Gas stations in Cambodia consist of no more than a little stand with pre-measured Johnny Walker Red bottles of fuel manned by Cambodian families. We believe the bright-yellow litres of fuel we purchased at one stand might be responsible for Vehicle D2's burnt-up catalytic converter!

Journal and photos by Neil Dana

I am back in Cambodia again, this time with our team, and it has been a short-but-sweet adventure. I was here a couple weeks ago for about seven days by myself, not knowing we were to return here as a group, and I am really happy we all did come back as a group. Cambodia is the most amazing country I have visited on our expedition so far, and now that we have all come together, the rest of the team realizes how special Cambodia is as also. You can also click on this link [coming soon] to see what I wrote about my six days in Cambodia before, which I highly recommend.

Oh, and before I describe what happened today, I have to tell you a story about something that happened yesterday, since it only happened to Adam, Colin and me, and Adam and Colin's log days are later in the week, so I might as well write about it. So anyway, we are in the Ta Prohm ruins, which are the magnificent ruins that have become one with the jungle, completely overgrown with huge trees that have destroyed half of the ruins. The ruins are not built up or renovated, they are left just as they were, incredible, with moss growing all over the stones and rubble, and broken Buddhas, and all kinds of interesting, ancient pieces just lying around unassembled.

So as we were filming myself talking about the ruins, we noticed that this very old man was chillin’ just behind me. And who was this old man, but the man on the cover of the Lonely Planet 2002 edition of Cambodia, which we happened to have with us. So instantly we went over to him and showed him the cover, and I said, "Wow, this is you!!, you are famous!!" And he smiled at us and said, "Yes," and kept nodding his head. So I began to sit with him and talk with him for about 20 minutes about his life. He comes to these ruins everyday and sweeps up the ruins, so he has good karma when he dies. His name is Niem, and he is 83 years old! He had six children and a wife, but four of his children were killed during the horrible Pol Pot regime, and his wife just passed away a year ago. His other two children are married and living nearby now. I asked him if it was ok to talk about his experience with the Khmer Rouge and said I understood if he didn't want to due to painful memories. But he was willing, and luckily we had Saomonk, our translator with us, because Niem didn't speak English. He explained much of his horrible experience, which was very similar to a few of the different stories I have read in a couple other books since my first visit to Cambodia a few weeks ago. I am always amazed at the people who survived and the horror they lived through and how they can continue to have such big smiles on their faces.

It was a fascinating and very touching time talking to Niem, and afterwards, I asked him if he would sign our Lonely Planet book, and he said yes. He can't write, but can etch out a name. And he also said that this was the first signature he had given. I was astonished; however, maybe he meant just today. But it is a nice romantic notion to believe that it was the first book he has ever signed. Anyway, I hope Niem lives for many years to come, and continues to sweep up the peaceful Ta Prohm ruins and keeps his smile until the day he passes into his next life. I also overpaid for a Buddha head, and some cowbells from Niem that he had for sale. However, no amount of money from me is too much when it comes to helping this man have food on his plate everyday.

And now to today...

So today, we awoke and began our drive back to Thailand from Siem Reap, Cambodia. Our drivers, Chan, Pho, and our translator, Saomonk, drove us back on the dirt road, the main highway, Route 6, back to the border. This main highway isn't what most people consider a main highway due to the extreme road conditions, with dirt, potholes, bridges with missing planks, and beautiful, rugged Cambodian people scattered alongside the roads, standing on bridge railings waving and staring at us. We were surrounded by rice fields, on both sides, for as far as our eyes could see. The majority of Cambodia's land is rice fields, and has been since the Khmer Kingdom started back in 800 A.D.

So after driving through the country for five hours, we reached the border town of Poipet and dropped off our drivers and guides, which was a sad goodbye, as they were really nice guys. We could really only talk with Saomonk, and he would translate to the others for us. Yeah, as sad as it was to say goodbye, we were also really glad that we could drive our own vehicles again. It was a bit nerve-racking at times with these drivers. They would drive with the brights on all the time, and when a car would come, then they would turn off and on the Hella Halogen lights, making it even more difficult than it was before for the oncoming vehicle to see. We tried to explain the situation to him a few times, but he just couldn't understand; it was pretty funny.

Also, as we were approaching the border, our car started to lose energy, and the engine was sputtering and jerking. The "check engine" light was flashing, and we seemed to have a legitimate problem on our hands. We had to fill up our tank a few times with roadside gas, which were small houses on the side of the road in the middle of the countryside, which had "Johnny Walker" bottles filled up with gasoline for sale. The family would attend your car and fill up the tank. Many times, the family members who were filling up the gas and getting gas from the canisters into the bottles were small children. It was a bit disturbing to see young children, only about 10 years old filling up gas tanks and having to breathe in gasoline fumes all day.

