Riding into Bangkok was easier than expected, and so too was riding out. With the majority of our room being dominated by the beds and the bikes, we'd had no time/space to do any running repairs or maintenance work. Sure enough, as we rode towards the Golden Buddha Temple for our sunrise shot, my rear derailleur was not working. An easy fix as the gear cable was simply jammed as a result of built up dust from the road and rust within the cable housing. We fittingly ate our final Bangkok breakfast at 8am outside a nightclub, with the remainder of its drunk patrons and staff spilling onto the street as we sat in lycra and fluorescent ride gear. We are quite the fashion statement.
Thought we'd beat the crowds at 7am, but the tour machine had already swung into gear
Our last breakfast in Bangkok
Safety Sven - new helmet for Sean
The scenery was certainly bleak that day, and the temperatures rose to punishing levels as we headed inland towards the Cambodian border. We were expecting some kind of scam at the border, but coming in with our prepaid E-visas, we were through with very little difficulty. Before we knew it we had switched to the right hand side of the road and emerged into a dustier, more chaotic version of the town we'd just left 200m prior. We quickly drew some cash from the ATM and began our trip into Cambodia. A very strange monetary system exists here, with shop vendors accepting both US dollars and Cambodian Riel, where $1USD makes up 4,000 Riel. We thought the USD thing would be more for the tourist hotspots in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, but it turns out it is fairly widespread. I suppose the use of USD assures some form of security compared with the more volatile nature of the local currency.
Straight flat roads
Put your bloody helmet on Sean!
Mooooooooooooooo!
We eventually arrived in Sisophon and were pleasantly surprised by how cheap everything seemed to be... beers especially. We were served by a young boy in his pyjamas as he was presumably the only English speaking person at the restaurant.
The next day we continued on through the relentlessly flat roads through the rice paddies. Being inland, the heat had certainly increased and I found myself constantly wiping my sunglasses as my brow would spread a thin veneer of sweat across the lens to blur my vision. My handlebars and their beautiful cork grip slowly absorbed more and more of my sweat...
Water is love, water is life! The more I drink, the more I sweat
We arrived in Siem Reap and duly made the most of our rooftop pool and the 50 cent draught beers that were on offer throughout the city. It was crazy how from acres and acres of desolate rice paddies emerges a full blown tourist town, solely serving the needs of those visiting Angkor Wat. On our second day in Siem Reap, we spent our day off riding 50kms around the city of Angkor. Angkor Wat, being an attraction in itself was just the beginning of a vast expanse of old ruins of the Angkor Empire. Though costing $37 USD a head, it was well worth the budget blow out, as around every corner lay yet another impressive ruin. You can see why some people buy three-day passes. We hardly scratched the surface!
Freddie not adhering to the no-hat photo policy
Wrapping up an awesome day riding around the Angkor Wat complex
The next days riding was truly bizarre. As I led the way to Stoung, not exactly the first recommended spot in the Cambodian Lonely Planet, we were very nearly struck by lightning, with the bolt striking a power line less than 10m away. Was this a sign? Where was the rain? I thought that "Thunder only happens when it's raining"? Apparently not in Stoung. As we arrived in the town, a local man laughed at us and tried to direct us back to the highway. But no, we'd have none of this nonsense. We would like to be housed here! Upon visiting the local monastery where a Buddhist monk ushered us to come watch them pray, Sean, who lagged behind Fred and I as he took photos was caught in a somewhat sticky situation. A teenage boy approached Sean, and it is fair to say, he was a sandwich short of a cut lunch. According to sources present at the time (Sean), the boy approached our lovely Swede, drawing a small meatcleaver out of his pocket and proceeded to raise it above his head. Just as he was about to bring it down with the power of lightning, a lady yelled, sparing Sean's life. Fred and I seeing none of this were soon alerted to Sean's discomfort and we promptly left, with the boy lurking and revealing his weapon to Freddie and Your Humble Narrator. Truth be told, we would have decked the bastard if he'd even come close as we left, but Sean being caught unawares at the time... well we don't need to go into that, as it didn't happen. Later that night, before the 4th powercut of the evening, we'd seen the local police officer with his M16 slung over his shoulder deck a beer side of road. Good to know the law is in good hands.
Stoung. From the safety of our hotel window
Aside from these minor instances in Stoung, the rest of Cambodia was truly amazing. Though we stuck to the rice paddy plains, meaning no hills were climbed during our stay, we still managed to see just how beautiful this country is. The ride into Phnom Penh wasn't exactly amazing, but you come to expect that when riding into capital cities in South East Asia. On our ride into the city, I alerted Freddie to a slight flex in my handlebars which was certainly uncharacteristic of aluminium. Fred suspected a break and upon arriving at our backpackers with a spacious balcony, his suspicions were unfortunately confirmed. I must admit, I certainly sweat the odd litre or so extra than the other two, and my cork handlebar tape proving a lot more absorptive than the leather tape on Fred and Sean's bikes. The corrosive capacity of the sweat, heat and the steel clamps on alloy meant a fairly sizeable crack had developed, and Fred ended up breaking it off and reattaching the rear gear toggle to the stem with the aid of three cable ties and vast amounts of electrical tape. Fred promptly contacted the Surly office about this problem, and we were reassured a new set of handlebars would be waiting for us in Saigon. Just a cheeky 500km to get through with this set up, and 2 of my smelly socks strapped on as temporary bar tape.
The makeshift set up to get me through the 500km between Phnom Penh and Saigon. I grew to love this set up, and was quite sad to see it eventually go
In Phnom Penh we visited the Killing Fields and S-21 prison, where enemy's of Pol Pott's Khmer Rouge were tortured and killed from 1975 onwards. It was a truly somber experience to walk through the fields where over 20,000 innocent Cambodian men, women and children were brutally murdered... bullets were too expensive to use in the extermination of 3 million civilians (over a quarter of the population of 8 million). The Killing Fields at Choeung Ek were simply one of 300 of it's kind found throughout Cambodia from Pol Pott's regime. How the Cambodian people have bounced back so well is beyond me!
9,000 skulls on display at Choeung Ek. Evidence of just how sick and twisted humans can really be
S-21 Prison. A school transformed to house and torture innocent victims and enemies of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime
Our time in Cambodia was brief, but it certainly left a lasting impression upon us all. With plans for an Indian Christmas and New Years locked in, it was time to move on to Vietnam and to make our way through the Mekong Delta towards Saigon. Having visited Vietnam in November with my girlfriend, Sophie, I was eagerly anticipating the crossing of the border, and delving into countless banh mi sandwiches... and it turns out the Vietnamese make a pretty bangin' avocado and condensed milk shake too. How good!
The kids in Cambodia were relentlessly positive. Always smiling and running onto the road to say 'hello'. It almost became tiring to respond at times, but the smiles on their facing, and the sheer thrill they would get from your response made every bit of breath used on it so worth it
Here you see a young aspiring cycle tourer, who has just seen three of his biggest idols. Go well young man
1km to Vietnam
