WARNING: Inexplicably long and potentially boring post. At least there is lots of photos!
After spending new year's eve in Otres
beach where-among other things- I went to the dentist and had a
partial tooth removal trying hard not to scream since her kids were
sleeping in a bed right next to me and did my open water and advanced
courses-I'd been diving for the last 13 years either for work or
pleasure without a license- I took the long bus back to Stung Treng.
I had already cycled through this route and I also wanted to
experience the karaoke-at-full-volume-buses of the country, suffice
to say it was as advertised, by the end of it I was happily singing
khmer songs.
The road from Stung Treng to Ban Lung
will be magnificent very soon. As I write these lines, more and more
tarmac is being poured, to cover the hideous dirt road I had to go
through, so dusty that my lungs will need an eternity to clean up.
Don't get me wrong, it's hideous not for being a dirt road, but
because it leads to the border and is quite busy. Otherwise the view
is sometimes rewarding, a river here, a forest there, but also lots
of cleared land, the ashes of the burned trees still smoking. Was it
for farming, or road expansion, I've no idea but certainly wasn't a
pretty sight. For the nth time I woke up late, started even later and
what could have been a one long day to Ban Lung, ended being two
short ones with an overnight stop at Sree Ankrom, a settlement of a
few houses. A man was kind enough to let me hang my hammock next to
his store. I cooked some noodles, played with his kids, had some warm
beer and slept. Next day I met 4 tandem bikers on their way to
Bangkok, Michael and Ciska with their sons Sammy and Jesse. They've
been cycling for some years now, having covered USA, Latin America,
Australia and parts of Europe. They seemed very happy, I wonder why!
You can follow their blog here:
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=1&doc_id=4438&v=6IH
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| Cleared land |
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| A night in Sree Ankrom |
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| The owner of a shop with her grandchildren |
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The Dutch family. You can't see the tandem bikes clearly
because the photographer is a moron. |
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| The promenade in Ban Lung |
I spent two lovely days in Ban Lung,
leisurely cycling in the countryside to visit waterfalls and
elephants, eating enormous quantities of food-for the first time in
my life I've dropped below 70kg so I try my best to regain some, not
an easy task in this part of the world. In this side of the country
rubber is the business, and nothing is stopping it. Huge chunks of
the forest are cleared out every day to allow more and more rubber
trees to be planted. I saw at least one big rubber factory owned by a
Belgian company according to a displeased local guide who insisted
there is no control whatsoever in the expansion of the plantations.
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| Cleared land awaiting the rubber trees |
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| Yet another waterfall |
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| Not me! |
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| Him! |
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| What's left of the cut trees, is turned into charcoal |
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| Rubber trees |
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| One of the few lakes around Ban Lung. Time for a swim! |
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| The road to Seda |
I felt like crossing to Mondolkiri
through the eastern backroads instead of the main road, at least as
far as I could. Once again, wherever I asked I got negative answers,
that the roads don't exist any more, I'll get lost, the usual.
Stubborn as ever, I got on the highway and headed east towards Barkeo
where-if my map was correct-I'd find a road going south. Lucky me,
the road was there, and after asking around I found I could get at
least to Seda, a village 20km down the road, only a tenth of the
total distance I had to cover but enough to give me hope. An easy
dirt road got me there, and after a quick rice-and-skinny-fish early
lunch, the party started. First and foremost, my map was as good as
toilet paper. The few villages down south were either incorrectly
named or placed, the roads were probably drawn by a child and were
not to be trusted, a mess. The only indication I was in the right
path would be a river 30km past Seda. I started the never-ending game
of asking around, not getting any useful information. I left the
village, took a road that would get me west to the main road, and 2km
later found a junction heading south. Aha! Without even thinking
about it, I followed it and soon after reached another little
village, and this time some guys knew what I was talking about and
gave me a proper heading. I noticed two things while chatting with
them. One, the only village by the river was marked as Kaoh Mayeul in
my map, but in reality the locals call it Kamiel, and the faster you
say it, the more chances you'll be understood. Two-and more
important- I had spent the last month learning Khmer from drunks late
at night-not that I was in a better state either-and as a consequence
I was able to say things like “eating eel will make your dick
stronger” but when it came to getting directions, I still couldn't
tell left from right. I know how to get a conversation going and make
people laugh, but first I need to get there!
