Khmer Country

What to say about Cambodia? Perhaps "hello!" sums it up. We considered trying to count how many times we heard this simple phrase but realised this to be a futile task when we got well in to double digits in mere seconds. The population here is just so young and the people incredibly friendly and full of smiles.

The people also seem to really like their pyjamas. It is hard to say if this is merely a reflection of poverty and clothing that is available or a bit of a fashion statement. Everywhere you go people are out I pyjamas, never bare threaded and old but new and brightly coloured and worn with pride. If TESCO ever manages to move in from neighbouring Thailand they will not be able to ban this fashion faux pas the way they did in England.

Crossing in to Poipet Cambodia and buying a visa on arrival proved to be easier than actually exiting from Thailand. Unusually we had only been given 14 day visa for Thailand (30 days is the norm) and had failed to notice. With the original plan of a quick in and out of Bangkok having turned in to 3 days we inadvertently tried to exit 2 days late - could our run of small misfortunes really be continuing? Actually no, the guy at the border gave us our exit stamps before he even noticed we were late and we quickly crossed in to Poipet Cambodia before much was said.

Poipet itself felt like a cowboy border town where like in much if Cambodia (as we soon discovered) there is little light after dark apart from mopeds driving up and down the streets. Given what the town and much of the country is today, it is hard to imagine what it was like even 10 years ago. The landscape is largely flat and the scenery dry (for the moment) rice paddies which makes the contrast with Angkor Wat ever more incredible.

 

 

Riding has been challenging with distances over 100km between accommodation the norm and proper cold drinks hard to find outside larger towns where there are usually refrigerated drinks available. Riding similar or longer in Thailand was much easier as most stops offered the luxury of cooling down in an air conditioned shop. Though not as effective I have taking to dunking myself under a bucket of well water where available. With air temperatures over 43deg though it only takes 20 min or so to fully dry off.

 

 

The last days have been hampered bout of food poisoning or bad water. We still managed to cover over 300km but it is not an experience I would care to repeat.

Onwards to Laos!