Jodi Leaving Cambodia
posted by Kirk & Jodi Roberts at 8:01 AM
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Saturday, March 25, 2006
Hmm I wonder what is so special about the pizza?
posted by Kirk & Jodi Roberts at 7:57 AM
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March 17, 2006
March 17, 2006
We checked out and rode 60km to Trat. It is our last ride of the trip. 4700km in all and we are both tired and ready to spend some time off our bikes. The ride was beautiful, lush and green with hills on one side of the road and coastline on the other almost the whole way. It is one that I will gladly accept as my last. In Trat we checked into the only accommodation with air conditioning, a crappy hotel, but I can take anything for one night as long as it is cool. We found a great day market where we had some great iced coffee and some Phad Thai. It is so nice to be in Thailand again!
We checked out and rode 60km to Trat. It is our last ride of the trip. 4700km in all and we are both tired and ready to spend some time off our bikes. The ride was beautiful, lush and green with hills on one side of the road and coastline on the other almost the whole way. It is one that I will gladly accept as my last. In Trat we checked into the only accommodation with air conditioning, a crappy hotel, but I can take anything for one night as long as it is cool. We found a great day market where we had some great iced coffee and some Phad Thai. It is so nice to be in Thailand again!
posted by Kirk & Jodi Roberts at 7:24 AM
1 comments
March 15, 2006
March 15, 2006
Jodi and I hung out in our favorite restaurant until 11:00 AM enjoying a lovely breakfast. I am a bit concerned that the begging doesn’t bother me anymore and I just go about my lazy business. This morning two monks stopped by trying to extract money from us but I just couldn’t be bothered to give a damn.
Buying ferry tickets was quite frustrating. They all wanted $20 USD for a single ticket on the ferry from Sihanoukville to Koh Khong when it was still posted around town at $15 USD. Apparently the price went up just three weeks prior which seemed expensive as well! Nobody I talked to on the ferry that morning was very happy about the rate they were charged. The boat was dingy and wasn’t sea worthy because it was made for rivers. While making our way down the pier we encountered a couple of kids who worked for the ferry company that wanted money for helping to load our bikes on the boat. At this point I had it with the calls for extra cash and just walked on the boat with my bike and loaded it my damn self. Later a guy came asking for more money for the bikes and I said, "The tour company that sold me the ticket said that I would not have to pay for the bikes and furthermore $20USD is more than enough for this service." A German who overheard the exchange came up to me and gave me the "way to go" slap on the back. He went onto tell me a story about how the cops in PP had extorted money from him and his brother the night before. His brother works for the German Government is now using the incident to extort money from the Cambodian Police by not reporting the whole scandal (during the boat ride he received a text message on his phone indicating the police had paid up). I felt a little remorseful about the whole thing but as I said earlier I had enough of being the rich American in the eyes of the Cambodians.
We left the port and as I suspected the midday swells were large and I was pretty nervous watching the freeboard disappear and reappear on the sides of the boat. I rode on the roof of the boat to make sure nothing "fell overboard" and make sure I could swim to safety if the boat swamped and sank. Jodi on the other hand sat in the comfort of shade and air conditioning below next to the emergency exit.
About halfway through the trip I met a Pomme who was in the midst of a visa run in Cambodia. He lives in Thailand and has to leave the country every thirty days to renew his visa. We talked about life in Thailand and his dream of opening a guesthouse there. He informed me that the Thais are building a new highway to Sihanoukville to the Thai border and when it opens it is going to open many new stretches of beach (I suspect this is also why the ferry owner raised his prices because he knows the new highway will allow buses to take people to the border for a mere $4). He is of course thinking about opening his guesthouse along that stretch. I had a good time talking to him.
In Koh Khong I had another ugly American incident. I was unloading our bikes and we were leaving the pier when we were approached about our accommodations. I already knew where I wanted to stay and could see it from where I was standing but this guy would not take "no" for an answer. Jodi and I tried repeatedly to be polite and after 5 minutes of this I finally asked "What part of NO do you not understand?" I have to admit that I got some pleasure watching his face contort as he became angry, then cool once more and back to his sales pitch. I asked again, "What part of NO do you not understand? I appreciate that you are trying to make a living but there isn’t any money to be made here with me right now. I can see the place I want to stay and nothing is going to make me change my mind." He gave up and was noticeably pissed and I was pleased that I finally got the best of a Buddhist. A Buddhist is supposed to never loose face, he must never loose his cool and some of them are quite good at it and they take pleasure in pushing others peoples buttons. As my friends know I have a giant big red button on the center of my chest that says "PUSH". For once my button was unscathed. We rode to the hotel, checked in and had a lovely dinner watching the sun set over the ocean.
Jodi and I hung out in our favorite restaurant until 11:00 AM enjoying a lovely breakfast. I am a bit concerned that the begging doesn’t bother me anymore and I just go about my lazy business. This morning two monks stopped by trying to extract money from us but I just couldn’t be bothered to give a damn.
Buying ferry tickets was quite frustrating. They all wanted $20 USD for a single ticket on the ferry from Sihanoukville to Koh Khong when it was still posted around town at $15 USD. Apparently the price went up just three weeks prior which seemed expensive as well! Nobody I talked to on the ferry that morning was very happy about the rate they were charged. The boat was dingy and wasn’t sea worthy because it was made for rivers. While making our way down the pier we encountered a couple of kids who worked for the ferry company that wanted money for helping to load our bikes on the boat. At this point I had it with the calls for extra cash and just walked on the boat with my bike and loaded it my damn self. Later a guy came asking for more money for the bikes and I said, "The tour company that sold me the ticket said that I would not have to pay for the bikes and furthermore $20USD is more than enough for this service." A German who overheard the exchange came up to me and gave me the "way to go" slap on the back. He went onto tell me a story about how the cops in PP had extorted money from him and his brother the night before. His brother works for the German Government is now using the incident to extort money from the Cambodian Police by not reporting the whole scandal (during the boat ride he received a text message on his phone indicating the police had paid up). I felt a little remorseful about the whole thing but as I said earlier I had enough of being the rich American in the eyes of the Cambodians.
We left the port and as I suspected the midday swells were large and I was pretty nervous watching the freeboard disappear and reappear on the sides of the boat. I rode on the roof of the boat to make sure nothing "fell overboard" and make sure I could swim to safety if the boat swamped and sank. Jodi on the other hand sat in the comfort of shade and air conditioning below next to the emergency exit.
About halfway through the trip I met a Pomme who was in the midst of a visa run in Cambodia. He lives in Thailand and has to leave the country every thirty days to renew his visa. We talked about life in Thailand and his dream of opening a guesthouse there. He informed me that the Thais are building a new highway to Sihanoukville to the Thai border and when it opens it is going to open many new stretches of beach (I suspect this is also why the ferry owner raised his prices because he knows the new highway will allow buses to take people to the border for a mere $4). He is of course thinking about opening his guesthouse along that stretch. I had a good time talking to him.
In Koh Khong I had another ugly American incident. I was unloading our bikes and we were leaving the pier when we were approached about our accommodations. I already knew where I wanted to stay and could see it from where I was standing but this guy would not take "no" for an answer. Jodi and I tried repeatedly to be polite and after 5 minutes of this I finally asked "What part of NO do you not understand?" I have to admit that I got some pleasure watching his face contort as he became angry, then cool once more and back to his sales pitch. I asked again, "What part of NO do you not understand? I appreciate that you are trying to make a living but there isn’t any money to be made here with me right now. I can see the place I want to stay and nothing is going to make me change my mind." He gave up and was noticeably pissed and I was pleased that I finally got the best of a Buddhist. A Buddhist is supposed to never loose face, he must never loose his cool and some of them are quite good at it and they take pleasure in pushing others peoples buttons. As my friends know I have a giant big red button on the center of my chest that says "PUSH". For once my button was unscathed. We rode to the hotel, checked in and had a lovely dinner watching the sun set over the ocean.
posted by Kirk & Jodi Roberts at 7:22 AM
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March 14, 2006
March 14, 2006.
Still in Sihanoukville and we just can’t seem to go any further than our favorite restaurant. Jodi asks, "Where do you want to go?" and for a quick moment we do the "I don’t know dance" and we end up sitting back in our favorite seats listening to the great selection of western music. We did make it to the beach for walk in the morning, to the ferry terminal to check on ferry pricing and to the ocean for a late afternoon swim but the hours in between were used to seek the lowest energy state possible.
