Break Down Outside of Sen Monoram

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It’s Saturday morning and Ellia and Dima are leaving today. They have a bus ticket booked at 1:00pm. We decide they have time for one last adventure so after breakfast, we pile into the jeep and off we go. We are looking for a Nemong Village; some of the tribal people that live in this region. They are shorter than the Khmer and speak an entirely different language. Once again we are following a hand-drawn map which is great because it feels like we are pirates searching for a hidden treasure.

The road today is great. It is a big, smooth dirt road that is in pretty good condition and we are cruising down it going about 40mph. As I look in the rearview mirror I see the big cloud of dust we are leaving in our wake. The weather is great sunny but not hot, windy but not overly so; all in all just a great day. Out of nowhere the road once again deteriorates into a pothole filled obstacle course with branches and rocks strewn across it.

After the road clears up again we pick up the pace and start cruising. We are all engaged in some idle chatter when I accidently nail a rock with my front right tire. It’s another bone-jarring hit. I apologize to me jeep, but everything seems to be okay at first. After about 10 more minutes I notice that my clutch is beginning to feel a little funny.

“Something’s going on with my clutch,” I mention to Ellia and Dima.

“What’s wrong?” Ellia asks.

“I’m not sure,” I reply. “It seems to be sticking a little bit when I let it out.”

As we are discussing the clutch, it just stops working. All of sudden I don’t have a clutch anymore and I can’t switch gears.

“Shit! My clutch is gone,” I exclaim to them.

“No clutch?” Asks Ellia.

‘Yup. Completely gone,” I reply as I bring the jeep to a stop.

We get out and pop open the hood to see if we can find the problem. I can see that a hose has broken and all the transmission fluid has leaked out. We’re pretty well screwed at this point because we don’t have any extra fluid with us and no extra hose to fix the problem. We are stopped in the middle of a shitty portion of the road, one side is just torn up dirt and mud that a vehicle cannot drive through and we are stuck in a small ditch.

“I can probably pop the clutch into first gear and we can drive it in first all the way back, but the problem is that we are faced the wrong way and I won’t be able to turn around on this small road without a clutch.” I say to Ellia and Dima.

“Maybe we can push it to turn it around,” Dima mentions.

“Not here we can’t,” I answer. “Not enough room and the incline is too steep. It will be too hard to push,” I finish.

“We have two big strong men,” Dima retorts.

I am skeptical about his plan so I take a small walk up ahead to see if the road widens anywhere. Unfortunately, it doesn’t. I walk back to the jeep and start walking back the way we came a little bit. About 250 feet behind us there is a small flattish area where the road is a bit wider. It’s still not wide enough for me to turn the jeep around while driving it, but perhaps we can use Dima’s idea and turn it around ourselves through man power. The only problem is that I have to pop the clutch in reverse and drive there backwards up a steep slope with large crevices in the middle and steep drop-offs along the side.

“Okay guys. Here’s the plan,” I tell them. “I am going to back up that hill behind us. There is a flat area at the top. I think we can turn the jeep around there.”

They both look at me and I can tell they are skeptical.

“No problem,” I say. “I just have to keep the rpms high and not stop.” I finish as I climb into the jeep.

Here goes nothing I think as I turn the ignition and pop into reverse. The jeep jumps to life and I push the accelerator to rev the rmps. I am going faster than I want, but I really don’t have a choice. If I go slowly, the jeep will just stall and we’ll never make it. I hit the first big crevice and the back of the jeep pops up and lands hard, but I keep going. If I stop now I am going to rolling down the hill again. Somehow I amazingly make it up the hill in reverse without too much trouble. Now we have to work on turning the jeep around. Right about now I am happy it is so small because if it was any larger or heavier, there is no way we could push it around ourselves. We have to rock it to get it going because there is a small slope on both sides of the road and it is difficult to push. After a few tries we get the jeep moving. It is slow going. We push it backwards and then turn the wheel a bit then let it roll down the slope forward. It takes us four small turns to get the jeep angled enough that we can go forward from there.

“We’re good to go guys,” I say.”Hop in.”

