Siem Reap to Stung Treng - 320km

At some point I had to do a border run to get my visa extension. As I stood in the long cue, I let a woman on cruches pass and nodded to the guy in front of me to do the same. He seemed to ignore me, so I politely asked him again. On a thick and very familiar accent, he mumbled about a woman costing him millions some years back or something and then let her pass. When I asked him where he was from, he showed me his passport and proudly said “Australia”.”Yeah, but where from originally?”, “Greece”, “Ah, me too”. That's all he needed. With a typically Greek loud mouth and mostly in English he went on about how he didn't come here for the ruins, only for the river, how his ruins were better, when his ancestors were building the acropolis, Cambodians were still in their caves, and you know what, they still are! The whole room-me included-watched in disbelief as that fine gentleman left the building. He was my first Greek in this continent, I wonder how's the second going to be like.

A very silly thing I used to do in a similar trip some years ago, whenever I'd get in no man's land I'd take off my flip flops and feel the ground that belonged to no one-even if it was tarmac!

If you are going towards the border, either to cross or for a visa, try to get there before noon, otherwise be prepared for 3+ hours of standing on cues. If needed take a taxi, it's marginally more expensive than a bus if you can get it for local and not tourist price(6,50 instead of 10usd), you'll just have to sit with another 2-3 people in the back-it's not as bad as it sounds. My guy was cool and was willing to wait for me to finish and drive me back. You can find him at +855-12628118
Also, if you need a kick-ass tuk tuk driver in Siem Reap, get Lee at +855 976050672

One of the few Angkor bridges still standing

I planned to cycle down the Mekong towards Phom Penh, so together with Peter we headed for Stung Treng, the last town before Laos, or the first if you wanted to follow the river. A very easy dirtroad-called route 66 btw- through the few villages of the area made us believe that the journey to Preah Kham, the temple where we planned to spend the night in, would be short and painless so we took it easy, with many stops and a nice afternoon siesta. Little did we know of course, as the road after 80km deteriorated, switching from mudland to trail to whatever. It wasn't that bad and I did enjoy it, it's just that we hadn't planned for it and never made it to the temple. We cycled a bit at night but it was quite difficult, with that many potholes and what have you, it would take us another 2 hours to get there, so we opted for the only house around.

Too many kilos for my poor back

A convoy of people returning from the fields

Yep, I can cycle AND shoot photos!

After being turned away-I believe they were scared, people in all the rural areas I've been so far are extremely friendly and kind-we found another one further down the road and spent the night there. I exchanged some packs of noodles for rice with fish-it wasn't necessary but it was the least I could do. The family sat around us as we ate, and after I had finished they brought a plate with bol khmea, a green ball that seems to contain all the vegetation of the area together with who knows what. They sat silently, pointing it to me. Without thinking about it, I cut a piece and ate it. The instant I chewed it I realised it was one of the spiciest things I've had in my life. I started coughing and the whole lot laughed their asses off. It was a joke well played that I accepted graciously, so much so that I had a second bite, this time doing all sorts of shenanigans to make the laugh some more. After that they showed us that you just cut a small piece and mix it with your rice to make it a bit more interesting. I regretted I didn't carry any rice wine to offer them. We were offered the only room of the house while most of the family slept in the hammocks underneath, not having it any other way. They lit a fire to keep them warm letting all the smoke get in the room upstairs through the wooden floor so sleeping that night was foggy to say the least.

Next day turned out even slower than the previous for a variety of reasons. The trail split a number of times after Svay Damnak and took us a long time to find the correct one, but most of all we faced nature's biggest practical joke on cyclists: sand. Let me say this once and for all. If there is no sea around or you are not in the desert, I can't find any rational explanation why it's there, other than to piss me off. 15Km of it meant 3 hours of mostly pushing and cursing. In-between the moments of sandy agony, there were 2 nice little temples-nothing like the main ones back in Siem Reap of course, but interesting as they were engulfed by the forest, lots of variation in the vegetation and a few lively villages. For the last 10km we cheated a bit and hitched a ride in the back of a truck, we had enough sand for the day. Found the only guesthouse in Phnom Deik and slept like babies.

This fucker stole my gloves.

A sad reminder

The last stretch to Svay Damnak

Pit stop

Easy livin'

From then on the ride was as easy as it gets, with the exception of a few potholes here and there and the excruciating heat during midday. A new highway is in the works all along the way by the same Chinese company that's building the dams in the Cardamons, my guess is that this time next year the scenery will be quite different around here. It's already scary seeing how wide it will be.

The scenery on days 3 and 4

Getting an idea of the enormity of the project...

...and then its absurdity.

There's a few ice factories scattered around Cambodia. Every day hundreds of trucks and motos race around the country to deliver the blocks before they melt completely considering the heat. Not a small feat if you take into account the road conditions as well. Then the shop owners will start sawing them, using some for the refreshments(ice coffee anyone?), some for their cooler boxes and the rest will be sold to customers.

  On day 3 we stayed in Chas, no guesthouses there and once again we were offered shelter to hang our hammocks-hospitality runs in the blood of Cambodians. Got to try some turtle as well, see one of my previous posts for details. Early afternoon on day four we reached the legendary Mekong, and time came for me to go find Cl. Kurtz...

On the ferry to Stung Treng

The Mekong

Stats and facts:

It's 125km to Preah Kham, the temple where you can possibly stay overnight. There is a small pavilion right in front with enough space for 2 hammocks. No food or water around. Otherwise it's an extra  5km of sand to Ta Seng, the nearest village. It is doable in a day as long as you remember that after km 80 the quality of the road goes downhill.We stayed at 107, there's just two houses over there.

Ta Seng to Phnom Deik: 35km. Be VERY careful in Svay Damnak, the path splits many times and you can get lost easily. The correct one is 2km after the village on the right. Ask and ask again as there are no signs or marks. Phnom Deik is the only place with a guesthouse if you feel luxurious, otherwise you can push it to Trapeang Roussei, another 15km down the road.

Phnom Deik to Chas: 76km. My map was way off on this part, both on the villages names-or their existense- and the distances, but it's impossible to get lost so don't worry.

Chas to Stung Treng: 79km. You'll end up in a small village across, it's a 5 minute ferry to the other side.

The sandy part of the ride is between Ta Seng and Phnom Deik. If you don't want to go through it, you can take the main road going N-NW from Ta seng and then back south to Phnom Deik. It's 60km instead of 30, but much easier.

A note: This is landmine territory, so stay on the path!