After finishing my TEFL class the only obligation I had in Cambodia was running the Siem Reap Half Marathon on December 7th , which I had registered for several months ago. The race was about a week after my class finished and since I really had nothing to do during that week I decided I would ride my bicycle to Siem Reap. I have never done a cycle tour before, but when I came out here I brought my bike from the States because it was something I wanted to do while I was out here (I planned on doing a much longer tour, but that’s another story). So I did what I always do when I decide I want to do something I have never done before. I told everyone I knew that I was going to ride my bike to Siem Reap. The reason is because I hate going back on something I have told others I am going to do. I would much rather endure a hellacious bike trek than explain to all my friends why I didn’t take my bike even though I said I would. All my friends thought I was crazy when I told them I was ridding my bike there.
About a week and a half before my planned departure date I got a pretty bad case of strep throat. I had to stop training and I was beginning to wonder if I would be able to run the half marathon, yet alone cycle there. I was getting my excuses ready and I was pretty bummed on the timing of my illness. Fortunately a couple days before I planned on leaving I started feeling better.
On Wednesday morning I got up packed my duffel bag with some clothes and toiletries then strapped it to the rear rack of my bicycle and hit the road. I was unsure if I would make it, but I thought that best thing to do would be to start pedaling and see what happened. I wanted to get a couple hours out of Phnom Penh making it hard for me to turn back. Getting out of the city took a while during the morning rush hour traffic. After about 30 minutes of dodging moto drivers with death wishes I finally made it over the Japanese friendship bridge out of the city and onto National Highway Route 6.
Route six is a two lane smooth asphalt rode that cuts across 320 kms of the flat Cambodian countryside from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap (and beyond to the Thai boarder). Every manner of wheeled vehicle utilized this highways from massive tourist buses to cow drawn coaches and everything in between. The most interesting vehicles are the overstuffed trucks and vans that the less affluent locals take. These vehicles wait at the edge of town and do not leave until they are dangerously overstuffed. A typical 9 seater van might contain 17 Cambodians with their faces pressed against the windows, 5 fifty kilo bags of rice, a few cages of live chickens, several hundred eggs and other random objects. The trunk would be left open and 6 or 7 bicycles would be strapped to the back. On the roof of the vehicle there might be a motor bike or two some large pieces of furniture and 2 or 3 Cambodian men holding everything down. Ask anyone who has been to Cambodia and they will tell you this is no exaggeration.
The first day wasn’t all that interesting, there was a lot of large truck traffic on the outskirts on Phnom Penh. I only cycled for about four and a half hours and stopped in a town called Skun around 2:30. I was pretty beat but I probably could have rode more, not to mention it didn‘t look like there were any decent sized towns within riding distance. I checked into a guest house took and shower and had a nap then saw what Skun had to offer. Nothing, not even a place when I could check my email. Luckily my room had a TV with some English Channels and I watched some bad movies before going to bed.
The next morning I got up early and started pedaling shortly after breakfast. It was nice not to have to deal with getting out of the city to start riding. Skun is a small town, the only reason it is notable is because it is the cross roads between rout 6 and 7. Within a minute of pedaling I was out of Skun and into the Rice paddies which dominated the trip to Siem Reap. I got lucky I picked 2 of the coolest days I have experienced in Cambodia for my cycle trip so heat was never an issue.
The Cambodia Landscape is beautiful. I have taken 4 or 5 bus trips up and down Route 6 and it has always impressed me. The geometric rice paddies with their sporadic sugar palm trees. The locals young and old working the fields, leading water buffalos and swimming and fishing in their make shift ponds. There are settlements along most of the highway. If I needed bottled water it was never more than a 10 minute ride to the next vendor. The locals love seeing a Barang (foreigner) cycle through their village. I must have gotten at least 10,000 different “Hello”s from locals I passed. One particularly memorable one was a girl of about 3 or 4 who saw me from a distance and ran along her dirt path drive way so that she could jump up and down screaming “Hello!” when I passed by. Then she chased after me for a while. A couple other locals on bicycles and motos rode with me for a while so they could practice their English.