Still in Sihanoukville and we just can’t seem to go any further than our favorite restaurant. Jodi asks, "Where do you want to go?" and for a quick moment we do the "I don’t know dance" and we end up sitting back in our favorite seats listening to the great selection of western music. We did make it to the beach for walk in the morning, to the ferry terminal to check on ferry pricing and to the ocean for a late afternoon swim but the hours in between were used to seek the lowest energy state possible.
posted by Kirk & Jodi Roberts at 7:22 AM
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March 13, 2006
March 13, 2006
In the morning we loaded up and rode to the bus station where we boarded another bus. This time it was with a different company and unlike the Rith Mony Company the bus driver did not drive like he had just smoked crack. It was an enjoyable safe ride to Sihanoukville. They dropped us at the bus station where the taxi drivers were less aggressive and we made our way to Serendipity Beach. We checked into a nice guesthouse and found a nearby restaurant that had great food, music and comfortable seating. We must have sat there three hours that night just enjoying the laid back nature of things.
In the morning we loaded up and rode to the bus station where we boarded another bus. This time it was with a different company and unlike the Rith Mony Company the bus driver did not drive like he had just smoked crack. It was an enjoyable safe ride to Sihanoukville. They dropped us at the bus station where the taxi drivers were less aggressive and we made our way to Serendipity Beach. We checked into a nice guesthouse and found a nearby restaurant that had great food, music and comfortable seating. We must have sat there three hours that night just enjoying the laid back nature of things.
posted by Kirk & Jodi Roberts at 7:21 AM
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March 12, 2006
March 12, 2006
That morning I tried to find something outside the tourist ghetto, ie away from the beggars but Jodi became impatient due to her hunger. It didn’t seem as easy here as it has been in small towns to find a little cart in a market to purchase cheap and delicious meals. This is a big city! So in our discouraged state we walked back to our hotel and ate at their restaurant under the awning. During breakfast a cat sized rat sauntered past paying neither me or Jodi any mind while we climbed on top of the furniture trying to avoid him. The hotel manager observed the whole scene and was embarrassed but unable to do a thing. Rats are just part of life here.
Later on we did the walking tour of Phnom Penh from the safety of our bicycles (the taxi drivers, panhandlers and street vendors ignore us when we are on bikes) and found our way to the Russian Market. I bought a pair of Levi Silver Tab jeans for $4.00 USD and Jodi picked up a pair of silk pants for $4 dollars. It seems many clothing manufacturers have facilities here and the employees skim the extras and sell them at the markets. Now I have something to wear in London in two weeks. That night we bought bus tickets to Sihanoukville because we both decided we had enough of PP.
That morning I tried to find something outside the tourist ghetto, ie away from the beggars but Jodi became impatient due to her hunger. It didn’t seem as easy here as it has been in small towns to find a little cart in a market to purchase cheap and delicious meals. This is a big city! So in our discouraged state we walked back to our hotel and ate at their restaurant under the awning. During breakfast a cat sized rat sauntered past paying neither me or Jodi any mind while we climbed on top of the furniture trying to avoid him. The hotel manager observed the whole scene and was embarrassed but unable to do a thing. Rats are just part of life here.
Later on we did the walking tour of Phnom Penh from the safety of our bicycles (the taxi drivers, panhandlers and street vendors ignore us when we are on bikes) and found our way to the Russian Market. I bought a pair of Levi Silver Tab jeans for $4.00 USD and Jodi picked up a pair of silk pants for $4 dollars. It seems many clothing manufacturers have facilities here and the employees skim the extras and sell them at the markets. Now I have something to wear in London in two weeks. That night we bought bus tickets to Sihanoukville because we both decided we had enough of PP.
posted by Kirk & Jodi Roberts at 7:19 AM
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March 11, 2006
March 11, 2006
Hello from Penhom Pen. This morning Jodi and I left Siem Reap (aka Siamese Defeat) for the Capital City, Phnom Penh and were surprised that we were assigned the front seats. I sat white knuckled for 6 hours watching the world go bye rather quickly and without regard for the other vehicles on the road. The next time I ride my bike in Cambodia I will get off as far off the roadway as possible when I hear a bus horn seeing things from this angle.
In Phnom Penh we were dropped at the worst location to date. It was a small fenced in area complete with razor wire that contained tourists and taxi drivers. It kind of reminded me of the old saying "fish from a barrel" with the tourists being the fish. Jodi and I scrambled to get our things and placed them in the back corner of the pen (that smelled like piss) in the mean time the security guard thought things were getting out of hand and began beating the taxi drivers with his baton. Jodi looked at me and said "get us out of here fast." I hurriedly reassembled our bikes and we made haste for the nearest exit.
Outside I found the city to be nothing like what I was expecting. It was cleaner and unlike many of the other cities in Cambodia the roads had a kind of parkway feel. We made our way to the Mekong river front and checked into a hotel for a couple of days. After a shower and a change of clothes we re-emerged from our hotel and because we no longer were on bikes my sense of things changed drastically. Everywhere we went we heard calls "hey you, transport," "tuk tuk," "hello, give me money" even the monks chimed in with more calls for money. At first I could tolerate it but a person can only take so much and at dinner I reached my limit. It seemed every two or three minutes a child or adult would come to our table trying to sound as pathetic as possible all the time holding out his hands for money and some times they were kind enough to tell me exactly how much they wanted. It was too much for me to handle emotionally. Riddled with guilt and loathing for my fortunate life I went and hid in our hotel the remainder of the evening.
Hello from Penhom Pen. This morning Jodi and I left Siem Reap (aka Siamese Defeat) for the Capital City, Phnom Penh and were surprised that we were assigned the front seats. I sat white knuckled for 6 hours watching the world go bye rather quickly and without regard for the other vehicles on the road. The next time I ride my bike in Cambodia I will get off as far off the roadway as possible when I hear a bus horn seeing things from this angle.
In Phnom Penh we were dropped at the worst location to date. It was a small fenced in area complete with razor wire that contained tourists and taxi drivers. It kind of reminded me of the old saying "fish from a barrel" with the tourists being the fish. Jodi and I scrambled to get our things and placed them in the back corner of the pen (that smelled like piss) in the mean time the security guard thought things were getting out of hand and began beating the taxi drivers with his baton. Jodi looked at me and said "get us out of here fast." I hurriedly reassembled our bikes and we made haste for the nearest exit.
Outside I found the city to be nothing like what I was expecting. It was cleaner and unlike many of the other cities in Cambodia the roads had a kind of parkway feel. We made our way to the Mekong river front and checked into a hotel for a couple of days. After a shower and a change of clothes we re-emerged from our hotel and because we no longer were on bikes my sense of things changed drastically. Everywhere we went we heard calls "hey you, transport," "tuk tuk," "hello, give me money" even the monks chimed in with more calls for money. At first I could tolerate it but a person can only take so much and at dinner I reached my limit. It seemed every two or three minutes a child or adult would come to our table trying to sound as pathetic as possible all the time holding out his hands for money and some times they were kind enough to tell me exactly how much they wanted. It was too much for me to handle emotionally. Riddled with guilt and loathing for my fortunate life I went and hid in our hotel the remainder of the evening.
posted by Kirk & Jodi Roberts at 7:19 AM
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March 10, 2006
March 10, 2006
Jodi and I did not feel like we needed to leave Siem Reap just yet so we spent a lazy day drinking iced coffee and walking about town. We also checked into bus fares to Phnom Penh. We are running short of time and after riding 4500km we decided to change our original course. We wanted to avoid the harrowing 3 day ride into Poipet (the road is supposed to be awful!) and instead go down through the southern part of Cambodia and enjoy a few days back on a beach before crossing back into Thailand. This was a much longer route so a couple of bus rides would put us back on schedule again. We booked our tickets and strong armed them a bit to bring the bikes for free.
Jodi and I did not feel like we needed to leave Siem Reap just yet so we spent a lazy day drinking iced coffee and walking about town. We also checked into bus fares to Phnom Penh. We are running short of time and after riding 4500km we decided to change our original course. We wanted to avoid the harrowing 3 day ride into Poipet (the road is supposed to be awful!) and instead go down through the southern part of Cambodia and enjoy a few days back on a beach before crossing back into Thailand. This was a much longer route so a couple of bus rides would put us back on schedule again. We booked our tickets and strong armed them a bit to bring the bikes for free.
posted by Kirk & Jodi Roberts at 7:18 AM
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March 8, 2006 (later in the day)
March 8, 2006 (Later that day)
Overall our long ride went well but going that distance today had its price. We both felt like hell, but somehow managed to ride over to Angkor Wat to purchase our tickets for the next day. We were told that if we arrived by 4:45pm to purchase tickets for the following day we were allowed entry into the site that evening to watch the sunset. So we anxiously rode over to the main attraction, Angkor Wat, and even from a distance its magnificence provided for a "warm fuzzy bunny" feeling as the kiwis would say. We walked around the temple in the waning afternoon light wondering what the place looked like in its time. I also wondered if our "temples"(i.e. the National Mall in D.C.) will one day be in ruins and if so what might be the demise of our civilization. Unfortunately, they will never know why the sites here were abandoned because all the texts and living memory were destroyed by the Khmer Rouge. I was sad that we lingered in other areas too long and did not make it to the temple center to climb the stairs because they closed the stairway just as we arrived. Instead we walked around the walls looking at the inscriptions and art. We both left thinking the ride over on our bikes was worth it. We then grabbed some dinner and went to bed.
