The Internet is soooo slow. Photos to come another day....
Whilst we sat at dinner surrounded by the less desirable of the western world we weighed up our options.
5 days of long hot riding through generally flat and boring rural countryside and 5 nights in soulless Thai industrial towns or half a day in a mini bus? It was a bit of a no brainer.
You know I have to say the invention of the internal combustion engine is one to really not overlook, I reckon it might catch on!
Despite the slightly edgy and gloomy description of the border crossing and surrounding areas that the Lonely Planet book would lead you to believe we now find ourselves laying on the bed in a clean(ish) room for $7 in the town of Pailin.
The locals seem friendly enough, check out this sign at the bank, polite enough eh?!
Cambodia is definitely poorer than Thailand. It actually feels quite a lot like rural Nepal (well not quite that bad) but there are little kids working at the roadside splitting some kind of root vegetable and laying it out on big sheets is the sun to dry. The driving seems quite sane but there is little shoulder on the road to take cover from the passing trucks. There is the same thick haze in the air as Nepal, a combo of dust, pollution and smoke from small farming fires I guess. Our eyes are already sore.
We've ridden about 20km from the border and the hills have started but granny gear has not yet been deployed. Tomorrow we plan to ride to Battambang which is about 80km. The prevailing wind will be against us so we are predicting a tough day. There are no towns shown on our map but its a bit crap so you never know. There do seem to be however quite a few little shacks/stalls selling drinks so I reckon we'll be ok.
We've now moved outside to the breezy roof terrace to take in the atmosphere, laying on the bed staring at the bare wires sticking out of the wall and the grime on the ceiling fan was beginning to get to us, such is the life of an adventurer.....
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