RTG Hanoi Daily Dispatch - for website 2 - Flipbook - Page 14
27 January to
23 February 2024
Day 7
Krong Ban Lung to Krong Siem Reap (495km)
3 February 2024
Photos: gerardbrown.co.uk
Daniel Sauter and Martin Ruebel, 1938 Chevrolet Fangio
today proved to be a long, hot day on the road
but the promise of another rest day, in one of the
undoubted wonders of the world, kept everyone’s
eyes fixed on the prize.
there was only time to squeeze in one regularity this
morning on our cross-country jaunt. the dusty red surface
had us harking back to Kenya and our 2019 southern Cross
safari. Cambodia dirt as it was called, was a twisting section
bookended by a couple of villages. the inhabitants had
downed tools to come and cheer us on and grab a quick
selfie as the cars pulled up to the timing point where Fred
gallagher and sarah ormerod were in charge of the clocks.
after rejoining the blacktop the next stop was an early
lunch on the banks of the lesser-known sekong river in the
mekong Bird resort. a couple of local musicians provided a
soothing backdrop for the plates of fresh produce the crews
enjoyed from a lofty perch on stilts high above the water.
running almost 3,000 miles from the tibetan plateau to
the south China sea, the much more well-known mekong
river is a formidable obstacle to anyone who wants to cross
Cambodia. however, as soon as we’d finished lunch, we
made it look easy thanks to the 1,731m Cambodia - China
Friendship Bridge.
By now word had got around that we were on our way and
through almost every town we found policemen holding
back locals and giving us a strong hint as to which way the
route went. luckily for us we were heading for another time
Control in Preah vihear where all manner of iced drinks
were laid on by the organisers as the mercury slid to 36°C
and the sun positioned itself directly overhead.
taking the full force of this solar assault was ean
and alison lewin’s Ford escort with ean himself lying
underneath trying to secure the remains of the exhaust pipe
which had been accidentally damaged in a car park shunt a
few days ago. the term throaty roar doesn’t even begin to
describe the sound coming from the rear end but luckily
the crew are equipped with noise cancellation headphones.
We’d covered a lot of ground, but there were still a few
miles to go and a Passage Control at the Beng melea ticket
office to collect the necessary paperwork for tomorrow’s
angkor Wat temple visits. soon afterwards a guard of
honour was formed by hundreds of immaculately turnedout school children as we entered siem reap. We were
flagged under the arch by his excellence mr Pannhasa Kuch,
the secretary of state for tourism, after which a troupe of
dancers showed us the way to the sofitel reception and, via
a well-stocked and agreeably air-conditioned bar, dinner by
the pool rounded off our day.
www.rallytheglobe.com