At 5:00AM on March 9, 2006 we awoke early and tried to get an early start but were unable to start the day strong due to a flat tire on my bike. We finally did get out the door and stopped at some carts for a baguette with omelet on the way. We started viewing the ruins from our previous nights end and climbed the hill up to a temple that overlooked Angkor Wat. The sun had just risen and it cast a nice pinkish glow on Angkor but our camera is not the kind that could capture its true beauty. We then made our way down and viewed Angkor Thom. The entrance was a gate that depicted the Hindu story of the churning of the milk. On one side of the road stood demons and on the other were figures of the god king. They were having a tug of war with a serpent and in so doing were churning the milk of immortality. To me the gate was the most impressive thing we had seen so far but we soon found that more impressive things were yet to come. Next we stopped at a temple called Bayon and were blown away. The temple was a tribute to Jayavarman VII that also used the churning of milk as its theme. Each high point had four carvings of his face with each facing a principal direction. At any one time we would see many carvings of the kings face staring back at us but it didn’t feel creepy because the carvings expressions appeared to be kind and benevolent. We both left the temple feeling it was the best so far. The next temple Baphuon was undergoing some major restoration. The effort had start over 40 years ago but was interrupted by the take over of Cambodia by the Khmer Rouge, who killed all but two of the people working on the project and destroyed all the paper work. When Pol Pot was removed from power and Cambodia was "stable" the French resumed the effort. In the mean time the temple lain de-constructed on the grounds surrounding the site. When the French returned no-body understood how the stones went together, so they were forced to draw each stone and try to figure out how it went together. From the look of things they are progressing nicely. After Baphuon the temperature was smoking hot. The remaining temples we minor in comparison to the big two Angkor Thom and Angkor Wat so we did the quick tour. Each one we would stop take a quick look around and get back on the bikes. We returned to our guesthouse to hide from the heat.
That night I re-emerged from our room and rented a tuk-tuk ($5.00USD) to take me to Ta Prohm and Angkor Wat. Ta Prohm was notable for two reasons, the first is it had never been restored so it looks much the same way as many of the temples did when they were discovered in the jungle by the French and two it was used as the set for the first Tomb Raider movie. I then returned to Angkor Wat in hopes of getting to the inner most rooms but I was foiled again because I was too late.
When I returned to town I found Jodi sitting in a restaurant with Colette who had ridden in that day. When I approached I was kind of sorry that I had found her because she was getting some much needed girl time away from me. I sat anyway and had some dinner. Later Colette returned to hotel to fetch Artie and the four of us sat and had dinner in the heat of the late evening.
Overall our long ride went well but going that distance today had its price. We both felt like hell, but somehow managed to ride over to Angkor Wat to purchase our tickets for the next day. We were told that if we arrived by 4:45pm to purchase tickets for the following day we were allowed entry into the site that evening to watch the sunset. So we anxiously rode over to the main attraction, Angkor Wat, and even from a distance its magnificence provided for a "warm fuzzy bunny" feeling as the kiwis would say. We walked around the temple in the waning afternoon light wondering what the place looked like in its time. I also wondered if our "temples"(i.e. the National Mall in D.C.) will one day be in ruins and if so what might be the demise of our civilization. Unfortunately, they will never know why the sites here were abandoned because all the texts and living memory were destroyed by the Khmer Rouge. I was sad that we lingered in other areas too long and did not make it to the temple center to climb the stairs because they closed the stairway just as we arrived. Instead we walked around the walls looking at the inscriptions and art. We both left thinking the ride over on our bikes was worth it. We then grabbed some dinner and went to bed.
At 5:00AM on March 9, 2006 we awoke early and tried to get an early start but were unable to start the day strong due to a flat tire on my bike. We finally did get out the door and stopped at some carts for a baguette with omelet on the way. We started viewing the ruins from our previous nights end and climbed the hill up to a temple that overlooked Angkor Wat. The sun had just risen and it cast a nice pinkish glow on Angkor but our camera is not the kind that could capture its true beauty. We then made our way down and viewed Angkor Thom. The entrance was a gate that depicted the Hindu story of the churning of the milk. On one side of the road stood demons and on the other were figures of the god king. They were having a tug of war with a serpent and in so doing were churning the milk of immortality. To me the gate was the most impressive thing we had seen so far but we soon found that more impressive things were yet to come. Next we stopped at a temple called Bayon and were blown away. The temple was a tribute to Jayavarman VII that also used the churning of milk as its theme. Each high point had four carvings of his face with each facing a principal direction. At any one time we would see many carvings of the kings face staring back at us but it didn’t feel creepy because the carvings expressions appeared to be kind and benevolent. We both left the temple feeling it was the best so far. The next temple Baphuon was undergoing some major restoration. The effort had start over 40 years ago but was interrupted by the take over of Cambodia by the Khmer Rouge, who killed all but two of the people working on the project and destroyed all the paper work. When Pol Pot was removed from power and Cambodia was "stable" the French resumed the effort. In the mean time the temple lain de-constructed on the grounds surrounding the site. When the French returned no-body understood how the stones went together, so they were forced to draw each stone and try to figure out how it went together. From the look of things they are progressing nicely. After Baphuon the temperature was smoking hot. The remaining temples we minor in comparison to the big two Angkor Thom and Angkor Wat so we did the quick tour. Each one we would stop take a quick look around and get back on the bikes. We returned to our guesthouse to hide from the heat.
That night I re-emerged from our room and rented a tuk-tuk ($5.00USD) to take me to Ta Prohm and Angkor Wat. Ta Prohm was notable for two reasons, the first is it had never been restored so it looks much the same way as many of the temples did when they were discovered in the jungle by the French and two it was used as the set for the first Tomb Raider movie. I then returned to Angkor Wat in hopes of getting to the inner most rooms but I was foiled again because I was too late.
When I returned to town I found Jodi sitting in a restaurant with Colette who had ridden in that day. When I approached I was kind of sorry that I had found her because she was getting some much needed girl time away from me. I sat anyway and had some dinner. Later Colette returned to hotel to fetch Artie and the four of us sat and had dinner in the heat of the late evening.
posted by Kirk & Jodi Roberts at 7:16 AM
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Friday, March 17, 2006
March 17, 2006
Back in Thailand. After being bombarded by the national mantra of Cambodia "give me money" for two weeks we became frustrated and B-lined it for Thailand. Today we are in Trat Thailand enjoying great food and friendly people who take "No" for an answer. Don't get me wrong, I loved Cambodias rural towns and people but the places touched by tourism were a bit to much for us. Jodi and I head to Bangkok tomorrow where I hope to provide a more in depth record of our travels. Thanks for following our adventures!
Cheers
Kirk
Cheers
Kirk
posted by Kirk & Jodi Roberts at 9:00 PM
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Wednesday, March 08, 2006
One of the few bridges in Cambodia over the Mekong
posted by Kirk & Jodi Roberts at 7:09 PM
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Women are considered lesser thus the distance between Jodi and the monks. (She is not to touch them)
posted by Kirk & Jodi Roberts at 7:07 PM
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Picture of sunset over the Mekong at Don Khong ferry crossing
posted by Kirk & Jodi Roberts at 6:51 PM
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March 8, 2006
March 8, 2006
Kompong Thom to Kompong Kdey (91km): Colette did not join us for this ride since her friend unexpectedly decided to ride from Kompong Cham to Kompong Thom in spite of his ill health. She thought she should lay over there another day with him to see if he would feel better. We will miss her.
Again we did not get the early start we wanted but managed to get going around 7:00AM. The ride out of town was fun because of two large schools on the north end where we encountered many children riding their bicycles. It felt as if we were riding in a big race. Out of town we continued our brisk pace of the day before of 25km/hr. Neither one of us felt hungry in the morning so we opted to get some breakfast along the way but unlike other sections of highway we have ridden there wasn’t much and we had to ride 60km before finding a restaurant. We stopped in Stoung for a baguette and some fried eggs that did not sit very well. Our pace for the next 30km really suffered and we dropped down to 18km/hr while we tried to digest the heavy sitting eggs. While riding I noticed that most homes in the outer villages have car batteries siting out front. I have wondered what they are for and during our ride I found out. The homes do not have electricity so people use car batteries to power lights and other 12V appliances. When the battery is dead they set it out front on the street, where a guy exchanges it for another and takes the old one to recharge and use again. I became very excited since the system is one step short of being renewable. All the people need is a bank of solar cells and they will have reliable and cheap energy.
