89 km

The road was not quite as smooth today but still paved and in great condition. We’re very happy to find that dogs are no problem here in Cambodia. There are so many people moving around by bicycle that dogs pay no attention to us, we are just part of the human river flowing through their territory.

We sailed along at an enjoyable pace through what felt like one long village, broken only now and then by larger fields or towns. Simple wooden houses that were elevated on wood or concrete posts lined each side of the road for miles and miles, with children playing and people working in the shade underneath. At nearly every house there were a few children shouting hello and waving furiously. Mango, Durian, banana, and coconut trees shaded many of the yards. Cows wandered through empty fields, eating the remnant stubs of last season’s crops and depositing manure that will add to the next. Chickens scratched and pecked and ran willy-nilly across the road. It’s rural Cambodia that delivers the joy of bike touring again after our time in Bangkok and Siem Reap.

101 km

We’re out of the hotel just after sunrise, and though it felt warm and sticky when we were loading the panniers onto the bikes, the breeze felt cool once we started cycling.

We made our way through the morning bustle of traffic, which was already at full speed by 6:00 a.m. and backing up near the roadside markets just outside of town. This is the land of horns, with every motorized vehicle adding to the cacophony. Small cars will sometimes have horns that belong on Mack trucks, some motos (scooters and motorcycles) will have car horns, and vans or other “people-movers” may sound horns that in the U.S. announce ambulances or fire trucks. And the flow of traffic, if you can call it that, is a might-is-right anarchy, with speed or size dictating who gets to go where and in what order.

In other words, it’s crazier than anything we’ve seen in any other country, and Dave has ridden in Central and South America. We saw it the minute we crossed the border into Cambodia, and we’re likely to see it until we leave. There are no traffic police, as we read in a German-published atlas, but there are spray-paint outlines of accidents scattered here and there on the roads. Not that we need reminders to be careful.

Not only is the road paved today, but it is smooth and flat and we make great time. We also see a slightly greener landscape, with farms outlined by palm trees stretching between the many small villages we cycle through. A few fields are in use, but most are waiting for the rainy season to begin. We see clouds building in the distance, but the heat is still continuing to build. There is rain forecast for the area over the next few days.

Billboards like this line the road.

32 km

Today we first visited Banteay Kdei, built in the late 12th or early 13th century. This site has many similarities with and is considered a smaller version of Ta Prohm and Preah Khan. It was built by the same king, Jayavarman VII, who built the most cities, temples and monuments of any of the Khmer kings.

We decided to visit Ta Prohm again, because it is closest to how it would have looked a hundred years ago, and had many more wild corners for us to explore. We did discover, though, that they are doing a bit of archaeological digging and restoration to shore up some of the walls, but not much. On the way out, we saw one of the groups of traditional Khmer musicians playing music by the side of the path. They are usually mostly land-mine victims and make money by selling CDs and taking donations. We placed some money in their brass bowl and enjoyed the music. I was happy to see that then a few other tourists stopped taking video long enough to do the same, I was hoping they wouldn’t be pointing cameras at these men so long without doing so. One woman plopped herself down on the small platform, nearly landing on the lap of one musician, and sat there yapping at her friends about how to get a good picture. We cringed and moved on.

Our last stop was the huge area of the Royal Palace Group inside Angkor Thom. We saw the long and imposing Elephant Terrace, which ends near the Leper King Terrace. Behind them was the Royal Palace, which was used by several successive kings.

Moving toward Laos

We are now in the habit of getting up at about 4:30, soon maybe 4:00, so we can cycle in the early morning and hopefully finish for the day by noon or 1:00. Tomorrow we leave Siem Reap to head East, and in several days we will be in Laos. We may be off the radar for some time, but don’t worry. I’ll have way too much writing to post when we get back online!

41 km

We left our hotel at about six a.m. and already the town was bustling with the new day. We rode the larger loop around the Angkor Wat area today counter-clockwise.

Prasat Kraven was made in the early 10th century. It’s the area’s best example of brick temples with bas-reliefs carved right into the laid bricks. These bricks are set not with mortar but with a vegetable compound that is stronger and thinner, making for a close, smooth join. This set of temples was dedicated to the god Vishnu.

Pre Rup was also built in the 10th century. It’s remarkable for its massive brick towers with steep climbs and great views into the surrounding trees. Inside the outer walls sit towers, libraries, galleries, and the main sanctuary.

East Mebon, from the mid-10th century, is a walled temple complex built on an island in the middle of a now-dry reservoir lake. It has eight large elephant sculptures that are mostly intact, set upon two of the three tiers of the temple.

