One Girl's Round-the-World Adventure

Posts filed under 'Skoun'

Spiderville?

Oh glorious paved road! What an easy day it was today compared to just 2 days ago. Having a paved tarmac made all the difference in the world. No dust, no bumps, no rocks, no sand! It was SO nice.

We left Kompong Thom at 7:30am to get an early start in an attempt to beat the heat. We were doing really good on time and were both feeling pretty good. The traffic still was not bad at all – an occasional truck, car, or motorbike, but NOTHING like Vietnam. Every hour or so we stopped for the usual break of a cold Coke, fresh sugar cane juice, or some fresh fruit from one of the many stands on the road. We stopped for lunch at one of the towns and had some fried veggies and rice, then relaxed there for a bit because we knew we had all day to get there.

Then, later in the day, we were going over a bridge and Peter’s chain broke! This was the first time in over 10 years he told me that this ever happened to him. We looked for the piece that broke off but couldn’t find it. In the meantime we had gathered the usual crowd of curious onlookers and it was HOT in the sun…but luckily Peter knew how to fix it straightaway and after a few minutes we were back on the road again. I am so much more enjoying the cycling here than in Vietnam – the people are so much friendlier and kind and willing to help – a totally different atmosphere. Everyone says hello or smiles or waves as we ride by. It’s great.

When we arrived at Skuon we were hot and tired but happy to be here. Nothing to say about this town at all…kind-of dull and not a nice hotel. This town is known for eating a lot of gigantic spiders and although we looked around, we didn’t see any. We think the spider-eating thing may be affecting the locals – weird place. Happy to be heading to Phnom Phen (big city) tomorrow!

Miles Biked Today: 55.97 (89 km)

Time: 4 hours 40 minutes

Passing by a funeral in the early morning (note: PAVED road!)