In Kompong Kdey we found two guesthouses. Each had squat toilets in a small bathroom with uncomfortable looking beds and a cave like feel making neither one of us too thrilled to stay there. We decided to get some lunch and discuss what to do. I had a little trouble getting some food at a restaurant since the hostess couldn’t seem to understand that my guidebook has both English and Khmer script....not just English. I tried repeatedly to point to the script for fried mixed vegetables and rice but she wouldn’t look. Finally a tuk tuk driver helped me get what I needed. We then sat in the shade drinking soy milks and debating the pros and cons of our situation. It was only 11:00 am in the morning and staying meant that we would have to pass the remaining daylight hours in a crappy room. If we decided to move on we would have to ride another 59km to Siem Reap. It was a tough decision because it was a hot day and with few clouds to provide breaks from the searing sun besides the fact that we were feeling pretty weary. In the end we decided to move on.
Kompong Kdey to Siem Reap (59km): Doing the math it was 150km in one day or 94 miles and a total of 530km in the last week or 330miles. Whew! I wish I could say it was wonderful but something happens to my body the minute I cross the 100km mark in one day. My hands begin to ache, my neck cramps, shoulders begin to tire from supporting my body and my butt feels like hamburger. To help me cope I broke the remaining distance into halves. The first half was 26km, followed by a break at 15km and another at 7.5km. It helped me psychologically to shorten the distance and to focus only on completing the half I was riding instead of thinking about the entire distance all at once. The pavement was incredibly smooth and somehow we managed to regain our form to crank at 25km/hr. Along the way I thought about Justin and how riding with him in the heat of the day had helped us gain the confidence and strength in the heat to complete the additional distance (Thanks Justin!).
Seim Reap: We arrived around 4:00PM and unlike other days where we arrived late we did not take the first room we saw. Instead we found a street where there were many guesthouses and we went from place to place to see what they had to offer. I even found they would negotiate with one Chinese woman who called herself “Mama” pulling the bait and switch. I pulled into her driveway and asked if she had rooms and how much. She said yes and they are $15. I said that was more than I had planned to spend and was pulling away when she asked what I wanted to spend. I said $12 was my maximum. She then said ok I will do it for $13. I asked if I could see the room but instead of taking me to the room she had in mind she took me to another that was very nice and said this room is $15. I looked at her with a smile and said half jokingly “oh, I know this game, the ole bait and switch” and then completed the statement with “have you ever been to HVAC sales?” Realizing that this wasn’t the place for me, we moved on. We looked at 10 different places and finally settled into a room that had most of everything we wanted, air conditioning, mini fridge, cable TV but no hot water. It turned out the hot water would have been a waste since the cool shower felt so good after riding in the heat all day. The remainder of the evening we laid in bed watching TV. Luckily, Jodi was channel surfing when she happened upon a show on the Discovery Channel that was about Ankor Wat, the reason we came to Seim Reap. It was a good primer because it gave us some history of the many temples and trials and tribulations of becoming the giant tourist destination it is today.
Today we plan on recovering from our long day and heading over to the temple complex around 4:00PM to get our ticket for the following day. We will use the remaining afternoon hours to do the short tour until dark and then ride back to our guesthouse for a night of sleep and return early the next morning for the long tour. It should be fun!
Kompong Thom to Kompong Kdey (91km): Colette did not join us for this ride since her friend unexpectedly decided to ride from Kompong Cham to Kompong Thom in spite of his ill health. She thought she should lay over there another day with him to see if he would feel better. We will miss her.
Again we did not get the early start we wanted but managed to get going around 7:00AM. The ride out of town was fun because of two large schools on the north end where we encountered many children riding their bicycles. It felt as if we were riding in a big race. Out of town we continued our brisk pace of the day before of 25km/hr. Neither one of us felt hungry in the morning so we opted to get some breakfast along the way but unlike other sections of highway we have ridden there wasn’t much and we had to ride 60km before finding a restaurant. We stopped in Stoung for a baguette and some fried eggs that did not sit very well. Our pace for the next 30km really suffered and we dropped down to 18km/hr while we tried to digest the heavy sitting eggs. While riding I noticed that most homes in the outer villages have car batteries siting out front. I have wondered what they are for and during our ride I found out. The homes do not have electricity so people use car batteries to power lights and other 12V appliances. When the battery is dead they set it out front on the street, where a guy exchanges it for another and takes the old one to recharge and use again. I became very excited since the system is one step short of being renewable. All the people need is a bank of solar cells and they will have reliable and cheap energy.
In Kompong Kdey we found two guesthouses. Each had squat toilets in a small bathroom with uncomfortable looking beds and a cave like feel making neither one of us too thrilled to stay there. We decided to get some lunch and discuss what to do. I had a little trouble getting some food at a restaurant since the hostess couldn’t seem to understand that my guidebook has both English and Khmer script....not just English. I tried repeatedly to point to the script for fried mixed vegetables and rice but she wouldn’t look. Finally a tuk tuk driver helped me get what I needed. We then sat in the shade drinking soy milks and debating the pros and cons of our situation. It was only 11:00 am in the morning and staying meant that we would have to pass the remaining daylight hours in a crappy room. If we decided to move on we would have to ride another 59km to Siem Reap. It was a tough decision because it was a hot day and with few clouds to provide breaks from the searing sun besides the fact that we were feeling pretty weary. In the end we decided to move on.
Kompong Kdey to Siem Reap (59km): Doing the math it was 150km in one day or 94 miles and a total of 530km in the last week or 330miles. Whew! I wish I could say it was wonderful but something happens to my body the minute I cross the 100km mark in one day. My hands begin to ache, my neck cramps, shoulders begin to tire from supporting my body and my butt feels like hamburger. To help me cope I broke the remaining distance into halves. The first half was 26km, followed by a break at 15km and another at 7.5km. It helped me psychologically to shorten the distance and to focus only on completing the half I was riding instead of thinking about the entire distance all at once. The pavement was incredibly smooth and somehow we managed to regain our form to crank at 25km/hr. Along the way I thought about Justin and how riding with him in the heat of the day had helped us gain the confidence and strength in the heat to complete the additional distance (Thanks Justin!).
Seim Reap: We arrived around 4:00PM and unlike other days where we arrived late we did not take the first room we saw. Instead we found a street where there were many guesthouses and we went from place to place to see what they had to offer. I even found they would negotiate with one Chinese woman who called herself “Mama” pulling the bait and switch. I pulled into her driveway and asked if she had rooms and how much. She said yes and they are $15. I said that was more than I had planned to spend and was pulling away when she asked what I wanted to spend. I said $12 was my maximum. She then said ok I will do it for $13. I asked if I could see the room but instead of taking me to the room she had in mind she took me to another that was very nice and said this room is $15. I looked at her with a smile and said half jokingly “oh, I know this game, the ole bait and switch” and then completed the statement with “have you ever been to HVAC sales?” Realizing that this wasn’t the place for me, we moved on. We looked at 10 different places and finally settled into a room that had most of everything we wanted, air conditioning, mini fridge, cable TV but no hot water. It turned out the hot water would have been a waste since the cool shower felt so good after riding in the heat all day. The remainder of the evening we laid in bed watching TV. Luckily, Jodi was channel surfing when she happened upon a show on the Discovery Channel that was about Ankor Wat, the reason we came to Seim Reap. It was a good primer because it gave us some history of the many temples and trials and tribulations of becoming the giant tourist destination it is today.
Today we plan on recovering from our long day and heading over to the temple complex around 4:00PM to get our ticket for the following day. We will use the remaining afternoon hours to do the short tour until dark and then ride back to our guesthouse for a night of sleep and return early the next morning for the long tour. It should be fun!
posted by Kirk & Jodi Roberts at 6:44 PM
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March 6, 2006
March 6, 2006
Thompong Cham to Skun (51km): On the morning of March 5, Jodi and I packed our things and rode from Kompong Cham to Skun, a.k.a. “Spiderville.” Our map showed a 37km ride from Kompong Cham but it was actually 51km. Leaving town we were pleasantly surprised to discover the best and smoothest road we had seen since leaving Thailand. About 15km outside Kompong Cham we saw a road leading up a hill to a temple at the top. We turned off and found a really nice Buddhist temple that was called Wat Nokor. We a couple of other tourists who were visiting what the significance was and they replied that there are two hills where two teams had a contest to see who could build the nicest temple. One team was of women and the other men and after one day the women were declared the winners. We all had a good laugh when I said “doesn’t it always go that way.” The tourists then said they were from Spain and one of them was making an educational movie about tourism for his students. He asked if he could interview us about cycling in Cambodia. We of course said “yes.” After answering his questions he asked us for some action shots of us riding around the temple and through the gate. Once out the gate we headed back to the main road.