Ta Som was built later, in the 12th century. Inside an outer wall there’s a moat and then an inner wall. The outer enclosure has face towers overlooking walls that are in places at the mercy of strangler figs and silk-cotton trees much like Ta Prohm.

Neak Pean, another 12th century temple, was built on an island. Inside its outer walls you find four square pools surrounding one main pool. In the middle is a small temple sanctuary. It would be something to see this during the rainy season, since now the pools are dry.

Preah Khan, from the late 12th century, is a collection of ruins that have a bit of the feel of Ta Prohm because the jungle has worked its magic here. This was the site of a large Buddhist university and city inside the outer walls. The causeways connect in long rows in the principal directions from the center sanctuary. A two-story, round-columned building is completely unique for the area, and its purpose is still unknown. The hall of dancers is decorated on all its walls and lintels with women in different dance poses.

33 km

We were up at five a.m and out at six this morning to ride the 10 km or so to the Angkor Wat temples. We bought our ticket at the ticket office on the way, US$40 each for a 3-day pass. Then we rode down a paved road into the jungle and saw what Cambodia is supposed to look like. It was green, misty and cool (remember that we are now acclimated to SE Asia), and much more humid than the road to Siem Reap. The birds were squawking in their forest hideouts and we had visions of ancient days when the forest was full of Asian lions and elephants.

Angkor Wat is the name for the entire system of temples and monuments in the area, which were built over the course of a few centuries by many kings, each trying to outdo the last. Most were Hindu kings, so the temples of their cities honored Hindu deities, though the most active builder, Jayavarman VII, was Buddhist.

The grandest temple complex is also called Angkor Wat and it was the first temple we came to. Angkor, built in the 13th century, is surrounded by a wide man-made moat that is larger than any I’ve seen around the castles in Europe. Inside the moat there is a great outer wall that in its day housed the massive temple as well as en entire city. The only structures left now in all the area are those made of stone, laterite, or brick, which were only used for walls, temples, and monuments, so the rest of the city is long gone. Angkor Wat is the world’s largest religious monument, built to honor the Hindu god Vishnu.

Next we rode to Baksei Chamkrong, built in the early 10th century to mimic the nearby hill called Bekhong. It is a brick tower on a brick and laterite pyramid and is not considered very important since it was not a state temple.

Angkor Thom came next, another walled city with temples, monuments and even royal palace structures. The entrances on the East and West are lined with carvings of men holding up a serpant. We only looked at the temple, Bayon, and decided to leave the rest for another day. Bayon, built in the late 12th to 13th century, is unique for its many complex face-towers and its bas-reliefs depicting daily life as well as Khmer battles and history. It was a state temple that was the symbolic center of the universe.

We looked at the minor “twin towers” of Chao Say Tevoda, which was “fully restored” in the 60s and to me looks ridiculous and incongruous, and the mostly un-restored and original Thommanon.

Then, late in the day, we visited Ta Prohm, built in the late 12th to 13th century. This site was chosen to be left nearly as it was when all the temples were discovered. All the others were cleared of the jungle that had hidden them and re-constructed or re-inforced in places to stop their slow their decay. Ta Prohm still has the jungle within its walls, even within the temple itself. It is like entering a mythic fairy tale, and there are so many hidden corners that you can feel like you’re the only person there. We decided we would need to come back to visit this temple more.

Last night the night watchman at our guest house said if we wanted a pickup to Siem Reap in the morning, he could arrange it for us. He was very polite and spoke good English, and we trusted him. Dave and I talked it over and decided to do it. It would cost US$4 for each bike and US$5 for each of us to ride up front in the a/c cab of the pickup.

So this morning we got up and packed and were ready at 7:30 for the pickup. When we went out front the night watchman said he found a bus instead, and the price would be the same. Dave thought that sounded like too much according to an American we met at the train station, but we said OK. A few minutes later when we came out again, he apologized and said the bus had gone to re-fuel. Then he disappeared on his motorbike. Later he came back, apologized, said the bus had decided to go another way and that he had arranged for a pickup to come get us right now and take us to Siem Reap. When the old Nissan extended cab pickup pulled up a couple of minutes later, it was packed with about 25 people in back and had five adults and three infants in the cab. The night watchman said I should ride up front and Dave would be in back, with the bikes tied on the very back, behind some speakers that were tied onto the open tailgate.

The prospect of over 100 km of what we experienced yesterday with none of it being paved made us take the pickup even though it looked scary and crazy. Dave has done this before in South America but I’ve never seen anything like this. I have to say, I had it easier than Dave. I sat in the back of the cab sharing a seat with two small men and a woman with a baby. It was sometimes air-conditioned and had some great Cambodian music playing from a tape. Dave, however, sat on a metal rail for three hours over hot, bumpy and dusty roads, sharing the back with as many as 28 people and stopping numerous times along the way to let off or take on more people and re-tying the cargo nearly every time.

