Exercise!

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And thus begun our experience of local buses. We took a six hour bus from Siem Reap to Kampong Cham. All the seats on the bus are assigned by number. Luckily we were placed near the front of the bus where the air conditioning was working really well. About one hour into the journey however, I was willing to be hotter higher up the bus to get away from the bus horn. The driver blasted the horn for 30 seconds any time a bike came into sight ahead of this and on the main roads this happened every few minutes.

There were a couple of stops along the way for toilets but there was no where really to stretch our legs until I got off the bus. I was ready for some exercise. We were given the option of visiting a temple or going for a bike ride on a nearby island. I jumped at the chance of the island.

The bicycles we hired were certainly not state of the art. The guy had to bump them up, and we were lucky that one brake was working at all. Still once we set off they didn't seem to wobbly. Nor did I feel wobbly in the traffic on the main road but then, there wasn't too much traffic for me to bump in to. To reach the island, we took a flat based ferry over. We wheeled our bikes on while the motorbikes roared their way on. There weren't any safety rails but no one was lost on the way over.

The island was gorgeous, it was filled with dirt tracks so I definitely get my exercise in, persuading this old bike to make it over the ruts. The tour leader introduced us to sugar cane juice. It was surprisingly not to sweet, it was very refreshing and came an enterprising way. It was put into a plastic bag and tied, and a straw was inserted, perfect for hanging over the bike handle. We got to see the locals playing a volleyball match which was fun, they take it very seriously and all the locals there were betting on the match.

By the time we had cycled around as much of the island as we could and I had come a cropper briefly in a rut, it was dusk. The traffic was horrible when we got off the island! It was crowded and there seemed to be no order to the traffic but I am still alive to tell the tale. I even had the energy when we paused to watch an exercise class to join in. It was really funny, and quite exhausting as the guy leading it was doing it to fast pop music.

I was starving after all of it. However dinner was an ill fated affair that night. It was the last night of the festival of the dead and most places were closed for the night. The one restaurant that was open gave us the menu and took our orders. But kept coming back to tell us that they had run out of what we wanted. This happened at least five times to each of us. I think most of us ended up with some form of noodle soup.

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Photos

Monkey
It greet us at Kompong Cham

My bike
Don't we look good together

Island Road
If it had been smooth I would have raced down it

Sugar Cane
It's mine, all mine!

The Bridge
They only put the bamboo back together in the dry season

The Cheerleaders
They never took their eyes off the match

Volleyball
Not sure how they had the energy in the heat

At the Dock
See we don't need starbucks everywhere we wait