The other problem with this roadside gas is that we didn't know what type of gas we were getting. We tried to explain that we needed unleaded gasoline, or petrol, and pretty much whatever we would ask or try to explain, they would say, "yes, yes." So as our car started having problems, we assumed that this must have been caused by bad gas, maybe we were receiving leaded gas, or even some diesel.

Well, we made it to the border, ate at the casino, and pushed on into Thailand to the first gas station we could find. We filled up with unleaded gas and then drove for another 6-10 miles hoping that the new gas would clear up any problems we were having. Unfortunately, it wasn't working, and our vehicle kept struggling. So we pulled over at the next gas station, and Nick and Todd spent an hour changing all the spark plugs, hoping that would solve the problem.

After replacing the spark plugs, it was dark, and we decided to push on to Bangkok, another four hours away. Right away, we realized the spark plugs weren't the problem, as our car was still feeling as if it was running on a missing cylinder. So we went a steady 50 km/hr and were trying to keep the RPM's at 2000, as it seemed run a bit better at 2000 RPM's, until suddenly, five minutes into our drive, Nick from behind us in the following vehicle YELLS, "Stop the car and GET OUT, you are on fire!!" They had also just seen huge chunks of glowing metal skip down the street towards them out from under our vehicle. Wholly sheep shmibblies! We pulled over and jumped out of the car, and we saw a huge glow under the Land Rover. As some of us ran away, and some grabbed valuables, Adam looked under the car and saw that the entire catalytic converter was bright red and glowing. So we got our stuff and stayed away for a few minutes and waited for the glowing to go away. It literally looked like a red light bulb underneath the car; the metal had melted and even dripped off onto the road! So much for getting to Bangkok tonight.

FREELANDER TO THE RESCUE!

After it cooled down and we had looked at it, Nick and a few others went back into town looking for a towrope to bring us back to the gas station. We stupidly brought the two vehicles that didn't have our tools and recovery kits inside them. Well, we learned a good lesson. Anyway, after an hour, Nick had borrowed a towrope from the police and came back to tow us back to town. However, during Nick's search for the tow rope, he happened to meet an extremely nice man who had a Freelander (Land Rover), who owned a very nice restaurant in town and told us we could leave our vehicle in his lot for the night until we figured out what we were going to do. Wow, thank you! So when we arrived at the restaurant, which was closed now, due to it being 1:15 a.m., but the man with the Freelander and a couple of his guards were there. They greeted us and brought us ice-chilled water. And as it turned out, the guy had a roadside service number for Land Rover, and he called them for us, and they arranged for a tow truck to drive five hours from Bangkok to Aranyaprathet, pick up our Land Rover, and bring it back to Land Rover in Bangkok. The tow truck was to arrive where we were at 6 a.m. And all this for $125; unreal!!!! What luck, to have broken down just inside Thailand and to have met a man with a Land Rover who helped us out, and to find a tow truck driver who could come all the way out and bring it back to Bangkok for such a reasonable fee. We must have good karma working for us.

So we ended up staying the night in a very nice hotel near the border. When we awoke at noon, our other Land Rover had already arrived back in Bangkok and was being worked on. Now that is service. Land Rover worldwide has helped us out tremendously, and we are so grateful to have Land Rover as our sponsor. Thank you, Land Rover!

As of now, we assume that we had gotten leaded gas and the lead had clogged up the catalytic converter. We'll find out for sure very soon.

Take care, and if you want to read a lot more about Cambodia, please go to this link and read about Cambodia. [coming] Cambodia is truly a fascinating country, and is also extremely happy now that they are finally enjoying peace and freedom, which only came as recently as 1998. While I was a child growing up in California, playing soccer and having three meals a day, Cambodia was experiencing the genocide of the Khmer Rouge, where the entire country was put into labor camps to work rice fields, be malnourished, and die in doing so. So I urge you to read more about Cambodia, and their history, and be inspired to come here some day and see the beautiful people and help spur their economy with tourism and knowledge and education from abroad. Have you ever considered teaching English in a foreign country, helping out the local people, experiencing a brilliant culture and also get paid? It is an opportunity that is good for all. Think about it.

Caio,

Neil

Help support our cause: The LONGITUDE Expedition is the longest journey ever attempted with a focus on Parkinson's Disease. The Drive Around the World team aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by driving four Certified, Pre-Owned Land Rover Discoverys around the globe following lines of longitude. Readers are encouraged to pledge small amounts of money per expedition-kilometer via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking HERE. One hundred percent of donations received go directly to Parkinson's research, and all who donate $10 or more will be entered into a raffle to win an expedition-equipped Land Rover Discovery.