Day 7 Charat - Srao Nouy

Dear all,

 

We woke up at 5AM with out alarm clocks buzzing and it was still completely dark outside, which is great, as we would have time to pack our things and start cycling when the first sun rays would let us see where we would be cycling through.

We reached the main road in a matter of minutes and we started our way.

A couple of kilometers later we reached a crossing: either we continued straight on the same road, or we turn left to a road we have no clue where it is going. No living creature around to whom we could ask for directions, the map we have at the tablet only indicates one road out of Charat and that is slightly to the left. Well, lets take the left one, may the luck protect these travellers :)

We cycled for about 15 kilometers and then we found a good spot for street food, so we had a break for some "breakfast"!

About to choose what's for breakfast

Breakfast's ready!

We had chicken, rice and some other meat wrapped in a leaf. This wrapping is also grilled. Have no idea what it was, but it was good, and that is all it matters!

We tried not to take too long, to seize the lower temperatures ( around 27 degrees). They told us at the street food place that Cambodja is to the right at the next crossing. Great, we were always on the right track!!

Wanna see, how hard is to cycle when you do not know the basics of the language where you are travelling?

That is easy: STOP!

 

We have cycled then for some more kilometers, until we reached a village, apparently the last one before the Thai border. There we asked for directions and a girl on a scooter was speaking very good English and she helped us out.

Last kilometers on Thai roads

Then we saw a sign indicating the distances for upcoming places and we saw that we were still 164 km short of Angkor Wat (plus about 12 to Siem Reap). As we were already cycling for a while, and not knowing how much time it would take us to cross the border, it would be hard to make it in just two days. Well, distance is what it is, and if we cannot make it in two days, we will make it in three.

A few kilometers after that sign a different one showed up: a truck over a hill and a sign of 10%. Yes, our way was uphill!! It lasted for some kilometers, not many though, but showed us that we are not totally fit yet and it is hard to cycle under this hot weather. After a while a small van stopped some meters in front of us and the driver indicate us the back side of his car. I asked Marta what we should do, and why not to take that ride for a few kilometers? I showed the guy the right tumb up, but maybe he understood like "we are cool" and not like "cool that you are taking us", so he left. Well, uphill it is!

Not yet at the summit. We came from near the river down there

After the rain the sun always shows up, for the hills is similar: after an uphill there should be always a downhill. It was nice to see the sign of a truck on a triangle this time facing down and a 10% sign, but unfortunatly the downhill was not more than 250 meters, dammed!

About to reach the summit. Downhill signs on the left

Not much left to say till the boarder in Choam.

First we need to leave Thailand, they check our passports and ask for the little piece of paper they give us at the Thai border when entering the country. In that office there is also a Cambodjan officer who asked us what we going to do in Cambodja. We answered tourism and that we would stay for about 10 days.

When we were ready to grab our bikes there were already 4 or 5 officers gatthered together and starring at us and one asked: "where are you going"? to Siem Reap, we said. They laughed like it is the most funny thing in the universe! We asked if there is any problem and what is funny about it? They said that it is far and usually people go by car or bus. We tried to explain that some people travel by bicycle and some other people we know makes the same, but well, the best is to smile and keep going. Afterall, no one like that much when people are making fun of you, right?

Border crossing, Thailand side

With everything clear from Thai border, time to go and face the Cambodjan side. What if the visa on arrival is denied? What if it is different for Latvians (we searched online before the trip and it should not be a problem, but that could deppend on someone's mood or bribing)?

At the gate, we found it strange that it is on the right side, as we were riding on the left side in Thailand. Turns out that in Cambodja they drive on the right hand side, so the border control it is in that side.

An officer give us some paperwork to fill and we said that we are expecting Visa on arrival. He replied in a quite rude way to go to the back. I smiled and replied, yes Sir, Have a nice day!

Well, at the back there is a large table and two officers under a tree with some blanket creating a shadow. He gave us more paperwork and asks for passports and one picture. We said that we do not have pictures with us. Ups, is that going to be a problem or a reason for "overtime" charge as we read on blogs about border crossing in Cambodja?

First he had a look at my passport, check the visas, double check, triple check. Stops by Saudi Arabian visa, looks again, followed by Algeria and Angola... Well, you keep your "yellow smile" while you think that he will come up with a reason not to give you the visa and after some questions about duration of the stay, where we are staying (well, I will be cycling, how ahould I know where I am staying, can I write down Ritz Hotel?). I ask what I should right on vehicle number, he replied bike. And there it is, he just filled the Visa and sticked it into the passport!

For Marta's passport also no much trouble and the visa was issued.

