To Sisophon: Border crossing into Cambodia

December 24, 2006

What a difference a day makes, one kilometer and one border!!

At 7am, Thomas joins us in the lobby of the hotel for coffee. While talking and drinking coffee, Rachel noticed Tim and Cindy's "Down the Road" flyer under the glass of the table. The border opens at 7:30 and is 6-7kms, soon we are on our way.

We line up to get the immigration exit stamp from Thailand; there are 2 other cyclists from Wales on a 2 week holiday from their jobs in China. It's a long wait in line, finally we get the exit stamp. We get our bikes then go for our visa for Cambodia and an entry stamp.

After an hour and fifteen minutes, we are cycling in Cambodia...in the dust...on the right side of the road.... amidst chaos of overloaded carts with the "stuff" either going into Cambodia or into Thailand. In no man's land, immigration between Thailand and Cambodia there are casinos, it's dusty and bumpy with one of Rachel's front panniers bouncing off.

After a few kilometers we put on our paper surgical masks. The nice motorcycle/bicycle lanes of Malaysia and Thailand are a thing of the past. As well as mileposts. A good thing for Rachel, she realizes she now isn't obsessing about the kilometers and this seems to make the distance go easier and quicker.

We plan to stay in Sisophon and then tomorrow make a final long push to Siem Reap. The road is dirt, very dusty and bumpy in places, but on a bike we can find a path between the potholes and the loose sand, and we make good time. Stopping twice for food, first time at a small roadside shrine where a family with a couple of young children live. Patrick takes pictures, we eat our bread and nutella.

The next stop, another 15-20 kms in a shady spot, Thomas has his first peanut butter sandwich. In Sisophon, we part ways, he is going to Battambang today to take a boat to Siem Reap on Tuesday.

We find a room at the Phnom Svay Hotel that looks like a "wedding cake". We go to a restaurant next door for lunch and find Thomas is still there. After a while he leaves, and we plan to meet him again in a couple of days in Siem Reap. We walk around the town and visit the central market for apples, carrots and cookies and research to find a bakery for bread.

Back at the hotel, we find on TV CNN and a movie channel! The restaurant where we had lunch was a safe and good choice, so we return for dinner.