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| There's another 10 behind me, all curious as ever |
I was shown the path I needed to
follow, told it was 20km-which meant 30 or more of course- and got
going. The narrow path spiraled for a while among a few houses and
soon I left the civilisation behind me and entered the forest. For
the next 30 hours or so I wouldn't meet a single soul. I had enough
water and supplies for almost 2 days but thought I would get to the
river the same day, maybe by late afternoon. Soon the trail started
splitting and though most of the times it was clear which was the
main one, some others it wasn't. I got my compass out, attached it to
the handlebar and spent the rest of the day trying to find my way. I
knew my general direction should be S-SW and it was comforting
knowing that if I kept heading that way at some point I would get to
the river. By 4 in the afternoon I had made little progress, about
15km and knew I wouldn't get there in time. The trail ended abruptly
after 5km–very conveniently in an empty house-and I decided to
spend the night there. I had cycled for 10+ hours but didn't feel
tired so I spent an extra hour looking around. There was a
trail heading towards a stream but didn't seem used for many years
and faded completely a few meters later. I had no idea where I was
but was having a great time. I did some basic washing in a nearby
puddle, boiled some noodles and stood by the house for a while
enjoying the night. I thought I saw a flashlight somewhere in the
distance, but it was fireflies, lots of them. I hadn't seen any since
my childhood and stood there watching them and laughing like an
idiot. What a day...
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| Happy and oblivious |
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| My accommodation for the night |
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| Noodle-time |
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| My very spacious bedroom |
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| Sticky rice-covered banana |
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| Signs of life |
By 6 I was awake, had some sticky rice
with banana and got started. It's one of those delicacies that are worth their weight in gold in my opinion, not that sweet-depending how ripe the banana is-it fills you up nicely. Comes wrapped in banana tree leafs and lasts for 2 days. It took me 5 hours to cover 19km to the
river. It was a constant back and forth, discovering new trails,
trying them, going back, finding others etc, a great lesson in
navigation, I would keep track of the distance, my bearing and the
time it took me, always taking into account how much time I would
need to go back to Seda if all else failed. But there was no way I
would do that. No matter what, I would find my way. At some point I
found a tent, with the fire in front of it still smoking. Someone had
spent the night and was definitely somewhere around, I waited a
while, shouted but got no answer. A few km later, same story,
someones belongings together with a plastic bag full of fruits.
Waited, shouted, no answer. I did encounter a snake though, a big one. We both got equally scared, don't know who ran away faster! I kept going, fearing I was deviating a
lot, the trail headed SE for a long time and I feared I'd miss the
river and who knows, end up in Vietnam! When I had only a few drops
of water left, I reached Kai San, a tiny village by the river. No
food stalls or anything there-not that I expected any-but I did get a
plate of rice and two boiled eggs, the only food a very kind woman
could offer me. Her husband, Fnaan sat down with me and wanted to
know all about my trip, where I'd been in Cambodia, how I managed to
get there. When I showed him the photos of the house I had spent the
night he laughed and went about showing them to everybody else-by
then the whole village had passed by to have a look at the crazy
foreigner who chose a bicycle instead of a moto. I was offered a bed
to sleep but I politely declined, it was getting late and I wanted to
get to Kaoh Miel in the other side of the river, only 10km away
according to Fnaan, which obviously I didn't believe. I bought all
the water I could carry from a store that seemed to sell only
detergent and shampoos and tried to leave, only to be invited by some
guys for rice wine and beer. I tried hard not to drink too much, we
had some laughs, a small language lesson, the customary exchange of
cellphone numbers and I left. The rice wine was the best I 've had in
the country so far, and for the first time kept in a big clay pot
instead of a plastic jar. The top was sealed and a plastic hose
served as a straw from which everyone had a sip every now and then.
It bothers me that women never sit with us on similar occasions, I
wonder if it's a matter of etiquette or if men won't have it any
other way.