Continuing our journey to Skun we found the road conditions deteriorated due to the installation of utilities. I began to joke that the road must have been to good so the Cambodian government decided to dig it up. We encountered sections of dirt, mud, potholes and crappy pavement but overall it was much better than our previous rides.
We rolled into Skun and I had trouble finding a guest house, not because there were not any to choose from but because they were all dirty. They all reminded me of Malaysia but without the expensive price tag. We settled on one above a restaurant even though it had a pile of cat dung in the corner and a bathroom that hadn’t been cleaned since it’s installation which looked like many years ago. I then assembled our laundry in hopes the guesthouse would wash it and as I was walking down the stairs I saw Colette (a Swiss woman that Jodi and I had met the day before). Her riding partner had become ill and rather than wait in a hotel for him to get better she decided to ride to Siem Reap with us where her and her partner would meet up again.
The three of us sat downstairs in the restaurant all day eating various things. We had fried noodles with vegetables, lychee and peanuts. I also tried a deep fried spider and found that it tasted like chicken. Later in the evening I went for a walk around the guesthouse and found that the guestrooms located in the back were coming to life with young men and women getting ready for the evening. I then concluded that the place was a brothel but it didn’t really bother me since we had stayed in so many throughout SE Asia. Jodi and I went to bed at 8:00pm and were able to get some much needed sleep.
Skun to Kompong Thom (91km): This morning we awoke early and had breakfast at the guesthouse/restaurant/brothel. Colette joined us and all three of us made the journey to Kompong Thom at a very brisk pace between 23 to 25km per hour. We had a tailwind and we were riding north so the sun wasn’t in our face. We made our destination in a little under 4 hours. We cruised!!! It was an uneventful ride but we did see some really nice looking Wats and encountered some Japanese cycle tourists on the road. They were a good bunch of guys and I enjoyed meeting them. We also saw a village where every residence had men chiseling away at large pieces of sand stone making stone sculptures. They had lions, and Buddhas, and bears...oh my (no bears but is sounded good). I enjoyed seeing the sculptures and they reminded me of the village that sets up every summer in Marble Colorado.
In town we found a fabulous hotel. It had air conditioning, mini-bar, hot water and shower and most of all it was clean. We had a nice lunch at the hotel restaurant and then walked the market where we found the best spicy green papaya salad we have had since leaving Thailand. We returned to the hotel and came upon this Swiss cyclist we met in Don Khong. I was surprised to see him since when we saw him last he was two days behind us. He had ridden consecutive 140+ km days. He was his usual cheerful self and appeared none the worse from the long journey and even insinuated that we were wimps for not making it all in one day.
Jodi and I then retired to our room to do some laundry and take a nap. Tomorrow we will ride 60 to 70km to Kompong Kdey.
Thompong Cham to Skun (51km): On the morning of March 5, Jodi and I packed our things and rode from Kompong Cham to Skun, a.k.a. “Spiderville.” Our map showed a 37km ride from Kompong Cham but it was actually 51km. Leaving town we were pleasantly surprised to discover the best and smoothest road we had seen since leaving Thailand. About 15km outside Kompong Cham we saw a road leading up a hill to a temple at the top. We turned off and found a really nice Buddhist temple that was called Wat Nokor. We a couple of other tourists who were visiting what the significance was and they replied that there are two hills where two teams had a contest to see who could build the nicest temple. One team was of women and the other men and after one day the women were declared the winners. We all had a good laugh when I said “doesn’t it always go that way.” The tourists then said they were from Spain and one of them was making an educational movie about tourism for his students. He asked if he could interview us about cycling in Cambodia. We of course said “yes.” After answering his questions he asked us for some action shots of us riding around the temple and through the gate. Once out the gate we headed back to the main road.
Continuing our journey to Skun we found the road conditions deteriorated due to the installation of utilities. I began to joke that the road must have been to good so the Cambodian government decided to dig it up. We encountered sections of dirt, mud, potholes and crappy pavement but overall it was much better than our previous rides.
We rolled into Skun and I had trouble finding a guest house, not because there were not any to choose from but because they were all dirty. They all reminded me of Malaysia but without the expensive price tag. We settled on one above a restaurant even though it had a pile of cat dung in the corner and a bathroom that hadn’t been cleaned since it’s installation which looked like many years ago. I then assembled our laundry in hopes the guesthouse would wash it and as I was walking down the stairs I saw Colette (a Swiss woman that Jodi and I had met the day before). Her riding partner had become ill and rather than wait in a hotel for him to get better she decided to ride to Siem Reap with us where her and her partner would meet up again.
The three of us sat downstairs in the restaurant all day eating various things. We had fried noodles with vegetables, lychee and peanuts. I also tried a deep fried spider and found that it tasted like chicken. Later in the evening I went for a walk around the guesthouse and found that the guestrooms located in the back were coming to life with young men and women getting ready for the evening. I then concluded that the place was a brothel but it didn’t really bother me since we had stayed in so many throughout SE Asia. Jodi and I went to bed at 8:00pm and were able to get some much needed sleep.
Skun to Kompong Thom (91km): This morning we awoke early and had breakfast at the guesthouse/restaurant/brothel. Colette joined us and all three of us made the journey to Kompong Thom at a very brisk pace between 23 to 25km per hour. We had a tailwind and we were riding north so the sun wasn’t in our face. We made our destination in a little under 4 hours. We cruised!!! It was an uneventful ride but we did see some really nice looking Wats and encountered some Japanese cycle tourists on the road. They were a good bunch of guys and I enjoyed meeting them. We also saw a village where every residence had men chiseling away at large pieces of sand stone making stone sculptures. They had lions, and Buddhas, and bears...oh my (no bears but is sounded good). I enjoyed seeing the sculptures and they reminded me of the village that sets up every summer in Marble Colorado.
In town we found a fabulous hotel. It had air conditioning, mini-bar, hot water and shower and most of all it was clean. We had a nice lunch at the hotel restaurant and then walked the market where we found the best spicy green papaya salad we have had since leaving Thailand. We returned to the hotel and came upon this Swiss cyclist we met in Don Khong. I was surprised to see him since when we saw him last he was two days behind us. He had ridden consecutive 140+ km days. He was his usual cheerful self and appeared none the worse from the long journey and even insinuated that we were wimps for not making it all in one day.
Jodi and I then retired to our room to do some laundry and take a nap. Tomorrow we will ride 60 to 70km to Kompong Kdey.
posted by Kirk & Jodi Roberts at 6:43 PM
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March 4, 2006
March 4, 2006
Kratie to Kompong Cham: Jodi and I were tired from the previous three days so we decided that instead of laying over and resting we would take a bus to Kompong Cham thus getting some rest and still moving towards our goal of making Siem Reap before the 9th of March. For me riding the bus in Cambodia was similar to watching Jodi’s brother Charlie play Grand Theft Auto on his Xbox. The bus driver would pass on blind corners and hills, speed through towns where small children were riding their bikes on the sides of the narrow shared road and all the way honking his horn warning everyone he was coming. I guess size matters here and the biggest gets the right of way. I joked with Jodi that they ought to make a video game called "Cambodian Bus Driver" where the player gets points for not making the karaoke skip, not causing accidents and delivering backpackers to their destination safely. I couldn’t watch and instead read most of the way.
We crossed over one of the few Cambodian bridges spanning the river and they dropped us just in front of the Taxi stand. When I stepped off I was immediately marked by two different taxi drivers wanting a fare. I tried to explain to them that I did not require transportation but I guess, "I don’t require transport", "No" and "leave me alone" are not in their vocabulary. When I pulled our bikes from the luggage compartment they figured it out and went back to hanging out in the shade. I assembled the bikes amongst a small curious audience and we rode to a hotel on the Mekong River. It is amazing how large the river has become since first seeing it in Vientiane, Laos. It is the size of 10 Colorado Rivers and very scenic. We met a Swiss cycle tourist on the stairs to our room and discussed the crappy roads between the Laos Border and Kompong Cham. She said the ride from Kratie to Kompong Cham was the most miserable stretch of them all making us glad that we bussed it. Like us they are planning on moving out tomorrow but plan on going more distance. We will most likely stop in Skun, a place known for its’ roasted spiders. I am thinking a happy hour of beer and spider might be in order.
Kratie to Kompong Cham: Jodi and I were tired from the previous three days so we decided that instead of laying over and resting we would take a bus to Kompong Cham thus getting some rest and still moving towards our goal of making Siem Reap before the 9th of March. For me riding the bus in Cambodia was similar to watching Jodi’s brother Charlie play Grand Theft Auto on his Xbox. The bus driver would pass on blind corners and hills, speed through towns where small children were riding their bikes on the sides of the narrow shared road and all the way honking his horn warning everyone he was coming. I guess size matters here and the biggest gets the right of way. I joked with Jodi that they ought to make a video game called "Cambodian Bus Driver" where the player gets points for not making the karaoke skip, not causing accidents and delivering backpackers to their destination safely. I couldn’t watch and instead read most of the way.
