February 26, 2017

We knew we had a long day today, as there didn’t appear to be any hotels between Bavet and Neak Loeung, other than at Sveng Rieng but that was only 41.5 kms from Bavet.

 I figured that the road was fairly flat, it would be an easy 105 kms. We had been doing longer distances in Vietnam and were feeling fit. I didn’t account for the different road conditions in Cambodia and the heat! I hadn’t taken into account the lack of the coastal breeze that we had in Vietnam and of course the wonderful tail winds we had experienced.

I had set the alarm for 6:00 and we were out of the hotel by 7:15 a.m., the earliest we have started riding since we started this trip. We had oatmeal (gruel) for breakfast and a coffee, we even sprinkled a package of coffee into the gruel to give it a little more taste!

As we left Bavet we noticed a lot of new factory buildings and a Job Centre, which was empty. The Manhattan Economic Centre was busy with motorbikes going in and out.

The road to Phnom Penh is the AH1 the same road as the AH1 in Vietnam with a lot of differences. The Cambodian AH1 is narrower only two lanes and a rough hard shoulder, chip and seal. The shoulder was paved, but the chip and seal finish is always hard on the butt, hands and shoulders. After Ho Chi Minh we were definitely inland and heading westwards, no more tail winds. The traffic is a lot lighter than in Vietnam, less population equates to less people on the road.

The road was dead straight, the scenery was a little boring, but because we are in a new country the housing and entrances to the villages/towns made it more interesting.

We spotted another touring cyclist (Italian) and he was struggling. He said he was exhausted, he had a broken spoke and was trying to get a lift into Phnom Penh. He had some water, but had not eaten and he was looking the worse for wear. From Bavet to Phnom Penh is 165 kms, he had booked into a hotel in Phnom Penh for the night so had to get there. He had withdrawn money from an ATM, but he said it only gave him one 100 dollar bill, and not smaller notes so that he could buy food. The small roadside stands accept Riel or small U.S. dollars – they struggle to change a $10.00 bill. I had a spare Cliff bar, which I gave him but we didn’t have enough small U.S dollars to help him out. We wished him well and carried on.

At different times today it was a tough ride for both Ralf and me.

At the 40 km mark I was getting very hot and tired! We had a bit of a head wind all day. Ralf took the lead at the 40 k break.

At the next stop, I mentioned to Ralf that if my small towel was handy I would soak it and use it to cool off. Bless him, his was handy and we asked the stall owner if we could soak the towel in the ice cooler. I put it over my head, it felt awesome, then I soaked it again and wrapped it around my neck, instant cooling.

We have been told not to have ice in our drinks in Cambodia. I think we will accept that advice after seeing the ice delivery from this truck.

We drank over 3.5 litres of water each today, which still wasn’t enough. The bad part though was finding food. We couldn’t find any Bahn Mi (bread) stands today. Our staple lunch break in Vietnam was bread with eggs. We wanted to buy some bananas but we cannot buy just four bananas, they only sell them by the huge bunch of about a dozen or more. We did buy two dragon fruit, from one stand, but she wasn\’t sure what to charge for two fruit.  We gave her a dollar and she was happy with that. We had our Cliff bars but it wasn’t enough. Ralf said he almost bonked at the 90 km mark, we had to stop to let him cool down and drink more electrolytes and eat.

We eventually came into Neak Loeung, hot and tired and ready for a good shower and an air conditioned room!

Once again Bookings.com let us down, we cycled up and down Street 11 and could not find the hotel. We asked a couple of young men at a shop to call the hotel for us, they said the phone was not in service. Thanks Bookings.com you suck!

We cycled back down to the main street and went into the first hotel we could find. It is a little tired – o.k. grubby. I picked the cleanest of the two rooms offered and we checked in. I quickly made us the noodles that we have for emergencies, Ralf was not feeling well, but he managed to eat and I forced him to do some stretches.

The shower was not hot, but that was o.k. as we needed to cool down. We don’t have internet. As Ralf was in the shower the heavens opened and it began to poor with rain. What were we going to do for dinner? Ralf had noticed people eating in the restaurant area of the hotel, but we weren’t sure if it was family, he asked if we could eat there tonight. We had an interesting meal of fried fish with green beans and rice. Ralf had ordered meatballs with noodles, but he got the same as me. The storm continued as we ate.

We also noticed while we were eating that this appears to be a local hotel for prostitutes. There were five young women waiting for clients, chatting to each other and playing cards.  We do stay at the most luxurious places.

We retired early and were asleep by 8:00p.m. I hope the rain stops by the time we leave tomorrow.

Tomorrow is a shorter ride 60 ish kms into Phnom Penh.