July 29, 2019
Day 6 - Frosty Reception at a Hotel
It was a nice early start to the day and I wasn't quite sure how far I'd get. Foolishly I presumed that food would be readily available at the stalls but they petered out since Siem Reap. Here it was basically small places with instant noodles and maybe drinks in a freezer with some crackers and cookies. I wasn't liking this at all and really wished had stocked up more in Siem Reap. Even the guesthouse had basically nothing and so it was going to be intermittent fasting today.
Then about 30km into the ride a nasty accident happened. A woman was riding her bicycle diagonally across the street in front of me and a motorcyclist smashed into her as he went flying around the blind corner. This immediately drew a massive crowd.
The lack of food was really, really starting to bite and I tried to understand what the reason was for it. This brought back too many memories of a previous cycle tour where long stretches turned up nothing between the Mekong River and the Vietnam border, also along a major highway. It made no sense
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I did manage to find a Korean restaurant to stop at that was ok with bicycle parking then began to wonder what the deal was. It was quite evident that bicycle parking in Cambodia was an issue. It's not like there's a lot of people touring here so why fuss about the parking?
In situations like this I knew I needed to book an expensive hotel so I could just finish the day in relative comfort and not have these little things bother me. From past experience it's like a slippery slope: I'll get bothered by stupid shit which then escalates into bad decisions on my part and worse things happening. So I booked the nearest four-star hotel I could find which happened to be quite far off and would easily push this past 130km and finishing off at dusk.
The ride continued with no food after the Korean restaurant and I was soon famished again. No worries, I'll eat more at the hotel. As it turns out the hotel was a little hard to find. I made a turnoff on a dirt road road for a few kilometres which I found odd. Surely the hotel would be quiet and peaceful then.
Was I ever wrong or what. On arrival I saw some foreigners and greeted them enthusiastically while riding up on the bicycle. One of them just put his head down and kept walking, the others ignored me. I was a bit miffed over that. It's not like this kind of thing happens every day where another foreigner just happens to turn up on a touring bicycle at dusk in a hotel in the middle of nowhere in the same hotel as you. At the very least, it would seem polite to meet and greet and have a conversation. But no, he stuck to himself and his group as you'll see.
I biked in the general direction where they walked to and found the hotel. But there was no reception desk. I walked around and asked a few of the foreign guests where they checked in but they didn't answer my question. They just said "You came here by bicycle." I said "Yes I did". I was about to add, "And what was your first clue?" but I wisely held my tongue. In the end I would have to figure this out myself.
Reception was actually at the restaurant a few hundred meters away. As I rode the bicycle there, security swatted me away from the main entrance as they didn't want to see the bicycle. I was getting furious by now. Even so, I locked the bicycle out of sight and walked over to reception. The place was packed to the gills with a huge group eating in the restaurant.
I wasn't sure what to do next. They were all paying for the bill one by one and the cashier by herself was making receipts *by hand* and writing them all in carbon paper. At this rate it was about 1-2 minutes per person and it would take half an hour for me to get there for check in. One of the girls gestured that I could go ahead and I thanked her for that. I asked where she was from and she said "Oh we're part of a group". Based on the accent I figured they were from the US. And yes it was obvious they were part of a group.
But as I tried to go ahead, the cashier wouldn't serve me anyway until all of them had paid the bill. So while it was a kind gesture on that girl's part, it didn't have much of an effect. I kept trying to ask more questions about what this group was about and what they were doing but they weren't answering my questions.
All I could observe is they were eating a massive buffet dinner around many tables. I wanted to join them at the buffet as I was obviously starving and it looked to be the only food optoin, but I was going to wait for an invitation first to be polite. I would have happily paid for a ticket as well if there was a way to swing it. Neither option materialized.
Almost an hour later I checked in and went to my room. I then caught up on tasks and wanted to go for food later at the restaurant but it was all lights out. Oh no. I had missed closing time. One of the staff was kind enough to realize my plight and take me to the kitchen area and prepare a free coffee. He apologized again and again and said there's nothing he could do. The coffee was appreciated but it sure wouldn't quell my absolutely raging appetite from over 130km of cycling and not enough food on the route.
While he was making the coffee I poked my head into the back door of the restaurant opening towards the main buffet area. I couldn't believe my eyes and ears what was happening. It was dark but I could make out stacks and stacks of buffet dishes with plenty of uneaten food and also plates of half-eaten food still on the table. There was also the unmistakable sound of singing in an adjacent room.
It then became clear this was some sort of Christian missionary group that had for whatever reason taken over this hotel as their base of operations. This could only be confirmed later by some sort of group prayer where the leader would say "We commission you to do God's work".
This was unbelievable. I'm not too familiar with the Bible but surely there has to be something in there about welcoming a stranger to the food table. Maybe that could have been God's work? They sure as hell dropped the ball on that one. I walked away pretending like I had seen nothing. Instead I went to bed hungry and angry and somehow the cravings eased off mid-sleep and I was able to make the most of it.
The next morning there had to be some sort of justice to deal with this unbelievably arrogant group and get some kind of compensation for what had happened. It turns out there was justice but it required a little bit of brains to go after it. I first checked out and pretended to be part of the group and paid for my room which was a massive discount. This worked thankfully because there was a different cashier on shift. I then went over to the buffet table and got myself a free massive breakfast and managed to time it so that the others were gradually filtering in. The group leaders were there eyeing me with suspicion but I had timed it to perfection so that I was out the door and on the bike before they could do anything about it.
Today's ride: 131 km (81 miles)
Total: 1,584 km (984 miles)
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