I got to Kampong Thom around 3:00, which was about 90 kms from Skun. I had thought about staying there since it was a proper sized city with things to do, but I knew it would be difficult for me to ride 150 kms and make in Siem Reap the next day. I was hoping to do the trip in 3 days but I gave myself four, so that I would have a day to rest before the race, or so that I could go slower if I decided to. I stopped in Kampong Thom for about an hour checked my email and rested my legs. Around 4 I decided to ride on. The next city was Steung and it was about 50kms away. I knew I wouldn’t be able to make it there but I decided to ride on anyways and just see where I ended up, and worry about finding lodgings when I needed them. I had heard that monks often allow passers through to sleep at the temples if there are no guesthouses near.
Around 6 when it was getting dark I started looking for a guesthouse or a temple and saw nothing. I was only about half way to Steung and I wasn’t about to ride there in the dark. For a while I considered sleeping in one of the abandoned huts that are used for selling produce during the day. Then I came upon a small settlement of about 10 huts, and one large brick house, that looked like it might have been a guesthouse. I inquired to the locals if it was in fact a guesthouse through broken Khmer and stupid gestures. They invited me in, then I met the eldest daughter who was an English Teacher. She told me that it wasn’t a guest house but the family insisted that I stay there. She said nothing about money so I asked how much, she talked to the old lady of the house and they said 2 dollars, I refused and gave them 5.
I ate a dinner of dried fish and rice with the family. The father kept asking the daughter questions in Khmer that she translated to English for me. He had about a million questions about farming in America, I tried to answer them as best as I could. He also kept asking me if the rice was delicious (because he had grown in himself). I’m not sure of the name of the village I stayed in, but I had never seen so many bugs in one place. I wore a white T-shirt and the bugs flocked to it like a light bulb. Crickets also bounced off my body every few seconds. I went to bed early and slept on a bamboo mat on top of the wood floor under a mosquito net. Even as tired as I was it was difficult sleeping on the hard floor.
I got up early when the roosters were making their noise. I didn’t sleep well but I was refreshed and ready to ride. I loaded up my bike thanked the family and said my goodbyes. I had rode about 120 kms the previous day and I had the same distance between me in Siem Reap. As soon as I sat on the saddle all the sores in my body picked up right where they left off yesterday evening. I stopped in Steung for breakfast after an hour of cycling and took some Ibuprofen to ease my ride. My last day of cycling it was a little warmer than the previous two, I had to stop more often for water and apply sunscreen. The ride again was beautiful but I couldn’t wait to get to Siem Reap. There was a concrete marker ever 100 kms and I counted down the distance I would have to ride. I stopped more often on my third day of cycling but I never stayed off the bike too long. Pretty soon I started seeing tuk tuks full of barangs who were out on day trips from Siem Reap. I was excited to know I only had about an hour left of my tour. Before entering the city I was passed by a tourist on a granny bike who I had passed earlier. It injured my pride, my my legs were sore and it was obvious I was slowing down. Stopping was not an option however the end was in sight.
I got to Siem Reap around 3:30 filthy, tired and with an epic farmers tan. I found my hotel easily and checked in. I was pretty proud to have made it the whole way in the time that I wanted to. Also I realized I was getting stronger. On day three I had ridden longer then the previous days and it was still early. I could have probably ridden another couple hours if I had to.
Originally my plan was to cycle to Siem Reap run the marathon and cycle back. I decided against cycling back pretty early on my trip. It would have been kind of boring cycling on the same road and stopping in the same towns. Also after the half marathon I had less than a week left in Cambodia, and if I cycled back I would only have 2 days back in Phnom Penh. If I took a motorized vehicle I would have 2 extra days in my favorite city in the world.
I’ve meet some hard core cyclist who would laugh at my “tour”, but I enjoyed it and I am determined to do another, longer one some time soon.
