Friday, December 30, 2011

Lots of stories from Kampot to Sihanoukville

I have so many stories from today I really don't know where to begin!

I began my day cycling at 7:30am. At 9:15 I decided it was time for my breakfast stop in a cute little village I found. I found a lady who made me some noodles with some chicken in soup. Yum yum. Nice and salty. Only problem was that the only utensils I had to eat it with were chopsticks. I can eat rice with chopsticks, no dramas, but noodles?! Now that's a mission and a half. Half the town came and ate breakfast with me I think just so that they could have a laugh at the white girl trying to eat noodles with her chopsticks!!! Finally someone produced a fork for me and that made my life much easier. I love this country - I can't speak much Khmer at all but I go to pay for my noodles - I have no idea how much they cost and it's obvious I don't understand a word of Khmer- but I give the lady a 10000Riel note (equivalent to 2.5USD) and she gives me back 8500 Riel. I somehow don't think she was ripping me off, and every time I go to pay for something & have no idea how much it costs I use the same method and exactly the same thing happens!!! It's great. I wish more places in the world were like this.

So I'm pedalling along and finally I see some more foreign cyclists, stopped on the side of the road (flat tyre). I ride over to them just because they're the first other long distance cyclists I have seen. They are loaded up much more than I am. When I talk to them I find out that they are two german doctors cycling from Germany to Singapore. I was impressed. (Don't worry Mum, I'm not going to try it!).

46km along my route to Sihanoukville I loose my shoulder (on the road I mean, I still have both the ones attached to my arms). It's a bugger because the traffic although is not really that heavy, it's not exactly light either. This means I pedal most of that distance in the dirt next to the road. I don't like it. It's getting on in the day, the sun is high, and suddenly I hit some hills! On the first hill I start to feel slightly dizzy, then slightly nauseous. And then I think that it's now 2pm and I haven't peed yet. Sweat pores out of everywhere possible. I look down at my water bottles and they're getting empty and I wonder why is there no person right here waiting to sell me some more??? The lack of lockout on my fork also doesn't help. It's not long before I'm off my bike, walking it up the hill, jumping back on again riding some more, off again walking... and then I meet Ben. Thank goodness at that exact moment I'm back on my bike again looking all hard core haha! Ben is a muscly French guy on a bike going in the opposite direction to me. He has only 9 days in Cambodia too. His plan is to get to the big intersection 30kms away. After I have a chat to Ben, I find the lady selling the water!!! Phew that feels better. The coke helped a lot too.

Sihanoukville is a huge place and I finally get to the dive place I'm booked in at... but I sure did take the long way. I meet a guy on a motorbike who eventually says he'll show me the way to Serendipity beach. I follow him, but I'm tired and he has a motorbike and I'm only on a push bike. Then he wants to hold my hand while we ride so we can get there faster but I pass on the offer. Never quite sure what that might lead to, as well as the fact that I'm worried about the safety component. I'm really good with safety. Helmet is on (even though the doctors from Germany I met didn't have helmets, and neither did Ben or any other Cambodian on a bicycle I have seen). Mine's saved my head before so definitely worth wearing!

Anyhow, I make it to the dive shop check in there, get the gear that I'm borrowing sorted and make sure it's all the right size. Then it's time to find accommodation for the night. Sihanoukville is huge, and definitely a tourist town, overpopulated for New Years. The place next door is all full up and then I learn that most of town is all full up. Gerard at the dive shop gives his friend Thida a phone call and she has a bed usually occupied by her niece who is currently away on holiday. Very handy!!! I can stay there again the following night when I get back from diving. She is very lovely, and has some lovely staff at the bar in the front of the cafe. And even though it is over priced tourist food (compared to local food on the street which I have been otherwise eating) I like eating there anyway just because they are so friendly!!! I also ask if there is somewhere nearby that will do laundry for me and one of the girls takes it for me, no worries. In exchange Thida says she needs me to help her text her husband who is currently in England, wanting to know if she needs any kitchen supplies. She doesn't know what lots of the words are and needs some help so that he will understand what she needs!!! She's very thankful for my help.

Anyhow, I'm off diving tomorrow and the next day so probably won't post again for a few days!

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Cover your knees!

So I made it to Phnom Penh airport with no dramas. On the plane I'm sitting next to a lovely Cambodian lady who doesn't speak any English. She is very giggly and considering neither of us have any idea what the other person is saying, we manage to hold a conversation that consists mainly of giggling! I like this place already!

I get to the airport and change some dollars into Riel. Airports usually have bad rates, but it's already 6pm, and I want to get riding first thing in the morning, beat the heat, so I change some anyway.