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| Crossing the stream |
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| There is a trail somewhere down there! |
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| The devil in me wanted to steal a fruit, but I'm better than this... |
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| The final stretch to Kai San |
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| Fnaan. Sweet and helpful, my life savior for the day |
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| My audience, watching how I eat the rice |
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| The main road of Kai San |
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| Getting drunk instead of getting going |
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| A camera-shy kid helping me cross the river |
A few km after crossing the river I got
to Kaoh Miel Leu but didn't stay at all, hoping I'd get to Kaoh
Miel-which I thought was bigger-in time. Lots of burned land on the
way. A couple of days later I was told by a guide that villagers do
it so that new grass will grow for the animals, but don't worry, they
don't burn the trees! Not the way I saw it, but what the hell. As
expected, I never made it in time. By dusk I came to an abandoned and
ready to fall house, hang my hammock, prayed it would still be
standing by morning, had the inevitable noodles and dozed off. The actual distance covered that day was 35km, not much, but I had done an extra 50 looking for the correct trail. I
could hear music in the distance and thought of beds and proper food but the way sound travels in the
forest it could be anything from 1 to 5 km. No reason to cycle at
night.
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| The road to Kaoh Miel Leu. Easy... |
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| ...and colourful-most of it. |
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| Kaoh Miel Leu. Big road, small village |
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| Stream crossing, $1.25 for less than a minute. Good business! |
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| More burned land |
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| Home, sweet home |
I had eaten my last packet of noodles,
so next morning I rushed to the village only to find that a)It was
much smaller than Kaoh Miel Leu, b)There was no food to be had apart
from buying some packets of noodles, c)I was not that welcome. This
was particularly distressing to me. I was in the middle of nowhere
and until then I was used to be welcomed and helped in similar
places. Here I felt that the sooner I left, the better for them. I
had a quick coffee in the store and left. If I were to continue going
south, the path was around here. I couldn't get any info no matter
who I asked, but also faced a more crucial problem. It would be 60km
in a similarly-if not more-difficult to follow path, meaning anything
from 2 to 3 days. I couldn't carry that much water, it was highly
unlikely there would be any streams around but even if there were I
wasn't carrying a water purifier(mental note for next time, get one!)
and I definitely couldn't see myself living off instant noodles for
that many days. I backtracked the 20km to Kaoh Miel Leu hungry as a
wolf, dreaming of a combination of rice with whatever but guess what,
it was instant noodles. Again. Half boiled as well. I can't say I
enjoyed them but had to fill my stomach.
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| Back in Kaoh Miel Leu, kids watching a bad martial arts movie |
I took another road going south to Kaoh
Nhek, a village next to the main road. It would be an easy 20km
according to the locals, once again I knew it would be more but
didn't mind, even though I was tired I had plenty of time ahead of me
but I wasn't prepared for the horror that followed. Sand. Everywhere.
No getting around it, no shortcuts, few patches of grass or anything
to help me out, just sand for nearly 20km. And then it got worse. The
previous days it was partly cloudy, not that it mattered much since I
was mostly in the forest. Now the sun was full on and there was no
shade, most of the land was burned and the trees bare. It was blazing
hot, no, strike that, it was ridiculously hot and I had to push the
bike for nearly 4 hours. I cursed the god of sand, prayed to the gods
of cold beer and ice cream but no one answered. I thought of winter
holidays in ski resorts, playing board games with friends in the
chalets. Dreamt of swimming in sugarcane juice, saw visions of
inviting girls holding cold coconuts. Adding insult to injury, one of
my front paniers tore, grrr. I thought they were relatively good, but
they certainly can't take the abuse of this type of cycling. By dusk
the sand was over, but it was an additional 10km to Kaoh Nhek, a
total of 28 instead of 20. I arrived exhausted to a village
half-asleep. One of the shops was still open and they quickly served
me a good portion of food. I'm sure I looked terrible. Satiru, the
owner, gave me some of his own, an excellent dish of liver with
onions. I could have eaten the whole pot. After so many days of bland
food, this was paradise. Within 30 minutes I drank 1 soya milk, 1
coke and 2 beers, making everybody laugh. Apparently in Cambodia they
use formaldehyde as a preservative in beer but in quantities so low
that it's not harmful, I wonder what low means, and after how many
beers it becomes harmful. I asked if there was a place to stay
nearby. Satiru said there was a hotel 5km away, then-without waiting
for my reaction-with a broad smile in his face pointed at the rain
that had just started, then at their house right behind the store. We
spent a couple of hours chatting half in English and half in Khmer
about Europe, Cambodia, corruption, bicycles and thai soap
operas-like the one we were watching, and then-at last after 3 days-
I had a shower, Cambodia style. Outside every house there is a barrel
with water. What you do, is wear a piece of cloth around your waist
so that the passers-by are not shocked and use a pot to wash. All
shops sell shampoo in single serving packets-contrary to all reason
nobody uses normal bottles-and there you have it, clean and tidy. I
was given their bed, both Satiru and his wife slept on the floor and
they wouldn't have it any other way. It was the best sleep of my
life, and next morning I couldnt find the words to express my
gratitude to them. I hope Cambodians remain so unconditionally
hospitable forever, I find it to be a rare quality in other parts of
the world.