We crossed over one of the few Cambodian bridges spanning the river and they dropped us just in front of the Taxi stand. When I stepped off I was immediately marked by two different taxi drivers wanting a fare. I tried to explain to them that I did not require transportation but I guess, "I don’t require transport", "No" and "leave me alone" are not in their vocabulary. When I pulled our bikes from the luggage compartment they figured it out and went back to hanging out in the shade. I assembled the bikes amongst a small curious audience and we rode to a hotel on the Mekong River. It is amazing how large the river has become since first seeing it in Vientiane, Laos. It is the size of 10 Colorado Rivers and very scenic. We met a Swiss cycle tourist on the stairs to our room and discussed the crappy roads between the Laos Border and Kompong Cham. She said the ride from Kratie to Kompong Cham was the most miserable stretch of them all making us glad that we bussed it. Like us they are planning on moving out tomorrow but plan on going more distance. We will most likely stop in Skun, a place known for its’ roasted spiders. I am thinking a happy hour of beer and spider might be in order.
posted by Kirk & Jodi Roberts at 6:42 PM
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March 3, 2006
March 3, 2006
Muang Khong to Stung Treng (105km): We planned on getting an early start knowing we had a long day ahead of us. We met Justin outside the guesthouse at 5:45am and rode the short distance to the morning market to find road snacks. The morning markets are fascinating. Women were sitting in the dirt with small blankets laid out selling fresh fish (some still alive) from the Mekong, live toads, roasted toads on a stick, live chickens tied together by their feet, small birds (which we think they eat?), vegetables, fruit, water, baked goods (spongy type rice cakes, corn fritters, sesame donuts) and some small household items. I found a food vendor making Lao coffee so we sat down to savor it one last time. So we did not get on the road as early as we would have liked, but finally managed to get off the Island via a quick ferry and heading south by 7:00am. We were grateful for the overcast skies and the cooler temperature than the proceeding days. We all were interested in stopping at the Khong Phapheng Waterfall just before the border of Cambodia. We had done about 25km and thought we had passed the turnoff somewhere and missed the waterfalls because we didn’t see any signs (which wasn’t really a surprise). We were all a little bummed because they were supposed to be impressive. About 2km later we surprisingly came across a sign to the falls. It cost us $1.00USD each to look at the Khong Phapheng Waterfalls and we thought we would just blaze through the post and not stop to pay just like the locals. Little did we know that there was a cop a little ways up the road collecting entry tickets. Before we could go back for a ticket Justin had a flat and some mechanical problems that I helped fix. Then I went to go purchase the tickets and we were all impressed with the size of the falls. I kept looking for the lines where it would be runable in a kayak and pointing them out to Jodi. It was a nice place with some newly constructed viewing structures but I was a little put out that they charge an additional $1.00 USD to use the toilet. We all had a good laugh when Justin pointed out that a Beer Lao is $0.80 USD but at the falls they cost $1.80, eighty cents for the beer and 1 dollar to get rid of it. The falls were a nice little side trip and worth the stop.
Back on the highway I stopped quickly when I saw a bright green snake a few feet in front of me that looked like it was agitated and alert with it’s head lifted high. We were all afraid to ride around it because it kind of looked like a small cobra and we didn’t feel like being chased by an aggressive snake. A motorcyclist passed us and crossed in front of the snake but the snake didn’t even move. So I went first and made a wide arc around the snake going as far over to the left side of the road as possible. Then Jodi and Justin made their move following my lead. Thankfully the snake left us alone.
Just outside Veun Kham, the last town just before the Cambodian border, it started to rain so we stopped for some breakfast. The customs gate spanned the road and had one little food stall where we ate noodle soup with egg and found they had Coffee Lao! It was a really good one too. It started pouring rain for about 15 minutes so we waited for it to slow down enough to continue south. That was interesting since we haven’t seen rains like that since Malaysia. About 500 meters away the road split, the right went to the ferry pier and straight ahead led to the land border crossing between Laos and Cambodia. We went straight and just after the junction the road turned into a dirt double track. It was a fun stretch of about 6km that felt just like mountain biking in a quiet little forest. We came upon the Lao Immigration Office, which was a little shack on the side of the road. It looked more like a ranger post than immigration. To get stamped out was only $1USD and then we rode another 500 meters to the Cambodia Immigration Office to get an entry stamp for $1USD (since we had previously purchased our entry visas in Vientiane). While we waited for our stamp we spoke with 4 English backpackers that hired a car to take them across the border and they were telling us their woes. They didn’t exchange their sterling pounds in Laos because they didn’t like the rate and now they didn’t have any local money or USD. Not a smart move. So they ended up paying almost twice as much for a $20 USD visa on arrival because the border patrol gave them a one to one rate for pounds to USD. The town where they were going wasn’t known to have banks either so they were pretty much screwed. After they left we thought about how we should have offered to exchange some money for them since we’re going to London anyway. Oh well!
The road just after the border crossing was graded into a 2 lane dirt road and with the rain it had become very muddy....welcome to Cambodia! The mud clung to my front tire and after 20 meters it seized. Jodi and Justin were not having troubles so I deduced that my front end was too heavy from front panniers. I moved my fronts to the back, cleared the mud and sat back as much as possible. It worked! After another 500m the road became more packed making the mud less of a problem. The road turned to gravel shortly and a little further along we were pleased to see the left hand side of the road was paved. Road works were in progress so it was closed to traffic but we rode it anyway. The road switched between paved and unpaved for the next 55km and we were able to maintain a pace of 18km per hour most of the way. We became pretty exhausted throughout the day due to the varying road conditions and all agreed that this was our hardest day of riding on this journey so far. Towards the end we felt like we were riding out in the middle of nowhere with nothing in sight. Then I spotted a cell tower in the distance so I knew we were coming upon a bigger town. We knew that just short of Stung Treng the road splits again and we were to take the right fork, which leads down to the ferry crossing into town. I found this beta on the LP Thorntree site thankfully because the left fork leads to a dead end at a bridge that is not complete. We watched the sunset on the Mekong as we boarded a small rickety wooden ferry packed with about 20 people and our 3 loaded cycles as well as a motor scooter. It didn’t feel like the most stable of boats and it was quite low in the water (a couple of inches between the top boat edge and the water). We all hoped we wouldn’t be diving for our bikes shortly. They obviously do this all the time because we had no problems and rolled into the small, well-used port on the other side. In Stung Treng we selected our accommodations quickly and helped ourselves to a well deserved huge dinner.
Stung Treng to Chang (88km): Ughh! This 88km ride was the toughest I have ever done. I did not enjoy it and if I had to do it over I wouldn’t. Instead I would have paid the money and had someone take me down the river to Kratie. It was hot and dusty with very little in the way of services. We had to clean and lube our chains every 30km because the silt turned our fine tuned bicycles into ones that sounded much like the dilapidated ones we see children riding to school on a daily basis. Yet in some sick way I liked the adventure of it all. We stopped in a small town about 4pm looking for food and accommodation. We found food, but the accommodation was a small room off the front of the restaurant that had a mat for the floor and a hammock. No fan, no A/C, no blankets or sheets and no screens or mosquito nets. I’m not even sure they had a bathroom where we could wash up. Although for $1USD a night you can’t complain too much. We considered staying there, but after eating a meal we felt rejuvenated enough to press on since we thought maybe we could find something further up the road. Around 6:30pm we rolled into a village scattered along the road just as the sun was setting. We couldn’t figure out whether this was our destination town as no one spoke English. We started getting really worried because we were only seeing the villagers wooden and grass shacks….no restaurants or guesthouses to be seen. We were riding along slowly with all the villagers staring and yelling greetings at us as we passed and feeling quite panicked with what we were going to do. We rounded a corner and saw two monks walking out of a Wat. We immediately rode up to them and one of them greeted us and asked if we would like to stay in the pagoda at the Wat. We eagerly said yes as we had heard that if all else fails you can always stay at the Wats. Whew! One of the locals helped us lift our bikes up into the pagoda, which was no easy task. The stairs are more like a steep narrow ladder and with the heavy loaded bikes it took two guys and careful footing. An old couple that are the caretakers of the monks made us a small dinner of rice and canned sardines that we ate on a mat on the floor while the monks watched (they cannot eat after 12pm). Then we sat down with them in the corner where they had a hammock that they shared and we took turns singing songs. They sang lovely tunes in Khmer while Justin and I belted out songs from Queen, Metallica, Sir Mix-a-lot, Madonna and even graced them with the oldie but goodie "Afternoon Delight". Thankfully the monks only spoke broken English! Jodi laughed along with them and told us we were going to hell. It sure seemed as if they were enjoying our off key songs though a there were plenty of laughs and silliness going on. The oldest monk was about 18 years old (the youngest maybe 13) and there were only four of them so you can see why they enjoyed the entertainment…boys will be boys monks or not. They laid out 3 small mats with small decorative pillows on the wood plank floor for our beds and we all collapsed with exhaustion onto them. The monks continued to sit next to us and smoke cigarettes and drink coffee (we didn’t know they could do that). Then at 9pm they went off to do their chants for an hour. It was mesmerizing to listen to and lulled us all to sleep. Jodi, Justin and I all woke up a couple of hours later freezing! Who knew that the wind could get so cold in Cambodia at night when the days are so hot. The pagoda was just a rectangular wooden building on stilts that is open to the outdoors with a couple of tiny closed in rooms constructed at the back for the monks. None of us had any type of camping gear so we ended up unrolling a couple more bamboo floor mats and laying them on top of us to try to keep warm. It didn’t do too much to help. Between sleeping on the hard wood floor and the cold wind, it was a long night with not much sleep.
