was enjoyable on a bike; wouldn't be much fun in a 4 wheeled tin box though. There would be long smooth sections which just over the brow of a hill, or just at the apex of a sweeping bend would turn to shit......grab the brakes, aim for the least worst line and hope! This continued all the way to where the road joined the highway from PP to Sihanouk. Route no. 4.......worst drivers I have encountered so far. The overtaking traffic coming the other way would force you onto the gravel verge. This wasn't a one off, it was constant. Bastards!!

Anyway, I had the Zen epiphany. Zip ties! As luck would have it, I had a few with me (if only I'd brought some WD40 I'd have a complete tool kit!). The leak seemed to be coming from where the fuel filter attached to the fuel line, so snug them up with some zip ties. I duly tried and the slow sleep turned into a gush of fuel. It turned out the fuel filter was cracked and my efforts with the zip ties widened the crack. Fortunately English speaking hotel staff were on hand and in the space of about 5 minutes, a new fuel line appeared, cut to size and fitted (ditching Monsieur Spliffs fuel filter). And no money asked for! Gotta love Cambodia.

Soundtrack: Hawkwind - "The Right Stuff"