Day 8 - Phnom Penh

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Day 8 - Journey to Phnom Penh, capital city of Cambodia. Estimated population of 2.2M, it is definitely a busy city and heard from friends that the traffic can be bad. I started my journey around 7am to hoping to reach the city before 5pm. Giving myself ample of time to overcome the unexpected. Good thing is that, the hotel owner did preamp me that the road work is in progress towards phnom penh so I am very much anticipated bad road condition. The few kilometers of my journey was fine till I encounter first section of the road work and honestly the experience is not good. There road was scraped off and to make it worst, they sprinkle water on the loose red sand which made it very slippery. My bike almost lost control and with my quick response, I manage to reduce throttle speed and had to manuever the bike as slow as possible. I felt relief only after I crossed that section and I had to kept watching for next road works. Throughtout the journey, I went through countless sections of roadworks and the ride was very challenging. More than 200km stretch the road work was in progress. It was an experience for sure.

The last 70km before the city had proper road so I manage to cruise and feel slighty relaxed. Reached the location where I supposed to put up a night. Parked my bike by roadside and went around looking for Riverview GuestHouse. One guy approach me to introduce hotel but I told him I have already booked a place and told him the name. He then lead me to the place, the walkway to Riverview looks so dodge. I suppose he was negotiating with Riverview owner to see if he can bring me to hotel that he plan to introucude. Since the booking is done via Booking.com he wasn't successful in negotiation but asked me for tips for showing me this place. Gave him 1dollar to get rid of him and I proceed to my room. The enterance of Riverview looks simple and not a place where my friends would stay but the moment I see the room, I was impressed. Big and clean room. Worth my money USD15 pernight.

Unload my stuffs and did some washing before I could rest a while. Around 5pm I decided to take a walk by the Mekong River and before I step out, I ask the owner if it is safe to park my bike where it is now, the owner advice me to park across the road where there is a tourist information center. The parking is guarded 24hours.

It was a an interesting experience walking along the river mekong because I get to see different kind of people doing different activities. None of the activities involves gadgets like phone.

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