NOTE: Even though the riding was intense I enjoyed the opportunity to witness a glimpse into a rapidly disappearing way of life in Cambodia where the roads are very bad. The Chinese are building new roads everywhere but I don’t understand the logic in their building 146km of road all at once. It makes for slow work and it looks as if the new road is being torn up as fast as it is constructed.
Chang: The monks got up at 5am and so of course we woke up with the activity also. They ate their breakfast first on a small elevated platform next to the Buddha alter while we sat facing them on the floor with the caretakers watching them eat. When the monks were finished eating we were all served the leftovers. After breakfast we took a few pictures with them, thanked them, gave a small donation and rode off. Having a slumber party with Monks was an interesting experience that I never expected.
Chang to Kratie (56km): Thank goodness we pressed onward the previous evening because this ride took the remaining energy I had. The riding wasn’t bad, just not smooth and it beat all of us up pretty badly. Outside Chang the road was tar seal with a loose rocking covering (we call it chip seal) and it made the riding difficult. Luckily the left shoulder was a little clearer so all of us crossed into the oncoming traffic side and rode on the shoulder. After awhile the road became the dusty hell of the previous day and we were back to riding on the right with our dust masks. We all looked like and felt like dirt bags since the pagoda didn’t have a place for us to wash up after our ride yesterday. We were riding with our previous days dirt, sweat and stink plastered all over us and we were all so very tired. Fortunately dust hell did not last long and we rode most of the way to Sambor on new concrete that alternated between the left and right lanes, which was closed to vehicular traffic. Just short of Sambor all traffic was required to exit on a dirt road that leads to the old highway into Kratie.
Before exiting we had second breakfast at a small food restaurant. I went to the restroom and Jodi and Justin ordered vegetable noodle soup. I returned in time to see Jodi almost vomit when they brought her soup with what looked like raw pork floating on the broths surface. Justin and I simultaneously jumped from our chairs to stop them from making two more bowls of the concoction. I told the restaurateurs that we do not eat meat. They took Jodi’s soup away and brought three bowls of noodles without meat. About halfway through breakfast we were a bit sloppy in watching our bikes when a Cambodian knocked over Jodi’s bike and picked it up and pretended that he was going to ride off. I learned later that the whole thing was a production meant to distract us while the other scum pinched my mini disc player out of my front panniers. I learned yet another travel lesson. Someday I will learn that when things happen they are usually meant to distract me from what is really happening and I need to start watching the perimeter.
We rode the dirt road through some very interesting small villages where we felt like we had gone back in time. In Sambor the road was along the beautiful Mekong River and became a single lane highway that appeared to be good pavement but the theme of the day was "things are not as they seem." It was not smooth and any speed over 15km caused my butt to move up and down on the seat turning it to hamburger. I rode most of the way on the dirt shoulder to get off the bouncy pavement which was a good thing because of the (what I like to call) "Tacomrys" speeding to and from Kratie (Tacomry: A cross between a Toyota Camry and a Tacoma truck. It looks like a Camry but it has more ground clearance and the drivers drive like teenagers on methamphetamine at very high speeds.) It’s a wonder they don’t kill more people and the locals don’t take them out with the left over munitions from the wars.
After 40km we were wrecked and stopped for a break just short of the fresh water dolphin viewing area. Jodi and I were impressed that the Cambodians don’t harass the dolphins with boats but have walkways built over the Mekong for peering into waters for the mammals unlike other places in the world that offer dolphin viewing.
We pushed on to Kratie and arrived around 2:00pm. We checked into the first guesthouse we found, showered and went to eat a large lunch at one of the many cafes. After lunch Jodi and I tried napping but the construction next door was to loud so we remounted our bikes and rode them to the nearest truck wash. For $0.25USD they hand washed, dried and were going to lube my chain before I stopped them. We then went about town checking things out and found the town to be pretty similar to Strung Treng.
Muang Khong to Stung Treng (105km): We planned on getting an early start knowing we had a long day ahead of us. We met Justin outside the guesthouse at 5:45am and rode the short distance to the morning market to find road snacks. The morning markets are fascinating. Women were sitting in the dirt with small blankets laid out selling fresh fish (some still alive) from the Mekong, live toads, roasted toads on a stick, live chickens tied together by their feet, small birds (which we think they eat?), vegetables, fruit, water, baked goods (spongy type rice cakes, corn fritters, sesame donuts) and some small household items. I found a food vendor making Lao coffee so we sat down to savor it one last time. So we did not get on the road as early as we would have liked, but finally managed to get off the Island via a quick ferry and heading south by 7:00am. We were grateful for the overcast skies and the cooler temperature than the proceeding days. We all were interested in stopping at the Khong Phapheng Waterfall just before the border of Cambodia. We had done about 25km and thought we had passed the turnoff somewhere and missed the waterfalls because we didn’t see any signs (which wasn’t really a surprise). We were all a little bummed because they were supposed to be impressive. About 2km later we surprisingly came across a sign to the falls. It cost us $1.00USD each to look at the Khong Phapheng Waterfalls and we thought we would just blaze through the post and not stop to pay just like the locals. Little did we know that there was a cop a little ways up the road collecting entry tickets. Before we could go back for a ticket Justin had a flat and some mechanical problems that I helped fix. Then I went to go purchase the tickets and we were all impressed with the size of the falls. I kept looking for the lines where it would be runable in a kayak and pointing them out to Jodi. It was a nice place with some newly constructed viewing structures but I was a little put out that they charge an additional $1.00 USD to use the toilet. We all had a good laugh when Justin pointed out that a Beer Lao is $0.80 USD but at the falls they cost $1.80, eighty cents for the beer and 1 dollar to get rid of it. The falls were a nice little side trip and worth the stop.
Back on the highway I stopped quickly when I saw a bright green snake a few feet in front of me that looked like it was agitated and alert with it’s head lifted high. We were all afraid to ride around it because it kind of looked like a small cobra and we didn’t feel like being chased by an aggressive snake. A motorcyclist passed us and crossed in front of the snake but the snake didn’t even move. So I went first and made a wide arc around the snake going as far over to the left side of the road as possible. Then Jodi and Justin made their move following my lead. Thankfully the snake left us alone.
Just outside Veun Kham, the last town just before the Cambodian border, it started to rain so we stopped for some breakfast. The customs gate spanned the road and had one little food stall where we ate noodle soup with egg and found they had Coffee Lao! It was a really good one too. It started pouring rain for about 15 minutes so we waited for it to slow down enough to continue south. That was interesting since we haven’t seen rains like that since Malaysia. About 500 meters away the road split, the right went to the ferry pier and straight ahead led to the land border crossing between Laos and Cambodia. We went straight and just after the junction the road turned into a dirt double track. It was a fun stretch of about 6km that felt just like mountain biking in a quiet little forest. We came upon the Lao Immigration Office, which was a little shack on the side of the road. It looked more like a ranger post than immigration. To get stamped out was only $1USD and then we rode another 500 meters to the Cambodia Immigration Office to get an entry stamp for $1USD (since we had previously purchased our entry visas in Vientiane). While we waited for our stamp we spoke with 4 English backpackers that hired a car to take them across the border and they were telling us their woes. They didn’t exchange their sterling pounds in Laos because they didn’t like the rate and now they didn’t have any local money or USD. Not a smart move. So they ended up paying almost twice as much for a $20 USD visa on arrival because the border patrol gave them a one to one rate for pounds to USD. The town where they were going wasn’t known to have banks either so they were pretty much screwed. After they left we thought about how we should have offered to exchange some money for them since we’re going to London anyway. Oh well!
