I can´t recall that I ever changed route and destination twice within 24 hours before. The first amendment to my schedule had to be made last night while I was sitting on my balcony going through the next few days and checking my documents accordingly. The 30-day visum for Vietnam is conveniently available online (25 US$) nowadays but you have to pledge yourself to one particular point of entry. To me this was always going to be Tan Chau as it is a straight run down there along the Mekong from Kampong Cham. When I got the hardcopy of my confirmation out last night I checked all details and when I got to the designated point of entry I almost fell off my chair: Tinh Binh! Tinh Binh? When applying you have to choose the border crossing from a scroll down menu and I must have misclicked as Tan Chau and Tinh Binh are following each other alphabetically. When you look at a map you may say: "Where is the problem? Tinh Binh is just 50 km further to the west."- True, but there are no horizontal connections between the north-to-south highways approaching the international border crossings of Tan Chau, Chau Doc andTinh Bien. Indisputable a serious setback, entirely self-inflicted by my own stupidity. I still can´t believe I did this! At least I didn´t pick some remote checkpoint in the very North of Vietnam....Still: How to deal with it? I was still wanting to avoid the anarchy of the Phnom Penh traffic and decided to remain headed for Prey Veng and stay there overnight. Then up along Hway 1 from Neak Loeung towards Phnom Penh tomorrow but still aiming to bypass the capital in the southeast. Anyway, that was the plan when I took off this morning.
The first 15 km out of Kampong Cham on Hway 7 were busy but feasible due to a decent shoulder. As soon as I turned right onto Hway 11 things started to go wrong. Only 2 km from the intersection the first signs of major road reconstructions appeared. Initially just the side of the roads being dug out but then it got worse and worse and worse. Once I got into the village of Prey Svay I was really leached out and decided to stop at a petrol station for some cold drinks. The young lady at the pumps received me in excellent English, followed by her husband, Kimhor, whose language skills were even better. Really nice family being over from Phnom Penh to see his parents for the weekend. We got into talking and Kimhor gave me advice that I am extremely grateful for: The roadworks would not only continue down to Neak Loeung but were to get even worse, he actually called it dangerous. At the same time he had some suggestion how to escape from it: Another 10 km down to the intersection with Hway 8 and then over to Phnom Penh on this wide road with a shoulder. I didn´t want to do all 100 km to Phnom Penh anymore but he confirmed there was a guesthouse in Pea Reang, 60 km from the capital. No hesitation from my side as he clearly knew what he was talking about. Additionally getting into PP tomorrow (Sunday) provides me with the opportunity to apply for that Thai visa on Monday. And he was spot on - entire different world for the last 25 km on that Highway 8!
The next mood-riser was the Sokha Guesthouse in Pea Reang. I would have been happy with any sort of bed and my minimal demands seemed to be confirmed when I followed their signs and turned off the #8 just before the bridge. Immediately back onto dust and you would not believe how delighted I was to find this big and very clean guesthouse in such a rural neighbourhood, even offering my favoured type of room: fan with two windows. Very clean and spacious at the standard rate of 6 US$. What a difficult day, what a satisfying finish!
When my little cycling world was still in order: I had this meal right on the intersection #7/11. The soup was just good but the stuff on the plate was divine. Honey-chili glazed bbq-pork; omelette with Asian herbs and some pickled veggies
