zipping through Eastern Cambodia

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I unwisely left Sihanoukville to ride back to Phnom Penh on Sunday of the Khmer New Years holiday weekend. Traffic was nuts! I was run off the road numerous times by overzealous cars and trucks passing in the other direction. Fortunately the soft shoulder was relatively even. (Once I was actually run off the shoulder by a car passing a truck passing a motorbike on a 2-lane road. Fortunately, my trusty motorbike was more than equal to the task of riding through the ditch.)

Of course, sometimes it takes awhile for the obvious to sink in for me. As such, I lunched and looked in vain for sunglasses in a mostly shut down Phnom Penh and then hit the road again for Kompong Cham in the heat of the afternoon.

This highway was also nuts though primarily populated with little motorbikes carrying 2, 3 or 4 Cambodians each going from village to village to and from various parties. Hardly anyone wearing helmets and many of whom, I realized later, were likely drunk.

I was going along feeling reasonably comfortable in the river of motorbikes until I saw an accident and then, a few kilometers later, a twisted motorbike and equally twisted body at the side of the road with an ambulance speeding off in the other direction. My guess was that they took away the one(s) that was(were) still alive. That shook me up a bit as it began to sink in how vulnerable I was.

I finally arrived safely in the relatively quiet town of Kompong Cham, very relieved to get off the road!

Managed to convinced a German guy with a 250 to come riding along the Mekong with me on the "scenic route" to Kratie the next day. This was a beautiful, if very dusty, adventure through villages and across the river on a little ferry. We were stopped numerous times by drunk villagers, including Cambodians in drag and other costumes, demanding money for their local temple as part of their new years celebrations. Fortunately, traffic was relatively light along this route.

We arrived in Kratie mid-afternoon.

The next day had me getting lost coming out of Kratie, losing my map, finding my way again and speeding along the most boring highway in the world to Stung Treng. A tippy ferry ride got me across another Mekong tributary and on to the Lao border.

This border crossing involves a funny little jaunt along a terrible dirt road through the forest--very rustic!

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Photos

Cambodian villagers
Kompong Cham to Kratie

Mekong ferry
Kompong Cham to Kratie

lost
highway becomes road becomes trail (time to turn around?) near Kratie

most boring highway in the world
road to Stung Treng

little ferry at Stung Treng
had to brace my bike on the front end of this boat

Comments

[Eveline]

Incredible Journey
Hi Laura; Watched a program on the history of Cambodia and Angkor Wat this morning and was reminded, once again, of your incredible journey. Good to receive your blog entry later in the day so I knew you were still safe and travelling onward. From the safety of my couch, Angkor Wat made me shiver with awe....can only imagine being in the middle of the real thing! You go girl.....and stay safe!