"The Pink Panther and I set sail from Hanoi seven weeks ago and clunked south over the Annamite Mountains into Laos, Cambodia and finally, Saigon. Despite my efforts, it turns out that 25 year old Honda C90 mopeds really aren’t built for mud, deep sand, rocks, mountains, rivers and jungle. In the space of three weeks, the poor bike had to have three engine rebuilds, and took to chewing through cam chains like candyfloss.
In Cambodia, on what’s affectionately known as the ‘Mondulkiri Death Highway’, both the Panther and I nearly met our makers. To read the full story you’ll have to buy the book when it comes out next year....
Aside from mechanical issues, it was an an amazing journey and even more than before I was astounded by the amount of UXO people have to live with all along the former Trail. During a fantastic day spent in the field with MAG (read about it here) I met a mother whose son had been killed by a cluster bomb only months before. And whilst walking on a path through the jungle in Laos, with two former US pilots, we nearly stood on a cluster bomb ourselves. The tennis-ball sized explosive was lying a foot off the path: small and innocuous, yet able to kill anything within a 15 metre radius.
I penned a few blogs whilst on the road. If you’re interested in seeing them then head for www.theitinerant.co.uk. And if you want to look at a few photos, there are some here.
I’m still raising money for the excellent MAG, thank you to all those who have so kindly sponsored me already. If you fancy sponsoring me then all you have to do is head to my Virgin Money Giving Page and click a few buttons.
Finally, a massive thank you to all my brilliant sponsors: Explore Indochina, Weise Motorcycle Clothing, The Adventurists, The Visa Machine, Stanfords, Puncturesafe, Boxer Gin and Snugpak without whom I would have been Panther-less, gear-less, gin-less and generally clueless".
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