If yesterday was tough, today was even tougher, and boy oh boy were we all nervous in the morning. We left Kampot on our bikes by 7am to try and get as much riding done by the am before it got too hot. The day was broken into relatively manageable bite sized chunks of 10-15 kms, depending on hills in that leg. This was the longest cycling distance of the tour, a massive 104km today to reach our final destination, the busy port city of Sihanoukville. On one of our snack fruit and water break stops, a poor monkey was chained outside a local police station, not too friendly as you can imagine. That loo/dunny ( always a local squat loo) was possibly the worst so far, the door was a separate loose fixture, just leaning against the doorway, with holes, and when the wind blew it blew open! Tori dropped her sunglasses IN the loo aaaarrrrrrhhhhhhh!!!!!! Her face was priceless!
Much of the day was hilly and by far the most physically and mentally demanding of all the days, we had to keep our wits about us as we were on tar roads much of the way, with a few gaps of gravel dirt road in between, with large trucks all over the show, as well as the usual cars, motorbikes, bicycles, people, oxwagons, cows, dogs, chickens, even buffalo today. The hills were hectic (for us at any rate), not too steep, but really long slow inclines, which felt like they went on forever with rewards occasionally of cool downhills to whizz down. With the sun beating down and facing head winds much of today, we soon saw the sea and felt pumped. Almost there! About 1km in we waited for everyone to catch up, so we could do the last km together. The last km did have some hills and we were beyond bugged, but eventually we reached the hotel, and all did a victory lap around the front entrance, round and round with the hotel staff having a good laugh at us crazy people! We got there at about 2.30 pm. Champagne popped, everyone was so happy to finally be there, we thought this day would never end! But we made it, no major injuries, accidents, not even a puncture the whole way. Our 2 bike mechanics who cycle with us and help us along the way if there's any issues, our coach and mini bus drivers who followed us daily and met us for snack and lunch breaks, and our main guides Cham from Cambodia and Alan from Oz:Cham at the front of the cycle pack leading us and setting the pace, and Alan the head tour leader who brought up the rear ensuring we were all there and in front of him all the way, they were all brilliant! Amazing bunch of guys.
The Independence Hotel is 4 star and we were LOVING the luxury!!!! Jackie Kennedy stayed here in 1967. On arrival everyone scattered to explore, it has it's own private beach, a unique lift to access the beach if you don't want to take 4 stories worth of flights up or down to the beach, an inviting big pool and..... a BAR and SPA! First up was cocktails and a swim to cool off, then I booked lots of treatments at the stunning spa and enjoyed a 1.5 hr fully body ylang ylnag massage and felt like a new person after that!! Tomorrow am I have a foot scrub/massage and facial booked, can't wait! I totally deserve it....;)
We then met for dinner in the lobby at 7 and got our bus into the town to enjoy our final dinner, a delicious chicken and seafood barbecue on the beach, with chips! baked potato, salad, garlic bread, our first whole western meal on the trip! If anyone's been to Bali before, it felt just like the long beach at Jimbaran Bay, where restaurants are all along the beach on the sand. Kids selling fireworks and some market shops too. A stunning evening to wrap up a HUGE day. Some went off to find cheap massages, shop or continue drinking at the beach restaurants. With my body now feeling battered and broken, and heading for shut down mode after operating in overdrive these last 2 days, i hit the sack.
Tomorrow we leave at 10.30 on the coach for a 4 hour journey back to Phnom Phen to catch our flight to Singapore, and then we all disperse to our various australian destinations, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Sydney. will try post some final pics of the hotel, beach and surrounds from Singapore airport. We have had free wi if at every town/hotel along the way which has been amazing, so didn't have to buy SIM cards or anything.
PS don't forget to check out all today's photos from the Photo link, most recent photos always pop up first.
