Also the first human casualty of the rally arrives at Kampong Cham nursing a broken collar bone following a crash. All the ingredients are in the melting pot to produce five days of challenging, chaotic fun. The dusty conditions make overtaking a gamble as oncoming traffic appears from nowhere through the haze. Scattered bomb craters, sink holes, leaps and gullies make for an exhilarating workout which eventually links us with a superhighway. Built to accommodate logging trucks from the outlying eastern provinces, the superhighway stretches out like a gravel-topped runway.
High speeds bring cooling winds and progress is quick.
And we must be swift to our next destination as night riding is best avoided due to the added dangers of wildlife and unlit vehicles springing up on the road ahead. As we head into the hills the road deteriorates into large ruts created by torrents of water during the rainy season. The pace is slow and arduous and we cover little ground. The locals out here have never seen a map and cannot point out where on the route we are. Also they don't really have an idea about measured distances, which means our questioning as to how far we have to travel brings answers ranging from 40 to 120kms.