We ride out of the city limits of Prey Veng and find ourselves on a dirt road that rides through village and countryside. For me, this is a wonderful experience. The air is fresh, sky is clear, and the fields are green and alive. We dodge large cattle, dogs, chickens, and the occasional naked baby while zooming along the bumpy path. Villagers drop their jaws at the site of our skin and slowly watch us fade in the distance. It was a wonderful ride -- scenic to say the least. I really enjoy the chance to be able to see the countryside and try to soak it in as much as possible. Our visit to the partner is short -- over a cup of tea, I discuss the options we have for developing a new website then Daphne talks some budget mumbojumbo. In and out, I'm already pumped for the ride back.
This is when everything does not go according to plan.
Like I mentioned before, villages in Cambodia commonly have a good selection of livestock that practically live on the roads. You have the cattle and water buffalo that appear frightening but move slowly and give you little trouble. You have the scrappy dogs that lay down on the road, sometimes bark at your feet, and normally get out of your way. You also have the chickens that spend their days running around aimlessly and occasionally scrounge through the dirt in hopes of finding something to swallow.
Sidebar:
Chickens are really stupid creatures, it really amazes me that a meat so delicious could come out of an animal so incredibly dumb.
Here's the scene:
I'm riding along, enjoying the wind flow throw my fingers as I breath in the beautiful countryside. I'm thinking to myself, "It's been a wonderful morning, this moto trip is just peachy!" I swish and swoosh past bumps and cows as naked babies play happily in the dirt.
MEANWHILE, in the tiny brain of some psychotic chicken, a trigger goes off. This trigger tells this feathery fiend that, if there's any good time to go berserk, rapidly shake your insignificant body into a tantrum and run into the middle of the road -- it's RIGHT NOW BRAAAAAAAK!!!!!
Now I don't believe in all the ghost and spirits that Cambodians love to talk about, but I kid you not, this chicken was possessed by some sort of out-of-this-world entity. At that very moment it had gone rogue; a kamikaze bird set on running head-first into the first thing that presented itself. My front wheel.
BRAAAAKKKK! SMASSSH! Those are the sounds I hear right before I find myself becoming weightless as I soar through the air. It was a bit of a blur, and I never actually found out what happened to that friggin' chicken but I think it likely played out like this:
The chicken hits my front wheel and instantly vaporizes into thin air. I do a double front-flip and barrel-roll with a McTwisty and land perfectly on my face. Nearby villagers see me and check, "See a white person totally bite the dust on a moto" off their list of 'things to do before I die.' I casually get back up, jump back on the bike and ride out of the village doing a wheelie while Bon Jovi plays in the background.
Thursday Over.
The truth is that I fell off my moto because a chicken ran into my wheel. I got some scrapes, cuts, and burns from the fall but after a few Band-Aids here and there I'm all better. Chickens are dumb.
