Road trip, South east asia

[Hanuman]

I'm over in Cambodia, taking it easy and recuperating (doctors orders, if only they knew!)

Last weekend, we (boss, self, one extra) took a road trip to introduce me to some family I've not met.

As my international driving permit has expired, I had to take a slightly safer option and rent from Europcar. Initial offerings on the phone were uninspiring Fabia, Hyundai Accent (albeit 4wd?) and some brand spanking Chinese SUVesque something. Slightly more expensive than I'd have liked.

As fortune would have it, when I arrived to pick up the weekends jalopy, a small fleet of slightly older, but much more appealing quattro models was available.

I've no idea of the age, but we ended up with an A4 2.0t s-line Avant. In silver.

To date, I've not been much interested in the 4 cylinder offerings, but it was great.


The 6 hour drive was largely uneventful, save for some torrential rain in places, being wet season here, (which made it a 6 1/2 hour drive), and a sudden lack of road for several miles (dug up, in prep for grading, but otherwise a sequence of pot holes best navigated not at 120+Kmh. Ah....!)

I have to say, the 6 speed box was great. I was pleasantly surprised to find they had a manual box.

And off we went. Crossing the Mekong twice en-route out of Phnom Penh, north on some fairly decent highway once away from town, then East and North east, heading to Mondulkiri.



I have always loved the scenery of Southeast Asia, since I was young. As we got away from Phnom Penh a little later than planned, the last part of the journey ended in utter darkness, adding to the surprise of the unmade road.

Imagine going from this-



To this, in darkness, as you cross the rise


Journeys end being the provincial capital, Sen Monorom. For dinner with her family, lots of beer, catch up with an another friend.
I speak next to nil Khmer, but the international language of men (grunts, shrugs, and beer)sufficed.

Day two had a family outing into the local wilderness, to a local spot with some pleasant waterfalls, and later up to one of the higher points in the region.


Some 2 thousand feet elevation. Doesn't seem much until the 33° heat, high humidity kick in to rob the top end of a good amount of power.
That and a slightly overloaded car. We decided that eleven up in an A4 was a tad too much, so sis-in-law and hubby grabbed a bike


It was silver when we started off. The local soil is very red. Boss being more photogenic, she gets a photo op

The only car wash available...

Doesn't really show so much, but 15seconds unloading bags results in yours truly being drenched.
Still didn't shift the red soil...




Hang on, more to come

(Pictures will appear here shortly)

[Colin Aitchison]

Classic Audi post from Cambodia, well done you, good to see the roads are the same as ours,
we had real rain in central Scotland yesterday the first for some 4-5 weeks, nice photos of a really nice part of the world, more photos please.

[Ringmaster]

Originally Posted by Colin Aitchison

good to see the roads are the same as ours,
.

[Ringmaster]

You appear to be in the middle of nowhere, yet have reasonable internet access... amazing world we have.

[John.]

Originally Posted by Hanuman

IThe local soil is very red.

Fife soil in Cambodia!?……...that's amazing!

As above , keep the pics coming.

[Ringmaster]

Originally Posted by Colin Aitchison

Classic Audi post from Cambodia.

That could be the next big Classic Audi thing! Posting from the remotest locations?

[Hanuman]

Well, in truth I'm back in Phnom Penh as I post this. But internet access is generally equal to the best offerings of the shite makes up the UK network. Even on Tonle Sep, it surpasses the service in Poole.

More photos when I get a mo. More road trips over the next few weeks, if time allows. Hopefully Audi propelled, but might have to be big SUV. Must go and have a pint of tonic water now.

[Colin Aitchison]

Originally Posted by Ringmaster

That could be the next big Classic Audi thing! Posting from the remotest locations?

Sounds like a challenge

[Hanuman]

Trying to pickup the thread, and add a few more pics, and some gibberish, but tapatalk won't play. Grrr


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Hanuman]

Four years on, another road trip. Nice to see Tapatalk have botched my photos in several threads. So much for unlimited hosting.

So, road trip is actually a railroad trip.

A few pics of some old boilers. Junior has been shouting excitedly every time we passed by, and saw these…





As it happens, having dragged him along to get a closer look, he was not quite his jovial self


Had he been in better spirits, he’d have been climbing all over this lot and getting a bit messy in the process.
Engineers station looks to have seen better days. Sadly, up close, they’re not quite as good looking as seen briefly through the railings on passing