Part of me was tempted to ride the 140-150 kms to Siem Reap, but if I did that, I may as well have caught the bus. I’m glad I didn’t as Kampong Kdei was a nice place to hang out.
I had breakfast at the hotel, purely for convenience, and then it was back into touring mode. I thanked the guys at the hotel who had looked after my bike and also found a hose so I could wash it. They were fascinated by where I’d been so far and kept saying – on this bike, no ?
Traffic was light, but it was fun getting across the road just to get going 😁. Easy cycling, and after 15 or so kms I stopped at a coffee shop for a latte. It was so nice, I had two and was immediately caffeinated up, for the whole day. They were great people too. One lady kept yawning, and each time she did, I got a guilty glance – hoping the customer hadn’t noticed.
The road was flat and straight. It wasn’t exciting or breathtaking in any way, but at no time was it boring either. There were plenty of kids calling out hello, and the difficulty was working out where the call came from. There were lots of people riding on my side of the road in the opposite direction, lots of slow moving farm traffic and all sorts of cargo transported on the backs of motorbikes.
One guy’s bike had a bracket that carried about 50 chickens suspended by their necks. There was also a lot of construction happening.
Ten years ago, I travelled this road on a bus and I remember a lot more open space and farmland. This time, since Phnom Penh, I’ve rarely been 100 metres from the next house / shop / restaurant.
I arrived in Kampong Kdei and rode through the markets to find the guesthouse – the Mey Bo. As usual, they’re nice people and the room is clean and basic for USD10. Unfortunately, the town is plagued by power problems – the first time this trip. Luckily, the power came on as I was checking in.
I wandered through the markets, had a sugar cane juice which topped out the weekly sugar allowance. I finally found someone who could help me recharge my phone for the next week. I still can’t tell if it worked, but the phone is still connecting. Tomorrow will tell.
I found a banana and nutella roti stall that had no bananas or nutella. Thankfully, they had rotis and I ordered two. To substitute, they plastered on condensed milk and then sprinkled Milo on top. I told myself it’s just fuel for tomorrow and woofed them down.
Dinner time was complicated by another power outage, so I wandered about. I found an Udon restaurant with a generator. At least I could see what I was eating for most of the time. The power and the generator went on and off a few times. I feel sorry for the locals living through the uncertainty of whether the lights will be on or not.
