Cambodia Part 2

Here I am again, the final night at the Tattoo Guest House, Phnom Penh before we head out on our huge second 100 KM cycling day.  This morning, we visited Toul Sleng Genocide Museum, otherwise known as S21 and the Killing Fields, just south of the city.  What a morning, I am pretty much wiped out emotionally after what I have seen and heard the Khmer Rouge doing to the people in the way of execution and torture.  But a story for another blog entry......

Day 6: (apologies if the days are mixed up!)
Today was our first major day of travel south on the bikes.  I woke up of course with major flu symptoms and generally feeling like poo.  I am very lucky that John was able to give me some of his Canadian 'Vicks Day Quill' tablets.  I took a couple then hoped that I would be feeling better very soon!

We left Siem Reap early to cycle to the dock / pier at the north side of the Tonle Sap Lake to head south on a five hour boat ride to the southern end of the lake.  This is basically one of the biggest freshwater lakes in the entire world and the Mekong River empties into this lake.  While on the boat, the sheer size of this awesome lake boggled the mind!


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So while on the boat, i managed to find a seat to curl up on and went to sleep the best I could.  Later, I found the boat crew had set up a hammock up the back near the most noisy part of the boat (motor) but I was literally so sick and tired i curled up on the hammock and slept.  I woke up with a very hot bottom because I was laying right above the engine and the motor heat was warming up my backside!

Lunch was brilliant sandwiches in a decorative little palm leaf lunchbox, catered for by a really awesome bakery / restaurant in Siem Reap, the Blue Pumpkin.  I had chicken and salad sandwiches, fresh fruit, banana bread and a little packet of BBQ chips.

The boat trip passed quickly (because I was asleep for most of it!) and we arrived at the other side of the lake, past many floating villages.  The boat kinda beached itself and then we had to literally try and jump from the height of the boat onto the shore.  Then it was another 50 km to Kampong Chaang via the bike.  I arrived exhausted and fortunately was able to get quite an early night after dinner.

Day 7: 
Today I had a very quiet rest day.  I still felt unwell, so while the rest of the group did a big bike ride, I stayed back at the guesthouse all morning and slept.  It was great!!

In the afternoon, I met up with some others for lunch.  I had a chicken soup and rice, perfect to try and knock the flu bug away.  Then a couple of us went for a wander around the local market.  This was definitely not a tourist market, but one for the locals.  The beef and chicken was hanging up on hooks and were swarming with flies.  I could not help but wonder how many of our restaurants bought their 'fly meat' from places such as these :-/  Then I tried not to think about it too much after all.

We rode to the restaurant that night and since this has become the trip of 'firsts' this was my first time riding at night with a bike light.  Interesting!!  Crashed and headed to bed after....

Day 8:  120 KM on the bike!!!!!!!
Today pretty much tested my limits of what I was able to do on the bike, both physically and mentally.

I knew that it was going to be a hard day (and would be hard on a road bike!) but this was a fully loaded mountain bike with panniers and gear to boot.

The majority of this ride was on the dirt roads that headed towards Phnom Penh, but helped us avoid the main roads where the traffic was not really the best.  There were local villages along the way, many people who did not see 'Barang' (foreigner) on a regular basis.  One of our guides, Joe, told us that some people were shouting that they had never seen such 'white' Barang in their lives!  It really made me laugh!

So we kept riding and riding and riding, by 10:30AM we had reached the halfway point and stopped for lunch.  The afternoon was SO hard, the heat set in and at one point I had to stop, totally drained because my legs and backside were rebelling against me.  One of the guides was kind enough to stop and wait with me while I got the exhaustion out of my system.

So with 30 KM to go, I don't know how I made it to Phnom Penh but I did!  Riding around the city was scary and crazy. The traffic in Phnom Penh was INCREDIBLE!  It was just a swarm of humanity and everyone in the traffic just seems to part to let you into the traffic flow.  If you need to turn against the traffic, you basically just cut in front of the oncoming traffic and everyone else (no matter how big or small) either slows down or just goes around you and it ALL seems to work out in the end!

So we arrived at our guest house and I was completely exhausted and elated all at the same time.  I was covered in filthy red dirt, sweaty and gross with my hair sticking out all ends.  The BEST thing was the hot shower!!  We went to Friends (which supports street people) restaurant and I was totally impressed by their grilled antipasto, greek salad and pumpkin soup.

Sleep came quickly that night ;-)