When we asked for the price, he replied that was 32 USD per person. We said that we knew that the price for visa should be 20 USD, so we do not understand why it is that expensive. The other officer told us that the price has changed to 30 USD on November 1st, and if we want we could check online. Well, if they say that the price of visa was updated to 30 USD and we even could check online, it seemed real enough to believe it. So, why the other 4 USD? It is for the pictures.

We ended up paying only 2USD for the pictures, after telling him that we find out 4 USD very expensive, as all he have done was to take a picture of the passport with his cellphone!

We have read that sometimes the border offices tries to take more money asking for what they call "overtime". For sure the picture thing it is just money for him, but well, we ended up not paying the extra 2 USD (that it is a lot of water bottles on our way)!

First picture in Cambodja

The Cambodian visa

We stopped by some shop just to buy some water. It seemed as well that it was a currency exchange, but we could not understand the exchange ratio, neither we had any idea if it would be a good rate or not, and we had read that USDollars are accepted almost everywhere. As we have dollars with us, we just procceed.

At the shop's front

We could see that the road starts downhilling, but I would never imagine to be such a nice, rather long and most of the times steep downhill. I was going first, and the speed was increasing and increasing. I could not stare at the gps gadget all the time, but in a glimpse, the indicated speed was over 68km/h!!

At first I was not recording or taking pictures, but after a while, and after overtaking some cars (!), I stopped for some pictures and to make a video of Marta going downhill.

The downhill

The downhill

Peter Lamb ridding at about 50km/h!!!

It was a great feeling to start cycling in another country. My first time in Cambodja and my 32nd visited country.

Rather empty Cambodian roads

We found a street food place with a table and two chairs under a tree. Great spot for a small break and some more street food.

Marta having a melon juice and some fried dish we could not understand what it was.

I asked for some othe fried "roll" that i had no clue what it was, but it was easier to identify: fried banana.

We did not stay longer, as the temperature was still "standable" for some more cycling. The road is good, there are almost no cars and the landscape quite nice. We were keeping a good pace and taking some pictures along the way.

Cambodian road

Marta ridding with no hands

Peter & Marta

When the sun was just too high in the skies and the temperature way too high for cycling we started to look for a place for an extended break. We stoped at the association for environment conservation and human rights protection. Unfortunatly no one there spoke english, but they let us use their upfront shelter and even their chairs. They were very kind.

The shelter

Looks like we found a good place for a rest

We had a nap for a while and then we updated our blogs.

Peter & Marta blogging

We started cycling at around 16h and we thought that we would find some guesthouse in the following 30km or so. The kilometers were passing, as well as the sun was coming down and we could not find ANY place to sleep. We started to ask some people in the small villages we were passing but all of them were pointing down the road with a sign that seemed to be that a bigger village would be far far away.

When it was really the last days of sunlight, I decided to stop in a small cafe and ask where exactly it is that village, as we are cycling for a long time and we do not see that coming at all! After some mimics and some writting in the floor, we could understand that we were about 25 to 30 km away from that village. Well, coming back it is not an option and we have not been offered with a place to stay, so we also did not feel like we should ask. Afterall, it is close to full moon, and it is not that late, it is only after the sunset. There are not many cars in this road and I have front and back lights, so maybe it will not be a problem!

The only problem is that we are tired, we already cycled a lot of kilometers and we had the hill for the Cambodian border to overcome.

The last kilometers were quite painful, very tired, with lack of food and also very little water.

When we reached the village, we asked some locals for a place to sleep and one of them could talk some English. He said that the guesthouse is 10 km away. What?? 10 km? That is half and hour more, at least! He volunteered to take us there to show us the place, very kind guy! He just expressed himself bad, the guesthouse was only about 1 km away!

We said thank you for his kindness and we started to unpack the bikes.

They were not expecting any guests, so they had to prepare the room, which costed us 7USD. We had some dinner (eggs, sausages, noodles and juice in the small shop in front of the guesthouse). The girl who prepared us the meal asked us how many kilometers we were cycling today. We said 109km! She said that when she has to go to the other end of the village ( about 1km she thinks that it is too much!!!)

 

Summary of the day:

• Daily distance:109,0 Km
• Daily time: 6h17m32s
• Average speed: 17,32 km/h
• Maximum speed: to be added when I can open the corrupted GPS file, but it should be a bit over 68km/h

 

Total travelled so far: 264,10 km

Total time cycling: 15h32m35s

 

And that is all for now folks!

 

Best,

Peter & Marta

 

PS - We ending up understanding how many works in Cambodia. 1USD equals to 4000 riels. So, when you have to pay, lets say 9500 riels, you can give 2USD and more 1500 riels. They work with both currencies!

Postado com o Blogsy