Cambodia Part 4

Well now I'm up to day 11, time to hit the road again!

Day 11:
We left Phnom Penh really early today, approximately 4:45 AM.  The reason being that it was another really long 100 KM day, so to beat the sun (and the heat) this is what we did.  On the way out of the city (which still had crazy traffic at 5AM!) we stopped for an egg or rice / noodle breakfast.  Two of my favourite breakfasts were omelettes with rice and also a chicken noodle soup with vegetables.  I must say though, that since returning to Australia, I have found it difficult to eat either noodles and especially rice, because I wasn't used to eating so much of it I am now on a little bit of a rice fast here at home!

Today was a very hard day of riding, it was a long day in the saddle and also the sun from around 10AM was very hot and it was difficult to keep going in the heat.  We reached the restaurant for lunch and considering that many lunches had cost around $2.50, $4.00 was quite an expense today.  However, this restaurant was considered quite a luxury one and around us was a 100 day wake celebrating the life of someone who had passed away.  This restaurant was a kind of function centre, used to celebrate special events in the lives of Cambodians.

Today's lunch didn't actually go down too well with me, and made me feel quite ill.  Once we got back on the bikes for the last 30 KM, I really struggled to keep going and I felt, keep up with the group.  I was ill and worn out by the time we got to our homestay and was only able to drink a coconut and have a little bit of plain rice for dinner.  I felt pretty bad when I had to ask our guides to take me to the homestay family early, I would have loved to stay longer and meet more of the elders from the group.  They were so kind too and their hospitality was excellent.  I did manage this photo before the sun went down, just around our homestay area, pretty special :-)

Sunset outside Chuuk.

I was taken to my homestay family, who were considered to be quite affluent because they had a fluorescent tube connected by a battery, to provide light.  The bed was a wooden frame with a bamboo mat and blanket on the top.  I must say that I am spoilt by my mattress and felt bad that I wasn't appreciating the hardness of the bed!

A very interesting night! To wash, I had to wear a sarong that was kindly provided by my hosts and douse myself with ladles of water from a big water tank.  I didn't mind the cold water, being reasonably hot weather it was ok.  I had to wash wearing the sarong though, which got soaking wet in the process and try and soap myself underneath the fabric!  This is a tradition that the local people don't actually entirely take all clothing off when washing, which many westerners find to be a strange concept. (during the next morning the father of the house washed himself at the pond directly washing with buckets of water from the pond).  Then I retired to bed early to let my stomach settle and I drifted in and out of sleep the entire night.  The men played loud music until midnight and dogs in the surrounding houses barked every time someone walked past on the road, which was quite often!  All 30 roosters then proudly crowed around 3:40AM.

Fortunately, upon waking in the morning, I felt quite a lot better which was great!  I reflected back upon the achievement of another 100 km day :-)

Day 12:
Today was our final day of riding, a 60 km journey towards the Vine Retreat, which is just outside Kep on Cambodia's coastline.  However, this is one of the hardest 60 km days I have ever done, considering the heaviness of my pannier bags, as well as the amount of off road / dirt road / uphill riding that was required.  It really tested my limits, but once again, at the end of the day, the sense of achievement was great as well as relaxing at one of the nicest places I have ever stayed at during my time at Cambodia.

Despite my best efforts (and continual application of sunscreen!) I was burnt.  I put this down to my sweat washing off the sunscreen every time I reapplied.

About half of the ride was on a sealed road, but during an incredibly hot part of the day with little shade and cover, I stopped frequently every time I found a tree on the side of the road with a little bit of cover.  I also took great advantage of coconuts and sugar cane juice!  It was a hot and slow trip for me.

All the way through these days on the bike, you certainally knew that you were the celebrity and star attraction!  Little kids would come from everywhere and excitedly shout to you 'HelloHowareyouWhatisyournameWhereareyougoing!?' in such a rapid fire fashion.  I really appreciated their enthusiasm, though:

1. You are usually going at a speed that prevents you from answering all of the questions!
2. Later in the day you are so tired you can barely croak out a weak 'hello' in reply, even though you really want to!

Towards the end of the day, the quality of the track got more 'offroad' and not only that, the gradient of the road started to go up!  Panniers on a flat road are fine, but I had to get off the bike many times in those last 7 KMs to make sure that I didn't topple over.  In saying this, I don't regret the experience one bit and it strengthened me!  I was on my road bike today and felt like I was flying in comparison, a legacy of the hard days on the bike.

I remember reaching the top of the path that we had to climb up and the view of Kep and the surrounding coast was completely worth it!  There was a downhill section of dirt road that I initially attempted, but then stopped about halfway down because I didn't quite trust my downhill skills.  I continued down the road for another couple of KMs.  By then my backside was literally about to fall off my body!

We arrived at the Vine retreat.  I was filthy, covered in red dirt and sunburn.  Here's a photo I took to remember this day!

I look pretty stuffed lol!

I must say that the Vine was one of my favourite places to stay, even though they destroyed my laundry (putting bleach in the machine with colours??).  The food was fantastic, the rooms were lovely and the view was pretty spectacular.  Here's an example of what I'm talking about when I say view and atmosphere:

All around the verandah were these lovely cushions to recline on, armed with your drink or iced coffee you are set!

Lunch was late (around 3PM) but it was amazing, fresh salads with rice.  The salad included fresh cucumbers and red tomato (it is very common to be served green tomato here I have found).  I was not too far off bed after dinner happened that evening around 7:30.

All in all I had reached the end of the riding component of this trip!  Approximately 600 km later the most amazing sense of achievement!  I could rest easy that night knowing that tomorrow PEPY had organised a NGO visit and a wonderful trip out to Rabbit Island for us :D