chrissables

Day 7. Wednesday 9th Jan. Kampot to Phnom Pehn. 243km

I rode east along road 16 to Kep beach, then to Kompong Trach, road 205 until road 2 northwards towards Phnom Penh.

On the way I planned to ride up to the top of Chisor mountain temple.

This was a bad decision! The start of the track was a gentle slope but rocky, then rounding a corner I came to a steep and rutted track. Foolishly I decided to carry on and about half way up decided I had pushed myself beyond my abilities. I was at a standstill in a deep rut and needed to try and get back down the track.

My plan was to get out of the rut and attempt some sort of turn around. As I started the pannier on my right side hit the side of the rut I was in, pushing me to the left but there was no way to get a foot on the ground and over I went.

I came off one more time trying to turn and made my way to a flatter area to take stock of the situation. It was then I noticed my leg felt wet, it was, with blood. I suppose adrenalin had kicked in as I did not feel the impact or any pain.

The next plan was to get to bottom and sort myself out. I took a slightly different route than riding up and the pannier again hit the side of the rut I was in and over I went again! This was getting tedious and annoying!

This time I was trapped under the bike and a  group of school children came to help me.

I went and bought water to clean my wound. Luckily my trousers unzipped at the knee, so it was an easy job to do. But as I removed my boot to start the cleaning the sole of the boot came away! I had actually bought the boots especially for this trip and they were still next to new, but covered in blood. So I changed into trainers.

For my trip i brought a first aid kit with me, and as I could see the bone that was a good idea. I cleaned the wound and filled it with antibiotic cream and wrapped it up.

I then had a few hour ride to Phnom Penh and found a nice hotel on the river front in a central area.

Beer was the first thing on my mind once sorted and I had a good night out.

Day 6. Tuesday 8th Jan. Kampot to Kirirom National Park. 278 km.

Leaving Kampot northwards on road 3 the first 20 km was hell. The headlight was needed to make sure you could be seen by other road users due to the huge amount of dust being thrown up by the tucks and 4x4’s.

After 20 km I found a compacted sand track that went all the way to the park except the last 25 km that were paved.

At first I was wary of finding areas of soft sand that would give me an issue, but there was just one area about 1 km long with patches of soft sand.

On the return ride, as I knew the sand was mostly firm I speeded up and my confidence quickly returned with 188 km in total of track ridden and of speeds of 80 kmph at times.

There was  $5 entrance fee to the park, I initially I turned away. Then kicked myself for riding so far and not continuing. And I decided to go back.

At the top it was quite cool and hardly any tourists at all.

On the way to Kampot and at the mountain top.

_{Day 5. Monday 7th Jan. Sihanoukville to Kampot. 188km}

_{Another dirty, dusty, suicidal day on the road along the coast towards the Vietnam border. The only relief coming just before Kampot when I rode up Bokor Mountain.}

_{This was a real treat! New tarmac all the way to the 1,000m high summit. My first trip up here about 17 years ago was in a 4 x 4 and took about 3 hours of extremely bumpy travel.}

_{Now the road has been completely rebuilt. At the top there new hotels and a casino, which made it hard to get my bearing. But there were some good views.}

Day 4. Sunday 6th Jan. Sihanoukville

I just relaxed and rode around trying to find a nice beach and find somebody to oil my bike chain, which you would think was easy, but I was just getting nodding heads. I eventually found a main Honda dealer and they oiled it for free.

I rode east along to Otres beach which reminded me of how all of Sihanoukville used to be like.

Nice at the beach.

Day 3. Saturday 5th Jan. A trip along to Prek Treng Beach, 30km

Once out of the noise and dust of Sihanoukville this beach was very pleasant.

I took a track that ran into the forest opposite the beach side to check the new tyres I had put on the bike prior to leaving.

About 1km in I came to a dead end and while executing a “U” turn I somehow managed to lose my balance. (I think my leg kicked back into the pannier box) this resulted in a very hard landing on a large rock and a lot of swearing from me and my confidence dented!

Leaving Koh Kong and arrived at China Town!

Day 2, Friday 4th Jan. Kok Kong to Sihanoulkville. 240km

From Koh Kong heading east until road 4 that spurs off to Phnom Penn, the road was quiet and easy riding with light rain. Once on road 4 to Sihanoulkville the traffic was horrendous with a constant line of trucks and mad men in big cars racing along doing their best to cause accidents and mayhem. Far worse than anything I have encountered in Thailand, in fact anywhere.

That combined with heavier rain and sandy red clay covered roads made the trip unpleasant and dangerous.

Arriving in Sihanoulkville I found a building site and a city I did not recognize at all. Most signs seemed to be in Chinese and casinos and large hotel complexes everywhere.

I eventually found the Golden Lion roundabout near Ochheuteal Beach where I used to stay on previous trips. But the changes in the area have completely ruined it.

Checking in at the hotel they demanded my passport, as usual. But an argument got out of hand with them demanding the passport before allowing me to go to my room. The reason was I keep my passport in an inside pocket, which means pulling my trousers down for access. The argument ended with me dropping my trousers and producing the damn thing!

To cap my mood off as I removed my stand side pannier the weight of the right pannier topped the bike over. The stock suspension on the bike is dreadful and is due to be changed.

Later in the evening I walked around trying to find a place for a cold beer and some food, but even the majority of bars and restaurant on Google maps had disappeared. I did find a bar in the end and a backpacker style hostel with beer and food.

The riverfront at Koh Kong

My recent trip around Cambodia on a Honda Rally

Day 1. Thursday 3rd Jan. Pattaya to Koh Kong. 395km

Pattaya was overcast early morning when leaving and the whole day stayed that way.

An easy ride to Rayong and road 3 all the way to through Trat to the border at the Hat Lek.

Immigration was a runaround, but all done in an hour for exit and entry. I gave up on finding a SIM card and getting cash until I arrived at Koh Kong.

Koh Kong is a nice town near the border, very quiet with good food options on the river front.

The only bar I found was so dark and playing 70’s music too loudly, so one beer and off for some great seafood on the river front.

18 hours ago, Jeremy50 said:

How bizarre, you must be in a different Thailand, unless you live in Pattaya. Talking of which,It makes me cringe when I hear westerners, I mean especially those dozens of youtube vloggers  who presumably live there, that can't even pronounce the name of the place properly. Pa-TY-er, what? It's Pati-YA, you fools.

Actually it's Pat-ta-yaa ????

3 hours ago, blackhorse said:

What's the attraction here? Nothing to see but banana plantations and stinking heat and humidity. I couldn't think of a worse place to cycle
Now cycling in Europe in the cooler months would be absolutely stunning views and beautiful architecture in the cities. I would even give it a do over there but not in lycra lol

Obviously you don't know Thailand all that well. They have mountains here just to help you understand, and good views too if you take the time to look for them.