February 27, 2017

 Another early start, on the road at 7:15. The weather was much cooler today with slightly overcast skies. If we are going to survive the heat in Cambodia, we have to get started early and finish early – 60 – 70 kms I think will be the maximum distance for us. Today’s high was 34 degrees, but with the overcast skies made the ride much more manageable.

There used to be a ferry that took you over the river at Neak Loeung, but with the assistance of the Japanese they built a bridge in 2015. Apparently, the ferry used to be quite the adventure especially in the wet season.

As I waited for Ralf to come over the bridge I noticed a food stand – could we have a second breakfast. No, I don’t think so, fried crayfish, bugs, crickets and spiders.

The road was much better today, possibly because the Japanese had a hand in building the bridges that crossed the small rivers. There were a lot of temples and interesting villages we passed through today. Almost every house has a shrine on the property.

We stopped every 10 kms to drink and also bought some iced tea again we hydrated well and by the time we got to the outskirts of Phnom Penh we were both feeling good, although I was feeling a little hungry. The temperature peaked at 34 but we were at the guesthouse in Phnom Penh by noon.

We found our guesthouse surprisingly easily. That is because Phnom Penh has a grid system and numbered streets. We knew our street number was 178, and all we had to do was follow the numbers down from 328 after we crossed the bridge. The only problem is that although the streets are well numbered the numbers for the houses do not necessarily follow sequentially. For example Street 178 with the cross street of Norodum Boulevard may have numbers 1-21, one would assume that the next block would be 23 – 33, no they might skip a block of numbers and be numbered 49-54, then the next block might go back to 11-31. It is very confusing to find the actual number of a house or building, but we kept heading towards the river and found number 33 – six blocks from where number 1 -11 was!

There is a minimart in the shop at the front of the guest house. We were told to bring our bikes in and we could bring them into the room, if they would fit. This room is a little small, so we have them locked outside our room.

After a lovely shower, we headed out to explore Phnom Penh. We managed to find out about a ferry to Siem Reap – it will cost $95.00 for two and two bikes, we will book that tomorrow. It is a six hour ferry trip and will save us three days of cycling.  Although we don\’t want to fall in the water – not with the colour of this water.

We also found a Gelato ice-cream place, OMG the gelato was good and not too expensive.  We may visit it again before we leave.

We explored Wat Phnom and Wat Oulanum.  Wat Phnom is located on the only \”hill\” in Phnom Penh.  There has been a temple there since 1306.

Wat Oulanum is a smaller temple, but is more decorative.

The strange thing is when you see monks with cell phones – it just seems odd to me.

As we left Wat Oulanum, a tuk tuk driver asked us where we would like to go.  He spoke good English and was very funny.  We might use him tomorrow to go to Bethy\’s place.

We stopped for a couple of beers to watch the world go by. We had a lovely dinner of pasta and now back in our room updating the blog and relaxing with a glass of Sauvignon for me and a shot of vodka for Ralf. A little extravagant, but we deserve it.

Tomorrow we are having dinner with Bethy. Bethy hosted us in New Zealand, she took us to see the penguins in Oamaru. Bethy is working as a Dentist here in Cambodia and studying for her Phd. We had contacted her to see if she could host us while we were in Phnom Penh, but she has other guests this week. It will be nice to catch up with her and get her insight into Cambodia.