Everybody hops back into the jeep, I pop the clutch into first gear and we’re off. The going is slow as I can’t get over 12mph because it will rev the old diesel engine too high and then we have to worry about it overheating as well. We go the first 5km or so without any problems but all of a sudden we come to a really steep hill. I rev the rpms as high as I am willing to risk it and try and use our momentum to take us up the hill. About three quarters of the way to the top the jeep is slowing and the rpms are dropping. I know that if I don’t do something quickly we won’t crest the top of the hill. I make a quick decision and start weaving back and forth to lessen the uphill slope and try and give the engine a chance for the rpms to rise again. We are in luck and it works. We just barely make it over the hill.

“Smart move,” says Ellia.

“Yeah, that could have really sucked,” I respond. ‘I didn’t want to start rolling down the hill backwards. That would have been a bit scary,” I continue as I look at the clock.

It’s about 11:00 and as long as everything goes well enough, I think we can have the guys back in time to catch their bus and maybe even have a little lunch.

“You know guys, I’ve been thinking. Perhaps it is best if you don’t try and do any more exploring. Maybe you should just wait at the hotel for the bus,” I say jokingly.

“Too late for that,” Dima answers as we all laugh.

It takes us about an hour to get back to town, but we make it without overheating the engine. I drive us straight to a mechanic and stop the jeep. After a little pantomiming and pointing to parts of the jeep, the mechanic has understood the problem. I tell him that my friends need to catch a bus soon so we are going to go back to our hotel and I will come back in a couple of hours for the jeep. We walk back to the hotel and after a quick lunch it is time for Ellia and Dima to go. They both thank me for a great trip before climbing into their minibus heading towards Phnom Penh. From there, Dima will head south back to Sihanoukville and Ellia will catch a bus to Bangkok.

I walk back to the mechanic around 3:00pm and the jeep is fixed. For a grand total of $25 they have replaced the hose, filled the jeep with transmission fluid, and fixed my muffler gasket as well. The jeep is ready to ride again. Unfortunately everybody in town has been telling me that my jeep can’t make it to my next planned destination of Ban Lung. At first I just ignored them, but after the recent breakdown, even I am beginning to doubt its ability. I have also been told that there is no more ferry to take cars across the river, only a floating platform for motorcycles. It appears that my dream of driving to Ban Lung might be just that, a dream.

I start looking at maps again and there is another way to get to Ban Lung, but it seems very boring and roundabout. I have to drive about 150km back the way I came and then turn off towards Kratie. Unfortunately I have been to Kratie before and I really want to make a loop rather than back track. I am determined to get to Ban Lung and it appears that this may be my only option.

Out of nowhere, a glimmer of hope appears. I am introduced to a guide who says he thinks my jeep can make it. He is actually the same guide that took Gordon Ramsey around in his show the great escape. I have heard from my guesthouse owner that he is one of the best guides in town too. He says that even though most people like to rent big dirt bikes for the trip, he thinks the best way is to take a scooter. He is willing to take the jeep though and he makes some calls to villagers living in the region we plan on traveling through. He says there river is almost dry and we can probably drive across it. I have faith in the jeep and I am getting excited again. He recommends I purchase a chain block if we take the jeep. It is basically a winch you can attach to a tree and ratchet to pull yourself out of a jam. The question I have to ask myself is whether or not I think the jeep can make it. Man I wish I had my wrangler from America right now.

After some thought, I decide that I am going to try and make the drive in the jeep. I meet with the guide again and we drive my jeep around some rough trails around town for 20 minutes to give him an idea of my jeeps capabilities. He seems to have faith that my jeep can make it and he certainly looks ready and busting at the seams to go on the ride. After cruising on the trails for a little while we talk about the route he has planned. He thinks it is better if we take the old road, more fun and more interesting he says; both of which sound like good words on an adventure to me. We have also decided to take two days for the trip. We will either sleep in the jungle or in one of the minority villages along the way.

After some discussion we decide to leave in two days. Tomorrow I am going to take my jeep to the mechanic to get the brakes checked out and just have the take a look at the hoses and any other things that may cause problems. He is going to run around and pick up a couple of things that we will need for the journey.

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Comments

[Sebastian Crumple]

These aren't the Droids you are looking for...
I'm starting to wonder when we will be getting to the part where 3 robust local lasses are fanning you with banana leaves while waiting for the hot oil to heat up for the massage of a lifetime? Ooops, wrong Blog?