Nice short day. Had a relaxed breakfast with Camila and Matias, Chilean cycle tourers. It was sad to part ways because we had an instant connection through touring and similar experiences. Hopefully we will cross paths again because we are going similar countries.
Speaking about that we stopped by Kep markets while cycling through Kep and bumped into Manuela and Julien, cycle tourers we met in Penang. It is amazing to think what the chances of bumping into them would be. We have travelled about 2000km over 45 days since last seeing them.
The old bridge in Kampot only allows two wheeled vehicles so it was a nice relaxed bridge to stop on and take pictures.
There was a very wide road entering into Kep that had mountain on one side and ocean on the other.
Being a Sunday it was very busy along the esplanade of Kep, with many locals having picnics on the side of the road. As a car would drive by, people who wanted to rent out their picnic space would jump out onto the road furiously gesturing for them to use their space. For some reason they ignored us while we rode by, presumably because we were on bikes.
Pretty much highway the whole way today with no choice for side rides. However, highways in Cambodia aren’t quite the same as the previous countries. No shoulder in sections or the shoulder is gravel, single lane with on coming traffic overtaking with no consideration to us (get off road quick) and sections that are all gravel. On the bright side they aren’t nearly as busy either.
We got up early and were on the road by 7am to avoid the heat and head winds. We made good progress and cycled 20kms by 8am. At that time the roads were quiet and cool. Deliveries of ice and bread being made by people on scooters. We bought some fresh bread and Patrick polished off a couple of rolls in no time.
Just after our first break we started to follow the mountain range. Below is a temple with a view of the mountain range in the background. There was 5km section of road that was gravel and there were times that visibility was down to less than 5 metres. After that section we all had a thick coating of light brown dust.
The cows are free to roam anywhere in Cambodia. It freaked me out at first, but he cows seem unconcerned by bikes and mostly move out of the way slowly.
Met another great couple of tourers from Belgium going the opposite way.
Then another couple of Chillian’s arrived on their touring bikes at our accommodation. It was very relaxed compared to a chat on the side of the road, so were were able to share many stories. They even hung out with the boys while Julie and I went into Kampot for dinner and book our rest day trip of climbing and caving.
Another full-on day in Cambodia. Woke up to a beautiful sunrise from our rustic bungalow.
Again we didn’t want to backtrack and saw that there was a track leading further east to the highway. It was pretty tough going and very sandy, but we only had one false track that led into thick jungle. It was only 5kms to the bitumen road, but took us 2 hours.
It was the best riding and pushing of the day. Some amazing jungle and we went through a Khmer Village in the heart of the Ream National Park. The people were amazingly friendly and had a little store where we bought some drinks. The primary school aged kids were just getting ready to ride to school and all crowded around the boys and the bikes. The store owner spoke some English and helped translate all the questions and answers.
Butterflies mating.
Not sure if you can see the resemblance of the rock to a turtle. However, it is a symbol of the the first Cambodian dynasty according to the sign next to it in Ream National Park.
Stopped for lunch at a little restaurant in a district called Prey Nob. Had a great veggie fried rice and the ladies who cooked brought there whole family out and wanted the boys to hold their 9 month old boy.
After all the cross country riding we have been doing the bikes needed a good clean. The town of Veal Rinh had so many motorbike/car washing businesses, so we stopped by one and had the bikes back to new for $2 (for both bikes).
Back to a full days ride and water park fun in the middle of the day. The length of the ride in kilometres seems low, but it was a full on day and we didn’t arrive until 4:30pm to our accommodation (the thee hour stop at a water park may have had something to do with it). The roads in Cambodia are the roughest we have had yet (except for our jungle adventures). The first spot we had to get off the bikes was very scenic and short detour on the beach.
Rather than backtracking, which we hate to do, we took what we thought was a road directly to the highway. It turned out to be a goat track that crossed a couple of steams via fords. We ended up at the highway at a locked gate, but lucky the owner was there and unlocked it for us.
By the time we got to our accommodation in the Ream National Park I was exhausted. But after fifteen minutes of downtime the Julie and the boys were keen to get into the surf and body-surf. It has been rare to find a beach with surf(not storm induced), so the boys really enjoyed themselves. The accommodation was very rustic and had no WiFi or TV, so we were all in bed early for a good nights sleep (that is why the blog is a day late).
Check out my ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/893084349/
Barely call it a cycle day, but we did do 3kms, so I suppose it counts as our shortest day’s ride so far. We haven’t quite got used to Cambodian time. We ordered breakfast at 7am and thought we would be finished by 7:30 ready to leave for the bus at 7:45. At 7:40 my breakfast had still not arrived, so it was a mad rush and getting my breakfast take away to make it to the bus on time.
