It wasn’t easy to leave the luxury of the hotel in Siem Reap but the incentive is to finish this trip, as I’m entering the last two weeks. I rode through the town past the markets and continued to notice the improvements they’ve made here. It’s very nice but it feels less and less like Cambodia.
I found a great little restaurant after 16kms and had some breakfast. The guy running the place was drinking whiskey and kept trying to offer me some. It was a bit sad because his daughters and wife were doing all of the work. When I asked to pay, they had a three way conference to work out how much to charge me. It took a few minutes and they eventually came back with $5. That was a bit more than I was expecting, but no protests. I’m still within the bounds of Siem Reap, and the omelette, rice, soup and iced coffee were very nice.
Another 15kms down the road and I saw a pair of tourers coming the other way. They didn’t see me despite my waves and calls. Hope they enjoy Siem Reap.
Previous days on this road were interesting without being stunning, but today was definitely on the boring side. It was dead flat with little to see and not many people to interact with, so I zoomed along at 25km/hr for the 100 kms.
Coming into Sisophon, I spotted a Cafe Amazon and stopped by for a Smoothie. That recharged my batteries for the last 3kms to the hotel. Say what you like about the Cafe Amazon chain, but there are times on a bike ride through these parts when aircon and a smoothie are the stuff of dreams. I should have more interesting dreams though 😁
I stayed at the Hotel Botoum, a place that I know a few bike tourers have stayed at previously. I read their reviews. It was great, clean, had a hot shower and a comfy bed. What else do you need ? I needed assistance to find the light switch which was hidden behind a curtain. D’oh
Dinner was a pleasant surprise. Everything I’d read about Sisophon told me that it was a dusty highway town that you only stopped at because you had to. That description is unfair. Surrounding the main park, are street food vendors, bars and restaurants with seating, music, weird lights as you can see below. Best of all, there were loads of people out wandering around. Some of them helped me pronounce my food order more correctly and had a great old laugh at me in the process.
The park was a five minute walk from the hotel, and as I’d discover the next morning, there’s a good coffee shop almost next door. And … The hotel people let me wash my bike in the courtyard. It just gets betterer and betterer.