Stung Treng - Chhlong - Kompong Cham - Phnom Penh - Battambang
But let's start from the beginning. After entering Cambodia from the border with Laos, we cycled along the Mekong towards Phnom Penh. It was a very nice ride. People continued to be as nice as in Laos, just the 'Sabai-dee' was replaced by 'Hello'. We cycled through many villages, all scattered along the Mekong and it was interesting to see the real village life. Peter actually dug deep in his brain and 'found' a lot of Cambodian words there and so finally we were able to communicate a bit with the people on the way. What a difference just a few words make! We loved it!
In the end we had to hurry a bit because we wanted to arrive in the capital Phnom Penh before the weekend to apply for the Thai 90-day tourist visa. So we cycled the 130 km from Kampong Cham to Phnom Penh in one single day. This was our longest distance cycled in one day of the whole trip so far. However, it was not at all the hardest day we had. The road was good, it was all flat and we had tailwind. So in the end we arrived already at 4 in the afternoon in Phnom Penh. On the same evening we met Meng, Peter's Cousin who lives in the city and speaks English. Peter actually saw him for the first time. He's a very nice guy and we spent a lot of time with him during the next few days. He showed us around in Phnom Penh and we had a good time together. We visited for example the Royal Palace, where locals pay 0.25 Dollar entry and 'Barang' (which literally means 'French', but Cambodians use it for all foreigners) have to pay 6.25 Dollar - 25 times as much!! And you can guess who was immediately identified as a Barang!
The next day we took the bus altogether to Battambang where we met the rest of Peter's family. So many I won't mention all of them here. I guess we have to spend another month here before we know all of them and how they are related to each other. So now our days have completely changed. Instead of cycling most of the day and spending the rest of the day with looking for a place to sleep and something to eat, we now just hang out in the shade on the patio of Peter's aunt's house. We get fed by his aunt and his mum with delicious food. They somehow have fun introducing us to Cambodian cuisine and so bring every morning from the market the most interesting things (look at the pictures because I don't know the names for all of it) and come up with a great dinner every night. And in between all the eating we take the scooters and drive to tempels and other sights around Battambang. And with Peter's family around, we get to see some 'real' Cambodian life. It's great!
And what's next? Well, we will stay here in Battambang till the end of the year. We will enjoy some more laziness, some more family life, some more food. In January we will continue towards Thailand, where my sister will join us for a ride along the beautiful Thai beaches and islands. And after that? Well, we have already booked our flights to our next and probably last destination before coming back home: New Zealand!