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| Satiru, savior of cyclists and thai soap opera connoisseur extraordinaire |
Next day I switched to the main dirt
road to Sen Monorom, the last big city before the border crossing to
Vietnam. Riding there after the previous day's trails felt like ice
skating, for a while at least. The last 30km or so are
mountainous-Sen Monorom's altitude is 800m-and required some effort
to climb but the scenery was beautiful and thanks to-I'm guessing-the
higher incomes of the area the villages were clean and tidy and most
of the houses quite beautiful, with red or blue rooftops and
colourful gardens, no wonder the area is called the Switzerland of
Cambodia. Only in Switzerland you don't see boards advertising the
governing party, whereas here they are everywhere. There's thousands
of them all across the country, and for every 100 there might be 1 of
the opposition. Story goes that if you have a board of any of the
other parties in front of your house you might not get the same
benefits as the rest of the people, better said, keep your political
views for yourself if they are not in line with the government. I had
planned to spend the next day cycling in the area around Sen Monorom
but as I started out I saw that I had also broken a spoke on the back
wheel, thankfully not on the cassette side, I had this in Siem Reap
and finding a mechanic with a Shimano key was hard, here it would be
impossible. This, combined with the torn panier was the perfect
excuse to stay in town, repair everything, sluggishly stroll around
and eat like there was no tomorrow.
The sandy part came close to being a
deal-braker but the verdict is that it's been my favorite ride in the
country and I would do it again. Maybe with a cool box and cold
drinks.
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| Helping out with my pump |
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| Random |
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| Ugly |
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| Cinemascope |
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| A great excuse to rest |
Stats and facts
Stung Treng to Ban Lung: 147km. Can be done in one long day. The road should be all-tarmac by mid 2012 or earlier.
From Ban Lung head towards the eastern
border. The turn to Seda is on km 38(2km after Barkeo). After an easy
18km you'll get to Seda. You might want to eat here. Less than 1km
after Seda you'll find a junction. Right goes to a lake, left will
eventually take you to Lumphat. Take that one and at km 3.3 from Seda
you'll find yet another junction. Turn left, and after 200-300m left
again. You'll get to a small village, you need to cross it and follow
a trail that will get you out of the village and after a bridge to
the trail going south. Before you do that though, FILL YOUR WATER
BOTTLES, this is the last place to do it.
Get your compass out, you will be
needing it from now on. Remember that your direction should be S-SW
most of the times. If you are lucky, you might find the correct trail
and get to Kai San at no time. Maybe the correct trail is the one I
took, in which case after 20km you'll get to the houses I spent the
night. I suggest you do the same, as the trail from then on is quite
hard to follow, you'll get lost plenty of times.
Next day, take the faint trail right
behind the houses that leads to the stream. Turn left, follow the
stream and after 500m you'll get to a giant tree trunk that serves as
a bridge. Cross it. The vegetation is very thick from now on and
stays so for a few km. The correct trail heads mainly S-SE. I cant
give you much info here, it splits several times, I tried most of
them and luckily they stop shortly after so there is not much
backtracking. The correct one does NOT follow the stream, nor does it
lead to one, that's the only thing to remember. You'll know you're
going the right direction when you get to a clearing and the trail
gets wider, splitting into several ones that run in parallel.
After Kai San and the river crossing
you'll need to decide if you want to continue on the east side. If
so, get to Kaoh Miel, 17km past Kaoh Miel Leu(or 20km past Kai San).
From then on you're on your own! In my opinion it's not a trip for
one, you need to be at least two in order to carry the necessary
water and supplies. My guess is that it's minimum 2 days to do it,
possibly 3. If you want to head to Kaoh Nhek, after Kaoh Miel Leu
take the dirt road heading west. Bitch and curse during the sandy
part, and 28km later you'll be in Kaoh Nhek.