Even though it was worse than riding, it took probably 1/3 or 1/4 of the time it would have taken to ride, and we arrived in Siem Reap about noon.

64 km

We woke at 4 a.m. and left at 4:30 to ride to the train station in the dark. Bangkok at this time was an interesting mix of fading night life and the bustle of morning cleaning and setting up for the day. We rode through light traffic past prostitutes of various sexual orientation, street sweepers using twig brooms, market vendors sorting their bagged produce, and manual laborers starting their commutes.

We bought tickets for the train to Aranya Prathet, a few kilometers before the Cambodian border: third class with fan, the only “choice” available. Both of our seats cost us 96 baht (about US$3) and space for our bikes in the cargo car were 180 baht total. The ride offered six hours of building heat, with food and drink vendors hopping on and off at every stop. They would walk up and down the car aisles from one end of the train to the other and back, announcing their specialty continuously.

Border Crossing

We rode about eight km from the train stop–seemingly in the middle of hot, dry, flat and desolate nowhere–to the border. It took about three minutes to get our Thai exit stamp, then we rode to the Cambodia side where, after a few minutes more, we had our entry stamp. We were told by an Australian expat who was in line behind us that the border crossing changes every time he does it, so I’ll stay brief on the details for those planning a tour of their own because it may change any time.

We were glad we bought our Cambodia visas back in Bangkok, which made for a quick and easy border crossing. One thing to note: in the Cambodian Consulate we were told the visa was 1,000 Thai baht. Dave asked if we could pay in U.S. dollars, which is used in Cambodia, and he said yes, “Twenty-five dollars please.” That was a better price at the current exchange rate, as 1,000 baht is about US$31. Also, as we approached the border, there were several people sitting around who wanted to steer us to a place to buy our visas. They seemed disappointed when we said we had one already. I don’t know what the going rate for a visa on arrival is or how you go about it, but it seemed sketchy to us.

As we left the Cambodian immigration office we were immediately attacked on all sides by touts wanting to arrange a pickup for us. They start with innocent questions that a nice person might be tempted to answer. If you are that person, you might find yourself stuck in a conversation with a guy who chases you down the road and becomes more and more insistent that you must receive their services, that you have already, in fact, ordered their services and that you must go this way or that way right now, sir, over here, sir, where are you going sir, the truck is right here, sir, excuse me, sir! And meanwhile, your not-as-nice girlfriend is riding down the road waiting for you to catch up so you can put the mirror on your bike and put on your dust mask because yes, after all, she would like to ride this road and leave this madness behind. Quickly.

50 Kilometers of Hell

Here’s the scoop, one that you’ll read in every journal about every border crossing from Thailand to Cambodi: it sucks. Really. It’s just not a fun experience. We read several accounts of people hopping on a bus to Siem Reap either right off the bat or at Sisephon, 50 km later. The road, you see, is hell. This dirt road (not gravel) is very rough, very dusty, very noisy, with killer exhaust fumes, and incredibly heavy traffic, and is in stages of construction the whole way with heavy machinery here and there. There is nothing to see along the way, as the jungle has long ago been mowed down and in the dry season like this the land is very bleak and brown. Besides, the dust cuts the visibility down to about 100 meters. It’s one thing to deal with rough dirt roads, but another to do it with all these other conditions. There is a 20-km section before Sisephon which has recently been paved and which is wonderful, but through Sisephon and almost all of the way to Siem Reap it is dirt again.

We rode to Sisephon, starting in the incredible heat of 2:30 p.m., because we didn’t feel we could trust a single person at the border and the harassment was overwhelming. We didn’t see any buses nearby, and when we asked we were assured our bikes would not fit in the bus. I realize now that we should have seen if it was possible to arrange a bus beforehand, maybe in Bangkok at a travel agent.

So, unless you are a hard-core, die-hard cyclists who loves a very challenging experience, just skip this whole section. If you do ride it, have a good face mask, because even with one you will be coughing up dust afterward like a twenty-year smoker. I had quite enough of it just getting to Sisephon, even with 20 km of it being paved. And I rode nearly 2,500 miles of dirt last summer. I am no delicate flower.

