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18 NOVEMBER 2013 - BATTAMBANG TO KAMPONG LAPOR / CHROK CHONG OURET: 40KM

Our Home for the Night

Our morning wake-up calls have become signature indicators of the day to come; today was no exception.  The rains heaved down upon us throughout the night, thundering into the morning and making our first introduction to the Cambodian rainforests a wet one.  A local family had hosted us for the evening and housed our tightly packed nest of tents between the stilts of their jungle farmhouse.  The father of the household explained that he had moved to the Cardamom region from Kampot in search of arable and available land.  While the surroundings presented the imagery of an idyllic farm, these fields were punctuated with red signs and unmistakable terms: Danger! Land Mines. Although significant work has been done to clear the area of mines, they still exist and are gruesome reminders of the continued living legacy of the Khmer Rogue Regime.

Mud Wrestling

Sam began his journey today by bicycle, heading onto village roads that had been softened and muddied by the overnight rains.  At the onset, the unpaved roads were slick

and barely passable, and after 15km on the bike he switched to running so he could continue plodding on.  As the day progressed, the roads worsened and, in fact, the term "road" quickly became an overstatement.  The terrain devolved into mud pathways, pitted with ravines and rivulets.  This created great difficulty for Sam and the support crews’ 4WD vehicles.  While Sam pushed through on foot, the rest of our caravan had tremendous problems making headway in the ever-evolving environs.

The Team Splits-Up

Due to the difficult terrain, Sam traveled an alternate route in an effort to make his journey easier to pass.  While he slogged through on foot, the caravan faced-off against the mountains.  The landscape was so unruly that the human foot proved a better tool than the Land Cruisers, and Sam outpaced our vehicles by hours.  The mismatch of pacing and opaque communications created a stressful and lonely afternoon with each crew facing the challenges separately.

What initially began as a strategic 4WD off-roading session for the support crew quickly devolved into a series of drive and rescue missions.  Countless times our wheels spun into oblivion and we fishtailed our way through the mud.  The only way our vehicles could make any traction was to be

pulled by local farm tractors.  With the help of the local John Deere’s and relic Fords, we were towed as our cars became a literal deadweight behind the machines that dregged us through the swamps and gullies.  The pace that the support crew was able to achieve was a mind-numbing 1km an hour.  While the support crew inched along, Sam lapped us, unaware of our increasingly serious delay.

Coordinating with local villagers and adventure race organizers, it was with great relief that we were finally able to contact Sam shortly after the sun set.

Because of the distance between our crews and the danger in traveling the "roads" at night, our crew made the decision to sleep in separate locations.  Had it not been for the ingenuity of our tractor team or the kindness of the local villagers who helped us locate Sam, today’s journey would have been impossible.

We humbly record 40km of travel for the day and are thankful for a dry place to lay our heads.

Tomorrow we reunite!!

Donate to support Sam, Sala Bai and the fight against human trafficking.

Watch 'A Step Between', a short documentary film that chronicles Sam's 2012 Cross-Cambodia Journey through the voice of one courageous human trafficking survivor.

And learn how Sala Bai empowers Cambodia's most impoverished young women to obtain employment in Siem Reap's growing hospitality industry in 'Khatna's Journey: A Sala Bai Story'.

- Meghan Shea