Then it's time to find some transport to the backpackers I'm checked in at! No dramas there either. I find a man who has a 3 wheel motorbike thing (which they call Tuk-Tuks here- doesn't look anything like an African Tuk Tuk though!). Me and my bike manage to squeeze in ok. No dramas, just a little squishy. I get to the backpackers and unpack my bike - it travelled well. There's a few tears in the cardboard - as is the usual story with bikes in boxes on aeroplanes.

In the morning, the lady at the backpackers gives me a map of Phnom Penh so I can figure out how to get from there to National Highway 2 which should take me directly to the town of Takeo where I had been planning to stay the night - 80km away - a pleasant distance with the panniers!

I find the right highway ok. Somewhere I get to a big round about. There's no signposts so I assume that the highway must go straight ahead. I pedal along and the road becomes less and less highway like as I ride. I wonder if I'm on the right track and consider that it's time for a coke stop. I ask the lady (who doesn't speak English)
"Takeo?" pointing in the direction that I'm heading. She looks at me blankly.
"Kampot?" I try again saying the name of a bigger place that I'm spending the next night.
"Yes, yes Kampot" she agrees with me. And it sounds like she understands. It never ceases to amaze me how much you can understand from each other when you don't even speak the same language! She points down to my knees, and I realise that even though I'm wearing baggy shorts over the top of my lycra cycling shorts I must be exposing too much skin. Will have to ride with long pants on tomorrow.

I get to another big intersection and it's a road that looks a lot more like a highway than the one I have been riding along. I take a left like I'm pretty sure the coke lady told me too. Just in case I ask the policeman who i see near the intersection. He also agrees that Kampot is straight ahead.

And then I finally see the sign. National Highway 3. That was not part of the plan!!! I look at my map and it's actually a more direct route to Kampot than the way through Takeo. Because it's still early I think in my head that maybe I can do a super cycling day and get myself to Kampot! 9 hours later I had ridden the 170km from Phnom Penh to Kampot. I find a cheap hotel, flop on the bed, take a shower, then go for a wander in search of internet and food. The deep fried banana cooked by the lady on the side of the road is really yummy.

Because of all this I am a day ahead of schedule and have the whole day to explore Kampot!
I think I'm going to the markets, then to the waterfall not far out of town.

Tomorrows plan is 105km to Sihanoukville.

Monday, December 26, 2011

You're never on your own for long...

So I'm standing around Changi Airport at the moment wearing 3 t-shirts simultaneously, two pairs of shorts, one pair of long pants, two pairs of socks, and my sneakers. I'm carrying three jackets with me aswell because it's a little hot to have them on me right now. I'm a tad uncomfy!



BUT... I can't complain too much because I managed to get out of paying my excess baggage fees!!! WHOOOT!!!! Everytime I fly I seem to get swamped but luckily the lady at singapore airlines today had some Christmas Spirit left in her and didn't even mention it (and I had a special little letter all typed out for her too!) Or maybe she was too distracted trying to figure out how to print my Silk Air boarding pass for my connecting flight... anyhow, I had my lovely letter explaining why she shouldn't charge me for my bike on hand and ready just in case and didn't even need to use it!





So I'm on my way to Phnom Penh at the moment with an 11 hour stop over at Singapore, At least Changi Airport is not the most unpleasant of airports to hang out at. They do free tours of the city for people with long transfer times which I decided to go on.





Just while I'm checking in to the tour desk I hear someone calling my name. I look up and it's Francesca (a girl who I used to work with at Homes West last year). She's on her way from Perth home to the Phillipines for a wedding. It's great to have some one to hang out with. I also meet another girl (I don't know her name yet) who is also off to Cambodia for some cycling. She's doing a 19 day organised tour though and it's her first ever bike tour so I'm feeling really excited for her! So I have some friends to hang out here with which makes the time go faster. Because I left the airport I get some new stamps in my passport too (which still excites me!)



Ok so to update you all with the current plan (in case you don't know already):



I'm off to do a bit of bike touring in Cambodia - riding a circuit from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville (just my own thing). Do 2 days of diving and also do my advanced open water course while I'm at it, and then ride back again, before I head back to Cairo for TDA 2012. No return ticket just yet because I don't quite know for certain what I'm going to be up to next.



Feeling pretty excited right now. I was feeling a little unexcited initially because I was actually just starting to settle back into Real Life as a Real Person in the Real World (and finally managing to enjoy myself at the same time!) and then it was time to pack up the car, move all my stuff back to Brisbane (thanks for the storage space Mum and Dad!), do Christmas - which was lovely to be able to spend the time with all the family again (I'm really sorry I just missed you guys Janey and Jim) before jumping on an aeroplane.





It's amazing how fast I can convert back into travel mode again though! It's exciting. I'm always paranoid of forgetting something important when I'm hanging around airports, but I have my passport and my credit card and with those two things I should be able to manage if I've forgotten anything vital!





Well, hope this message finds everyone reading it well after having a lovely Christmas. I'll be in touch writing stories right here for anyone interested :) xo