There are many benefits to cycling and not being beholden to other people’s timetables is one of them. My preference was to ride through the Peam Krasaop Wildlife Sanctuary and other wilderness, but I couldn’t convince the others to ride 100kms up and down mountains without any towns to break. Instead we took the bus direct to Sihanoukville and had a relaxing afternoon on the beach. Julie even had some pampering and hair removal while we played in the surf. Which would you choose?
Goodbye to Thailand and hello to Cambodia. We have had an awesome time in Thailand and ended up spending a couple of weeks more than we planned because there is so much to see and do. The last place we stayed was so good we stayed an extra day. I think we are all going to miss Thailand, but expect we will have many more adventures in Cambodia.
We kept as close to the coast as possible today. We stopped for an early morning tea at a beautiful beach about 10kms south of where we stayed.
As you get close to Thailand’s south eastern border it becomes very narrow. At its narrowest it is less than 1km wide. In the below photo the ridgeline is the border with Cambodia. It is a very scenic ride with ocean views on one side and mountains on the other.
Waiting for our visas to be processed. The flag poles in the background mark the border.
Definitely feels like a different country. Especially because we are now riding on the right side of the road.
So good to be back on the bikes. Not to say we didn’t have three great rest days exploring Koh Chang and Trat, but there is something about riding into the unknown. We always seem to have more adventures on the bikes and there is nothing like the endorphins of five hours of exercise.
There is really only one main road that runs from Trat to Cambodia because the Thailand is so thin in the south east. We were able to take a couple of side rides, but we spent most of the day on Highway 3. Normally that wouldn’t be much fun, but the traffic was light and because it is the only road we came across other touring cyclists. The first couple were from from Germany and gave us great tips and advice about Cambodia.
We also came across a great local Saturday market where we stopped for lunch.
Less than 5kms after lunch Julie spotted another waterfall that was less than 1km from the highway that looked like it had a large swimming area. It is a great way to cool off in the middle of the day, so we decided to check it out. Little did we know how much fun we were about to have.
When we arrived the car park was completely deserted and there was an empty building with a run down water feature. This didn’t put us off because we could hear water flowing. We walked upstream a few hundred metres and came across a fast flowing four metre waterfall that flowed into a large pool with rope swings.
It didn’t take long for the boys to start swinging and I got in to make sure there was nothing under the water that could do damage. The boys had heaps of fun and Paddy got lots of courage and jumped in as well.
While we were exploring the waterfall a couple of local boys arrived and started jumping in all over the place. Including into the middle of the waterfall. Robert quickly started to follow them and repeated all their tricks. By the end we were all jumping into the waterfall.
A lone Dutchman cycling from Cambodia’s border to Trat.
Just after 50kms of cycling we noticed a little resort on Google Maps right on the coast. After some discussion we thought we would check it out. When we arrived at the location there was only a car park and a few houses. Luckily the locals said to go down a narrow laneway and we popped out into the location below.
Mairood is a fishing village that runs down both sides of the river. With a few more pointers on where to find the resort, we came across an oasis like garden of Eden. When we inquired about the cost I thought it would be outside our budget, but lucky for us they have budget rooms. The boys were so excited about seeing the swimming pool and there is a white sand beach with crystal clear water at the end of the fishing village, so we have decided to have a rest day after only one day of cycling.
Back to our standard ride today. A mix of back roads and highway riding. As per usual we tried to keep off the highway, Google Maps was not quite up to its usual standard today and we had a couple of dodgy roads that we had to backtrack.
However, we had one unexpected highlight. While riding past an abandoned quarry the water caught our eye. The water looked very inviting and we couldn’t resist a quick swim. Julie was the bravest and led the way.
Another extremely scenic day riding around the coast. Most of the time you can’t actually see the ocean, but route took us through some interesting areas. It got me thinking that we could run our own guided cycle tour adventures during the summer holidays with all the experience we have gained.
At one point we road up a hill and there was a quarry on both sides of the road. The quarry had filled up with water and the boys were fascinated and went off to explore.
The most exciting part of the day happened just after the quarry. As we continued up the hill I notice my seat move a little, so I thought maybe it was not done up tight enough and I would check it at the next break point. A couple of minutes later I noticed that the seat moved even further forward and before I knew what was happening it had disappeared. I quickly stopped the bike and found Patrick still holding on to his handle bars and my seat, but it was no longer attached to the tandem.
Instead of a bolt shearing off like a couple of days ago, this time my seat post completely sheared off. Lucky we weren’t riding fast down a hill when it happened and Paddy did a great job keeping a hold of it. The boys thought this may put a stop to the days riding, but Julie and I were confident we would be back on the road in no time. And so it was, within five minutes we were back on the road again.
The Bike Fridays are so flexible and adjustable that we raised the frame (telescopic frame) and put the seat post that was protruding out of the frame into the extended frame. With all the travel we have done it is probably safer to have a shorter seat post and raise the frame. In hindsight, it probably should have been the way we set up the bike in the first place. Now looking at Robert’s see post we will make the same adjustment.
