Day 46 1034 days to go. Distance: today 78km total 2409km. It’s 6.15pm Sunday the 15/1/2012 Takeo. Hi there this is my last post from Cambodia. I have attached the last of the photos to day three of the temples and will round off Cambodia tonight ready to get into Vietnam tomorrow. I’ll send a spot check later on tonight but I’m about 50km short of the border following highway #2 south. From the border I’ll pick up highway 91 to Chau Doc. The next day will be heading into Mekong Delta country through Long Xuyen for lunch and onto Cantho (111km). The next days in the midst of it with ferry crossing and floating markets following highway 1A to Mytho. From there it’s onto Ho Chi Min then Philat on the coast where I’ll pick up national Highway following the coast all the way to China how cools that. I’ll cross the Chinese border 19/2/2012 allowing 60 days to Beijing. I plan to be in Hoi An on the 31/1/2012 for a day out to see friends then heaps of time to wander up the coast to Hanoi.
Today’s been a bit tricky. The signage out of Phenom Phen gave me an initial means to get out on the right road but all road signage stopped after that. Like all road signage. I wasn’t sure if I was on the right highway as there’sthree heading out in a similar direction at first and I didn’t know how many kms I was at during 6the day which made it all a bit challenging. What that did mean was lots of stops to try and get some orientation. The frist 3 hrs was spent pretty much trying to find the highway and I got such mixed directions so went in circles around outer suburbs. Directions were from police and tuk tuk drivers and shopw owners and no one really helped. It took this young lad scratching a map on the concrete to get me on track he was a resourceful jet and I think Id still be finding my way by headtorch by now if it wasn’t for him darling chap. Gave him the biggest hand shake. One police man was incredible drunk and the other just said ‘no’ and sent me in the opposite direction nice. Once on track I stopped for breaky and bought a banana wrapped in coconut sticky rice and baked in a banana leaf on the grill. And yes it tasted as good as it sounds. The girl was really sweet and I scored a photo wioth her. I had another stop to check where I was at the village café where all these men were hanging out and very not sure about me popping in. They all stood round the bike poking and discussing Rube and eventually agreed that she was a good thing. I got nods of approval and warm goodbyes so she was definitely a crowd pleaser in the end. Pretty much the road spat us out at 4.30 in Takeo with the first road sign saying I had arrived crazy. Distances are another funny one. The whole day was 20kms. One fellow even said 13km. It ended up being 78km which I saw on a sign heading back to Phenom Phen from Takeo. I found a great guest house with a balcony right next to the main market area. Really lively and good atmosphere to people watch. I’ll have a picnic out there when I head back to savour my last night in Cambodia. And what best ways then taking in the sounds and business going on of the local psar yay. Found an internet café and uploaded the last of the photos. It’s nice to round Cambodia off before heading in Vietnam. One door closes another opens awesome. Cambodia has been it’s own identity so different to Thailand and Laos. I’ve loved how it’s really stretched my comfort zones and challenged my perspective. This is one of the key things I’m after travelling the way I am so thankyou Cambodia. It hasn’t been comfortable but I take away all good stuff you have shared. Miss Jane and Blue Dog have kept a real low profile finding their feets over the initial weeks but they were keen to check out the view from the guest house when they heard me oooíng and ahhhhíng. It’s good to see they’re stepping out of their comfort zones too 🙂 Time to upload this post attach photos and head back for dinner hungry yay. Talk soon x
shecyclesolo 