69km, rain & tarantulas for tea

It was a bit confusing waking up this morning and a couple of the team noted that they weren’t sure what city they were in as we really didn’t spend much time in either Battambang and Pursat and the hotels were both much alike, large, generic and noisy – although the pool and the breakfast were better at the latter one. An omelette with chilli tofu, tapioca pumpkin porridge and a pastry with water melon Jam and of course good strong coffee was a perfect start to the day.
We were in the bus just after 7 for the approx. 3 hour drive to the starting point. Buntrey, who is from Phnom Penn, told us a little about the city which will be our home for the next 2 nights (Hotel Mito here we come) and which has a population of 3 million. It is becoming a modern city with skyscrapers (Chinese and Vietnamese money) and is seen as being very exciting to the young people
Buntrey, who grew up in a rural background, also told us about growing rice. Before the wet season starts the chaff from the previous crop is burned and the field is manured, then when the rains come the soil is broken up. The paddies are pumped dry and the seed sown. After about 6 weeks the field is flooded for 2 days then the rice is thinned and the seedlings are transplanted into a semi-flooded paddy (approx. 30 cm apart). The crops are watched for pests (snails and rice crabs), spray is avoided where possible as it is believed to be not good for health. Short term rice takes 3 months, medium term rice takes 5 months and then long-term rices takes more than 6 months, the sort term rice is mostly for wine and the other 2 are eaten. The harvested rice is then dried and generally half is sold and half is kept for the year’s food. Jasmine rice is the favourite variety as sells for about $1 a kilo.
We had a coffee and “happy room” break along the way and then finally met up with Hoem, Brett and the bikes at a little before 1100hrs. Quickly organised we set off on what was a very sunny, humid day of about 32-35degrees. We were traveling on fine gravel roads and were soon riding along the bank of a large river, passing through a number of villages – it was interesting in that some were relatively clean and well maintained and the roads weren’t bad, others seemed messy, rubbish filled with scruffy looking houses and the roads were generally quite rutted at this point. We rode for just over an hour (say about 17km) before we met up with the van again and enjoyed jack fruit, bananas and some nice cold water by the river bank. A local shop provided a “happy room” for the ladies but the blokes had to use the bushes as there were snakes around apparently.
We continued on following the river and intermittently enjoying sections of lovely smooth concrete road… at about the 27km mark we arrived at a kind of “truck stop” café cross between a mini-mart and car repairer where were served a basic rice and curry type number with the option of a fried egg on top….and could also access various drinks and a toilet. At about 1315hrs we headed back out. From here the track was a bit rough, mostly unsealed and at times marred by mud and pot holes, other times unsealed but with numerous fist sized rocks which shook the bum and rattled the wrists .. we also had to take our bikes through the middle of a wedding reception which was in the process of being set up across the road in a marquee… apparently blocking the road so as to hold weddings, religious ceremonies or death rites (celebrated at days7, 30 and 100) is quite common.
Finally we hit the sealed road and continues on to some random street corner where Hoem met us with the van and water and we were able to sample fried banana and sugar care juice from the vendor also located nearby. By this point we were at the 50km mark and had another approx. 20km to go … refuelled it was back on the bikes and off down some back roads heading into the city – the first 8 or 9kms was gravel and via some villages but after that we were heading into the city and were riding some pretty major roads for the final 15km into the centre of Phnom Penh, it also started to get quite windy with intermittent rain but it was a tailwind and that combined with the smooth concrete surface meant we were able to complete the 15km leg at a pretty fast clip ending up at the ferry port in short order.
The crossing of the Mekong took less than 15 minutes and we were soon off loaded. However this seemed to be the signal for a storm to enliven our afternoon. It wasn’t cold, but the term “monsoon downpour” seems inadequate to describe the volumes of water that was cascading down out of the sky onto us as we rode the final 4km to the hotel.
Soggy is an understatement .. but suffice to say we were pretty damn wet when we finally arrived at Mito Hotel in Phnom Penh is so much of an understatement … water was pouring out of my shoes with every step and basically the term “drowned rats” could have been applied to any of us with accuracy. We checked in and headed up to our room to organise, shower, change and unpack before heading back down to the bar (which incidentally can’t cope with a request for cocktails or even a glass for the beer you have just bought). We chatted and had a drink while waiting for the whole team to arrive… including a couple of newbies who are doing the Phnom Penh to Siagon leg.
At about 1900hrs we headed off the Romdang Restaurant another NGO training venue … Romdeng celebrates the good things in life – family, food and tradition. Plating up truly traditional recipes to creative Cambodian cuisine, the restaurant is located not far from the hotel in a beautiful colonial building surrounded by a lush garden and swimming pool,
We had SO much delicious food… OMG!! The evening stared with a chance to handle live Tarantuala… sadly however they were then taken away and deep fried and returned with chilli sauce for dipping (eww … I couldn’t come at that) and then it was crickets and frogs legs fried as a crispy “beer” snake. Then various salads, stir frys and curry’s including an amazing tofu Amok… mmmm so so full
Deciding we needed to kick on for a bit we to a tuk tuk to the Foreign Correspondants club for discount cocktails “happy hour” and chatted on the rooftop bar over looking the river for a while before Deb and I took the 1.4km (as per google maps) walk back to the hotel… we’re not riding tomorrow so it will be a tad more relaxed……!Read more