Shoes are a must, so are long pants. I
saw only one snake-albeit a big one-and I'm sure there's plenty more
hiding in the bushes you'll be riding through.
The road from Stung Treng to Ban Lung
will be magnificent very soon. As I write these lines, more and more
tarmac is being poured, to cover the hideous dirt road I had to go
through, so dusty that my lungs will need an eternity to clean up.
Don't get me wrong, it's hideous not for being a dirt road, but
because it leads to the border and is quite busy. Otherwise the view
is sometimes rewarding, a river here, a forest there, but also lots
of cleared land, the ashes of the burned trees still smoking. Was it
for farming, or road expansion, I've no idea but certainly wasn't a
pretty sight. For the nth time I woke up late, started even later and
what could have been a one long day to Ban Lung, ended being two
short ones with an overnight stop at Sree Ankrom, a settlement of a
few houses. A man was kind enough to let me hang my hammock next to
his store. I cooked some noodles, played with his kids, had some warm
beer and slept. Next day I met 4 tandem bikers on their way to
Bangkok, Michael and Ciska with their sons Sammy and Jesse. They've
been cycling for some years now, having covered USA, Latin America,
Australia and parts of Europe. They seemed very happy, I wonder why!
You can follow their blog here:
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=1&doc_id=4438&v=6IH
I felt like crossing to Mondolkiri
through the eastern backroads instead of the main road, at least as
far as I could. Once again, wherever I asked I got negative answers,
that the roads don't exist any more, I'll get lost, the usual.
Stubborn as ever, I got on the highway and headed east towards Barkeo
where-if my map was correct-I'd find a road going south. Lucky me,
the road was there, and after asking around I found I could get at
least to Seda, a village 20km down the road, only a tenth of the
total distance I had to cover but enough to give me hope. An easy
dirt road got me there, and after a quick rice-and-skinny-fish early
lunch, the party started. First and foremost, my map was as good as
toilet paper. The few villages down south were either incorrectly
named or placed, the roads were probably drawn by a child and were
not to be trusted, a mess. The only indication I was in the right
path would be a river 30km past Seda. I started the never-ending game
of asking around, not getting any useful information. I left the
village, took a road that would get me west to the main road, and 2km
later found a junction heading south. Aha! Without even thinking
about it, I followed it and soon after reached another little
village, and this time some guys knew what I was talking about and
gave me a proper heading. I noticed two things while chatting with
them. One, the only village by the river was marked as Kaoh Mayeul in
my map, but in reality the locals call it Kamiel, and the faster you
say it, the more chances you'll be understood. Two-and more
important- I had spent the last month learning Khmer from drunks late
at night-not that I was in a better state either-and as a consequence
I was able to say things like “eating eel will make your dick
stronger” but when it came to getting directions, I still couldn't
tell left from right. I know how to get a conversation going and make
people laugh, but first I need to get there!
I was shown the path I needed to
follow, told it was 20km-which meant 30 or more of course- and got
going. The narrow path spiraled for a while among a few houses and
soon I left the civilisation behind me and entered the forest. For
the next 30 hours or so I wouldn't meet a single soul. I had enough
water and supplies for almost 2 days but thought I would get to the
river the same day, maybe by late afternoon. Soon the trail started
splitting and though most of the times it was clear which was the
main one, some others it wasn't. I got my compass out, attached it to
the handlebar and spent the rest of the day trying to find my way. I
knew my general direction should be S-SW and it was comforting
knowing that if I kept heading that way at some point I would get to
the river. By 4 in the afternoon I had made little progress, about
15km and knew I wouldn't get there in time. The trail ended abruptly
after 5km–very conveniently in an empty house-and I decided to
spend the night there. I had cycled for 10+ hours but didn't feel
tired so I spent an extra hour looking around. There was a
trail heading towards a stream but didn't seem used for many years
and faded completely a few meters later. I had no idea where I was
but was having a great time. I did some basic washing in a nearby
puddle, boiled some noodles and stood by the house for a while
enjoying the night. I thought I saw a flashlight somewhere in the
distance, but it was fireflies, lots of them. I hadn't seen any since
my childhood and stood there watching them and laughing like an
idiot. What a day...