The road just after the border crossing was graded into a 2 lane dirt road and with the rain it had become very muddy....welcome to Cambodia! The mud clung to my front tire and after 20 meters it seized. Jodi and Justin were not having troubles so I deduced that my front end was too heavy from front panniers. I moved my fronts to the back, cleared the mud and sat back as much as possible. It worked! After another 500m the road became more packed making the mud less of a problem. The road turned to gravel shortly and a little further along we were pleased to see the left hand side of the road was paved. Road works were in progress so it was closed to traffic but we rode it anyway. The road switched between paved and unpaved for the next 55km and we were able to maintain a pace of 18km per hour most of the way. We became pretty exhausted throughout the day due to the varying road conditions and all agreed that this was our hardest day of riding on this journey so far. Towards the end we felt like we were riding out in the middle of nowhere with nothing in sight. Then I spotted a cell tower in the distance so I knew we were coming upon a bigger town. We knew that just short of Stung Treng the road splits again and we were to take the right fork, which leads down to the ferry crossing into town. I found this beta on the LP Thorntree site thankfully because the left fork leads to a dead end at a bridge that is not complete. We watched the sunset on the Mekong as we boarded a small rickety wooden ferry packed with about 20 people and our 3 loaded cycles as well as a motor scooter. It didn’t feel like the most stable of boats and it was quite low in the water (a couple of inches between the top boat edge and the water). We all hoped we wouldn’t be diving for our bikes shortly. They obviously do this all the time because we had no problems and rolled into the small, well-used port on the other side. In Stung Treng we selected our accommodations quickly and helped ourselves to a well deserved huge dinner.
Stung Treng to Chang (88km): Ughh! This 88km ride was the toughest I have ever done. I did not enjoy it and if I had to do it over I wouldn’t. Instead I would have paid the money and had someone take me down the river to Kratie. It was hot and dusty with very little in the way of services. We had to clean and lube our chains every 30km because the silt turned our fine tuned bicycles into ones that sounded much like the dilapidated ones we see children riding to school on a daily basis. Yet in some sick way I liked the adventure of it all. We stopped in a small town about 4pm looking for food and accommodation. We found food, but the accommodation was a small room off the front of the restaurant that had a mat for the floor and a hammock. No fan, no A/C, no blankets or sheets and no screens or mosquito nets. I’m not even sure they had a bathroom where we could wash up. Although for $1USD a night you can’t complain too much. We considered staying there, but after eating a meal we felt rejuvenated enough to press on since we thought maybe we could find something further up the road. Around 6:30pm we rolled into a village scattered along the road just as the sun was setting. We couldn’t figure out whether this was our destination town as no one spoke English. We started getting really worried because we were only seeing the villagers wooden and grass shacks….no restaurants or guesthouses to be seen. We were riding along slowly with all the villagers staring and yelling greetings at us as we passed and feeling quite panicked with what we were going to do. We rounded a corner and saw two monks walking out of a Wat. We immediately rode up to them and one of them greeted us and asked if we would like to stay in the pagoda at the Wat. We eagerly said yes as we had heard that if all else fails you can always stay at the Wats. Whew! One of the locals helped us lift our bikes up into the pagoda, which was no easy task. The stairs are more like a steep narrow ladder and with the heavy loaded bikes it took two guys and careful footing. An old couple that are the caretakers of the monks made us a small dinner of rice and canned sardines that we ate on a mat on the floor while the monks watched (they cannot eat after 12pm). Then we sat down with them in the corner where they had a hammock that they shared and we took turns singing songs. They sang lovely tunes in Khmer while Justin and I belted out songs from Queen, Metallica, Sir Mix-a-lot, Madonna and even graced them with the oldie but goodie "Afternoon Delight". Thankfully the monks only spoke broken English! Jodi laughed along with them and told us we were going to hell. It sure seemed as if they were enjoying our off key songs though a there were plenty of laughs and silliness going on. The oldest monk was about 18 years old (the youngest maybe 13) and there were only four of them so you can see why they enjoyed the entertainment…boys will be boys monks or not. They laid out 3 small mats with small decorative pillows on the wood plank floor for our beds and we all collapsed with exhaustion onto them. The monks continued to sit next to us and smoke cigarettes and drink coffee (we didn’t know they could do that). Then at 9pm they went off to do their chants for an hour. It was mesmerizing to listen to and lulled us all to sleep. Jodi, Justin and I all woke up a couple of hours later freezing! Who knew that the wind could get so cold in Cambodia at night when the days are so hot. The pagoda was just a rectangular wooden building on stilts that is open to the outdoors with a couple of tiny closed in rooms constructed at the back for the monks. None of us had any type of camping gear so we ended up unrolling a couple more bamboo floor mats and laying them on top of us to try to keep warm. It didn’t do too much to help. Between sleeping on the hard wood floor and the cold wind, it was a long night with not much sleep.
NOTE: Even though the riding was intense I enjoyed the opportunity to witness a glimpse into a rapidly disappearing way of life in Cambodia where the roads are very bad. The Chinese are building new roads everywhere but I don’t understand the logic in their building 146km of road all at once. It makes for slow work and it looks as if the new road is being torn up as fast as it is constructed.
Chang: The monks got up at 5am and so of course we woke up with the activity also. They ate their breakfast first on a small elevated platform next to the Buddha alter while we sat facing them on the floor with the caretakers watching them eat. When the monks were finished eating we were all served the leftovers. After breakfast we took a few pictures with them, thanked them, gave a small donation and rode off. Having a slumber party with Monks was an interesting experience that I never expected.
Chang to Kratie (56km): Thank goodness we pressed onward the previous evening because this ride took the remaining energy I had. The riding wasn’t bad, just not smooth and it beat all of us up pretty badly. Outside Chang the road was tar seal with a loose rocking covering (we call it chip seal) and it made the riding difficult. Luckily the left shoulder was a little clearer so all of us crossed into the oncoming traffic side and rode on the shoulder. After awhile the road became the dusty hell of the previous day and we were back to riding on the right with our dust masks. We all looked like and felt like dirt bags since the pagoda didn’t have a place for us to wash up after our ride yesterday. We were riding with our previous days dirt, sweat and stink plastered all over us and we were all so very tired. Fortunately dust hell did not last long and we rode most of the way to Sambor on new concrete that alternated between the left and right lanes, which was closed to vehicular traffic. Just short of Sambor all traffic was required to exit on a dirt road that leads to the old highway into Kratie.
Before exiting we had second breakfast at a small food restaurant. I went to the restroom and Jodi and Justin ordered vegetable noodle soup. I returned in time to see Jodi almost vomit when they brought her soup with what looked like raw pork floating on the broths surface. Justin and I simultaneously jumped from our chairs to stop them from making two more bowls of the concoction. I told the restaurateurs that we do not eat meat. They took Jodi’s soup away and brought three bowls of noodles without meat. About halfway through breakfast we were a bit sloppy in watching our bikes when a Cambodian knocked over Jodi’s bike and picked it up and pretended that he was going to ride off. I learned later that the whole thing was a production meant to distract us while the other scum pinched my mini disc player out of my front panniers. I learned yet another travel lesson. Someday I will learn that when things happen they are usually meant to distract me from what is really happening and I need to start watching the perimeter.
We rode the dirt road through some very interesting small villages where we felt like we had gone back in time. In Sambor the road was along the beautiful Mekong River and became a single lane highway that appeared to be good pavement but the theme of the day was "things are not as they seem." It was not smooth and any speed over 15km caused my butt to move up and down on the seat turning it to hamburger. I rode most of the way on the dirt shoulder to get off the bouncy pavement which was a good thing because of the (what I like to call) "Tacomrys" speeding to and from Kratie (Tacomry: A cross between a Toyota Camry and a Tacoma truck. It looks like a Camry but it has more ground clearance and the drivers drive like teenagers on methamphetamine at very high speeds.) It’s a wonder they don’t kill more people and the locals don’t take them out with the left over munitions from the wars.
After 40km we were wrecked and stopped for a break just short of the fresh water dolphin viewing area. Jodi and I were impressed that the Cambodians don’t harass the dolphins with boats but have walkways built over the Mekong for peering into waters for the mammals unlike other places in the world that offer dolphin viewing.
We pushed on to Kratie and arrived around 2:00pm. We checked into the first guesthouse we found, showered and went to eat a large lunch at one of the many cafes. After lunch Jodi and I tried napping but the construction next door was to loud so we remounted our bikes and rode them to the nearest truck wash. For $0.25USD they hand washed, dried and were going to lube my chain before I stopped them. We then went about town checking things out and found the town to be pretty similar to Strung Treng.
posted by Kirk & Jodi Roberts at 6:38 PM
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About Me
- Name: Kirk & Jodi Roberts
- Location: Buena Vista, Colorado, United States
Mechanical and Plumbing consulting firm working in the mountains of Colorado
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Previous Posts
- The end of another year
- Good news!
- The best summer yet
- Stepping up in the world
- Gas Tax Holiday
- Kirk's Birthday/Last Day at Monarch
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