March 21-24

We have had a very busy few days in Bangkok. There is so much to see, and we also had quite a list of to-dos before we could get out of here. We have successfully:

• Taken a taxi to get our Cambodia and Laos visas (3 hours, mostly due to traffic as they are next to each other)
• Taken boat taxis and the sky train to Wat Pho for a morning of beauty, then a bike shop, a massive shopping center, and a grocery. We could not get a taxi to take us back to our guest house area (the traffic is nuts and it was quite a ways) we had to walk, sky train, and boat taxi ourselves back.
• Enjoyed a Thai massage.
• Taken another boat taxi to the Grand Palace (the king’s sometimes residence and site of the royal Wat and a museum) and walked through open markets and sampled street food.
• Enjoyed a Thai foot massage.
• Figured out our route and means of travel to Cambodia (by train).
• Bought plane tickets to fly home from BKK in May.
• Arranged details for our dive trip in Koh Tao.
• Updated pictures, written entries, and now posted those entries.
• Done lots of research on the internet.
• Gone through our stuff and cut it down quite a bit. We will store a box at our hotel until we come back to fly home. My load is much lighter now, as is Dave’s!
• We’ve also eaten some really great food, from breakfast to lunch and dinner and fruit shakes in between. This place has no shortage of great food.

We leave tomorrow morning by train to the Cambodia border. We’ll probably cross over and stay in the dreaded Poipet so we can get a very early start to our ride the next day.

Bangkok!

Wat Pho

Wat Pho

Wat Phra Kaeo

Wat Phra Kaeo

(By train)

We showed up an hour early for the 6:20 train just like the ticket man said to the night before, “for the bicycles.” Well, that was completely unnecessary, as the ticket window was closed. When the same guy opened the window 20 minutes later, he asked if we wanted on the train about to pull up, and we said sure. So we bought tickets: 196 baht each for us plus 80 baht per bike. We rushed our bikes out as the train came in, took the panniers off and got them to the cargo car near the front. We then noticed our seats were in car fourteen near the back of the train! Since the train was about to pull away we hopped on the first passenger car, and walked with all our panniers–getting disapproving shakes of the head from train employees–through several sleeper cars and passenger cars to the fourteenth one, which turned out to be a third class fan car. Well, at least it was early!

The ride took about five hours and was ok, though next time we’ll be sure to ask for second class air-con. We had a snack at the train station and then had a crazy, adrenaline-inducing ride to the western Banglampu area to find a guest house. The Rough Guide noted a few, and we tried our top three choices. The first two were full, then we tried Baan Sabai on a quiet, smaller road near the river off of Phra Athit.

We will spend the next few days getting visas, shopping for bike items, and getting caught up with ourselves before heading to Cambodia.

59 km

The ride today started out ok, following smaller roads closer to the coast, most of which were not on our map. In one small tourist beach town that looked like it was built completely in the last five years, Dave skidded to a stop because he had seen a couple of St. Bernard dogs lying in the reception of a guest house. One of them was interested in receiving visitors, and got up to meet Dave. They made quick friends before we sadly had to move on sans dog.

We eventually found ourselves on highway 4 again, and it was busy though only a two-lane highway here. One advantage of riding 4 is that our speed was about 50% faster than on the smaller roads, and we flew into town fairly early.

Hua Hin

We followed the recommendations of our Rough Guide, and ended up in Karoon Hut, one of the remaining guest houses built right on the water on one of the former shrimp piers. We had an air-con room with bath for 500 baht (the fan rooms had a tiny window and no ventilation). We could hear the waves roll in underneath our floor. Hua Hin is very touristy, fairly expensive, and busy, but it has a nice vibe at night, and we enjoyed eating street food with some locals and walking around watching people.

Updated Plan

We got out the maps and opened up a calendar on the computer to plan the rest of our trip. We had started out with grand plans of seeing all of Southeast Asia, but then had also wanted to enjoy plenty of beaches and islands and dive along the way. Add to that about a week of being knocked out sick, and we realized we had better cut it down and make a plan.

So we decided to leave for Bangkok by train in the morning. We needed to get visas for Cambodia and Laos, as well as a couple of things for the bikes. After a few days we will take a train out of Bangkok to skip the hassle of the crazy traffic, heading straight to the border near Poipet, Cambodia. From there we’ll ride to Battambang, then get on a boat up the river and across the lake to Siem Reap. There we’ll visit Angkor Wat for a few days before cycling East and up to the border with Laos. Then through Laos to Louang Prabang by bicycle. From there we’ll likely take a boat up the river and over to Chang Rai, then cycle or bus to Chang Mai. We’ll ride the train to Bangkok, and then we’ve scheduled a dive trip on Koh Tao for the last week of our time here in Southeast Asia before flying home.

We realize this puts us in Cambodia and Laos at the absolute hottest time of the year, but if we can ride and enjoy this area, then we’ll surely be able to ride through the Sahara as we plan to in the fall. Our upcoming Africa bike tour is on our minds as the days get hotter, and we’ll make note of how we feel as we ride through the heat. There’s always room for change in our plans.