Phnom Penh day 2 + ➡️ Kampong Cham

I'm not sure if it was the intensity of yesterday or readjusting to travelling after HK, but I felt wiped out today. I stayed in bed as long as I could before grabbing food from a middle eastern restaurant down the road with a girl from my hostel. We sat chatting for about 3 hours, and when we finally decided we should go out and do something productive, discovered the one thing I want to see (the Royal Palace) was already shut! I instead went and found a coffee shop to try and roughly plan my route around Cambodia, as I'd done zero research prior to coming here.
In the evening, I grabbed food at a noodle and dumpling spot which was very tasty. We did a bit of shopping on the way home, and we were so surprised to see so much western products in the store. They had McCain's chips, Iceland cheesecake, Ben & Jerry's, Mcvities biscuits! Most excitingly we found Yorkshire tea and both squealed with excitement. Not sure why we were so entertained by this, we didn't even buy any of it as it was all so expensive haha.
I've decided not to spend too long to Phomn Penh as there's not a lot to do here, the city itself has a strange vibe to it, plus I know I will pass back through!
The next day I got an early bus heading north to a small city called Kampong Cham. I arrived around 11, at a cute lil homestay just outside of town. It was scorching, and I'd still not readjusted to the temperature, so I decided not to battle the midday heat and headed out on a bike in the afternoon.
The one thing I've noticed from the cycle, but also from the bus in and all other roads journeys I've done, are that the roads are absolutely terrible! Most do not have concrete, and are dirt roads so have so many potholes. And although the tuk tuk drivers are experts and manage to miss most of the hotels, the rides are still so bumpy!
I cycled through down to the Meekong river and crossed the longest bamboo bridge in the world! It's just over 900m long, constructed of 50,000 bamboo sticks and connects a sandbank island Koh Pen, where several villages are based, to the 'mainland:. The bridge gets rebuilt every year. It's built at the start of the dry season when the river is too low for ferries to go across, and then is taken down during the rainy season when the water levels are too dangerous for the bridge to operate. It used to be the only way across to the island until a larger concrete bridge was constructed in 2016 and cars were allowed onto the island for the first time.
I had to pay a small fee, then push my bike across the creaky bridge. Bamboo structures never feel very secure as they are noisy underfoot, and sway and bend as you walk on them. At this time I did not realise how long the bridge was, and was amazed when I got to the middle of the bridge, how close the rushing water was beneath my feet. It probably took me a good 20 minutes to cross, but this of course included lots of stops to admire the view and take photos.
Directly on the other side of the bridge was bizarrely lots of wooden signs and structures, swings and seats. Looked like 100 different instagram girlie photo opportunities, however was oddly desolate. I'm not sure if that was because it was low season, or it was a tourist spot that never took off.
I struggled to push my bike across the sand, and was thankful to get on a road, even if it was a bumpy windy dirt one. This soon lead to a gravel road which I cycled on through the villages. I think I must've said hello to over 30 people, as soon as kids spotted me they would run over or yell hello and wave frantically. It was weird, I felt like some sort of odd celebrity, but was cute at the same time.
After just over an hour, I'd covered a loop of half the island and decided to head back.
I sat on the beach and got distracted, not realising a huge grey cloud was creeping towards me. I dashed quickly across the bridge, but the heavens opened up when I was half way across. I could've turned back, but was worried the water level might get too high. By the time I got to the other side I was soaked through. Oddly the rain was warm like a shower, so it wasn't unpleasant, I was just worried about getting my passport and wallet wet.
I took shelter behind a random building, and stood cowered for a while, when the back door opened and a guy invited me in. I tried to politely decline, but he insisted. Turns out I wasn't in a random man's house, but the local police station 😅 I sat inside for a while as the rain passed over. One police officer was out in his boxers trying to underclog a drain outside that was flooding the road.
Not wanting it to get too dark, I thanked the policemen and cycled off in light rain back to the homestay.
Despite the rain, the air outside was still so warm. Back at the homestay I got some fried rice for dinner, and met the only westerner I'd seen all day, and the only other guest at the homestay, a nice Aussie dude.Baca selengkapnya