Day 27: Don Det - Stung Treng (1st day in CAMBODIA)
Routing: #Hways 13 (Laos) and 7 (Cambodia)
I thoroughly enjoyed last night´s little farewell party with French-Canadian Bruno who liked the guesthouse as much as I did and therefore extended his time to more than a week. I somehow understand him but I myself do get itchy after just one day of rest. I guess I am more a mover than a relaxer. Enough philosophy, boarding the boat brought me quickly back to reality. Instead of telling me to just roll over the bridge and board at the terminal in Ban Khone the ferryman picked me up at the steep, sandy bank near the guesthouse. What an effort! I was very close to go for a swim while using another narrow boat to get my gear onto the ferry. Absolutely ridiculous. At least there were only 2 people onboard so far so there was at least space enough to handle and store the bicycle properly. We had about four more stops until the narrow boat was at its full capacity of 12. I was lucky to have Leo from Holland next to me, another cyclist but unfortunately going the other way.Would have been nice to have some moral support during that difficult stage as I would only find out later.
The 20 km to the border were done in just over an hour and if that group of young backpackers wouldn´t have held up procedures by strictly denying to pay the 2 $ exit stamping fee, leaving Laos and entering Cambodia would have happened in less than an hour. All respect to their honourable fight for a corruption-free world but what did they achieve? Their bus left without them. You may remember I brought up exactly that same topic a couple of days ago when talking about my ferry ride from Don Som to Don Det. There was no way these young people would leave Laos without paying the 2 $ and instead got stuck at this remote border crossing facility for who knows how long. As I am much older and much wiser I gave away my last kip with a smile; kept smiling through the 1$ health inspecton fee on the Cambodian side and accepted the demanded 35 US$ for my visa-on-arrival with humilty .
I lost my smile much quicker than I would have hoped for once on Cambodian soil. The first 5 kilometers to Dom Karlor are actually not too bad. But then..... I try to express this as neutral as possible as I am still tired from my own whingeing while riding to Don Khong: The asphalt after Dom Kralor has completely vanished and the surface is now a corrugated mess, in several sections to such an extent that I would almost call it unusable for cycling.
After a while I met a monosyllabic cyclist from the UK going towards Laos and after a short exchange I asked the question: For how much longer is this going to be that disastrous? His answer: All the way to Stung Treng. Which was fortunately not correct. The bit from 35 km behind the border to 7 km before Stung Treng is in very good condition indeed but the rest is just so bad.... The next time I would honestly consider taking some sort of public transport between Dom Kralor and Stung Treng (or vice versa) as the road must have deteriorated dramatically since my friends Ruth and Ute did it last year and there is zero indication somebody will work on it in the near future.
Anyways I made it and hopefully my aching shoulder, wrists and knees will recover while I am staying in Stung Treng for two nights. I quite like the town. It is a pretty filthy place but it has got a real buzz about it. Plenty of little restaurants along the waterfront and the rest of the town is market activities. Finding a decent place to stay is not a problem either as there are heaps of guesthouses and hotels. I picked the Mey Li Mumet Guesthouse as I could see they have waterfront terraces. A normal room is 5 US$, my riverview one 6. I have been to places that have been better kept but I usually do 15 minutes of cleaning in the bathroom anyway. So I am happy here, hoping that was the last real horror ride for this journey.
A couple of practical issues on Cambodia:
a) I had enough US$ on me but went to an ATM of the Canadia Bank and withdrew another 300 while the opportunity is there. The machines will only give US$ (in large notes unfortunately) but there are plenty of money changers in town. I suggest you do get a bunch of Riel but in general the two currencies run parallel at an exchange rate of 1:4000; slightly better with the exchangers.
b) I walked up to the big Metfone office along the "park" where I had my SIM card running after less than 10 minutes. 3 bucks for the card itself; 10 $ for the30 days / 12.5 GB plan which is called MIU 10.
Right in time! I was really knackered when I came to her cane juice stall in Stung Treng. I still do wonder what life with just one tooth must be like. I hope it is not a result of drinking that juice...
That´s certainly less inspiring but gives you an idea how much dust I have been through today. Mind you I had washed those socks the day before and they are almost entirely covered by the boots.
That´s the view from the balcony on the backside of the guesthouse over the endless line of umbrellas. As I said, the whole town is one huge market place
Don Det - Stung Treng. I will be now turning west towards Siem Reap (and the Angkor temples) where I am hoping to meet my friend Jan from Vienna. The next destination should be Chhaeb on the left edge of the map