By 6 I was awake, had some sticky rice
with banana and got started. It's one of those delicacies that are worth their weight in gold in my opinion, not that sweet-depending how ripe the banana is-it fills you up nicely. Comes wrapped in banana tree leafs and lasts for 2 days. It took me 5 hours to cover 19km to the
river. It was a constant back and forth, discovering new trails,
trying them, going back, finding others etc, a great lesson in
navigation, I would keep track of the distance, my bearing and the
time it took me, always taking into account how much time I would
need to go back to Seda if all else failed. But there was no way I
would do that. No matter what, I would find my way. At some point I
found a tent, with the fire in front of it still smoking. Someone had
spent the night and was definitely somewhere around, I waited a
while, shouted but got no answer. A few km later, same story,
someones belongings together with a plastic bag full of fruits.
Waited, shouted, no answer. I did encounter a snake though, a big one. We both got equally scared, don't know who ran away faster! I kept going, fearing I was deviating a
lot, the trail headed SE for a long time and I feared I'd miss the
river and who knows, end up in Vietnam! When I had only a few drops
of water left, I reached Kai San, a tiny village by the river. No
food stalls or anything there-not that I expected any-but I did get a
plate of rice and two boiled eggs, the only food a very kind woman
could offer me. Her husband, Fnaan sat down with me and wanted to
know all about my trip, where I'd been in Cambodia, how I managed to
get there. When I showed him the photos of the house I had spent the
night he laughed and went about showing them to everybody else-by
then the whole village had passed by to have a look at the crazy
foreigner who chose a bicycle instead of a moto. I was offered a bed
to sleep but I politely declined, it was getting late and I wanted to
get to Kaoh Miel in the other side of the river, only 10km away
according to Fnaan, which obviously I didn't believe. I bought all
the water I could carry from a store that seemed to sell only
detergent and shampoos and tried to leave, only to be invited by some
guys for rice wine and beer. I tried hard not to drink too much, we
had some laughs, a small language lesson, the customary exchange of
cellphone numbers and I left. The rice wine was the best I 've had in
the country so far, and for the first time kept in a big clay pot
instead of a plastic jar. The top was sealed and a plastic hose
served as a straw from which everyone had a sip every now and then.
It bothers me that women never sit with us on similar occasions, I
wonder if it's a matter of etiquette or if men won't have it any
other way.
A few km after crossing the river I got
to Kaoh Miel Leu but didn't stay at all, hoping I'd get to Kaoh
Miel-which I thought was bigger-in time. Lots of burned land on the
way. A couple of days later I was told by a guide that villagers do
it so that new grass will grow for the animals, but don't worry, they
don't burn the trees! Not the way I saw it, but what the hell. As
expected, I never made it in time. By dusk I came to an abandoned and
ready to fall house, hang my hammock, prayed it would still be
standing by morning, had the inevitable noodles and dozed off. The actual distance covered that day was 35km, not much, but I had done an extra 50 looking for the correct trail. I
could hear music in the distance and thought of beds and proper food but the way sound travels in the
forest it could be anything from 1 to 5 km. No reason to cycle at
night.
Next day I switched to the main dirt
road to Sen Monorom, the last big city before the border crossing to
Vietnam. Riding there after the previous day's trails felt like ice
skating, for a while at least. The last 30km or so are
mountainous-Sen Monorom's altitude is 800m-and required some effort
to climb but the scenery was beautiful and thanks to-I'm guessing-the
higher incomes of the area the villages were clean and tidy and most
of the houses quite beautiful, with red or blue rooftops and
colourful gardens, no wonder the area is called the Switzerland of
Cambodia. Only in Switzerland you don't see boards advertising the
governing party, whereas here they are everywhere. There's thousands
of them all across the country, and for every 100 there might be 1 of
the opposition. Story goes that if you have a board of any of the
other parties in front of your house you might not get the same
benefits as the rest of the people, better said, keep your political
views for yourself if they are not in line with the government. I had
planned to spend the next day cycling in the area around Sen Monorom
but as I started out I saw that I had also broken a spoke on the back
wheel, thankfully not on the cassette side, I had this in Siem Reap
and finding a mechanic with a Shimano key was hard, here it would be
impossible. This, combined with the torn panier was the perfect
excuse to stay in town, repair everything, sluggishly stroll around
and eat like there was no tomorrow.
Stung Treng to Ban Lung: 147km. Can be done in one long day. The road should be all-tarmac by mid 2012 or earlier.
