One Filter One Family

It is going to be a very long day for my love and partner....she woke up in the middle of the night with stomach cramps and everything which follows here in the developing world. Bag in hand, the six and a half hour karaoke bus ride is just under way and already it's an unhappy event. Barf bag clipped to the cup holder with a handy carabiner, Nathalie has managed a weak smile and very politely asked 'kill me now please', then drifted back into her state of being on the barf bus........ read more

The pagoda is being built bit by bit as money is available and the monks themselves stay in a modest wooden long house of sorts. None of them is older than maybe 18 years of age and not a single 'adult' is involved in their surroundings. Mombo takes Jeff to present a small offering of soap and some cash. An experience that won't be forgotten, two of the young monks a ccepting our gift and in turn chant a blessing. Reality slips across dimensions and time wanders somewhere else. To Nathalie is sounds like many voices, strong and magical. A perfect start to the day.... A flaw in our training plan becomes very clear, very quickly. Can you spell the words "long climbs". This is where the climbing starts and does not stop, how can we ... read more

Out of the jungle and onto what will some day be a proper road we start our day. Quickly the hard pack clay turns into more of a silty sand pit and we are forced to walk. The ground under our feet acts more like water, splashing into the air and over the tops of our shoes, constantly stopping to empty our shoes, eventually the road works appear again and Nathalie has logged a stellar 30km day! Never run again my arse! Finally we make it to lunch time....but along the way we see standing ponds of water around some of the construction areas. Turning one corner, we see Bunna washing the dishes in what would be a cesspool any where else, guess not so today...We were forced to fill one of our water bottles from ... read more

The travel day arrives and so does packing the truck with everything we think we may need on the run. The entire day was spent looking out the window, adjusting our positions in the back seat and well more looking out the window. It is amazing how much the road has changed in the two years since we were on Hwy 7. What was once a smooth and well maintained road is now more filled with crater size holes and entire sections missing blacktop. It makes you wonder how the rest of the 'new' roads will fair the rainy seasons...after 9 hours on the road we arrive at the guest house in Ban Lung. We start unloading the truck and Mombo heads to the kitchen to cook dinner, a routine we are sure to perfect over ... read more

Travel days......they need to happen but honestly aren't they a waste? Really, you've already spend days if not longer, thinking about all the things you need, want and must have. Countless hours of checking in, checking out, then trying to remember where you put everything just so you can check in to check out again, finally arriving and realizing you can't remember where you put everything, once you are arriving...There is not a complaint here just an acknowledgment, that it is a process we go through, happily and willingly.... Running Cambodia v3 is in go mode..... If you had asked, or if we had done the same actually, would the answer have been yes we will run three times through Cambodia? We know the answer now but the details we will only glimpse because if the ... read more