This post covers the short time we spent cycling the coast of Cambodia, from Vietnam to Thailand in May.

SUMMARY

Cambodia is one of the least developed countries in south-east Asia. The coast is sparsely populated in comparison to Vietnam and Thailand, with limited tourism infrastructure and relatively expensive accommodation. Road conditions can be rather poor and it can get pretty dusty. American dollars are widely accepted here and even if you pay in the local currency (Riel), you will receive change in dollars at a terrible rate.

STORY

History is full of examples of people expending a lot of effort to get somewhere, then not taking the time to enjoy the destination. In 1953, Sir Edmund Hilary spent 15 minutes on top of Everest after a 7-week ascent to the 8848m summit. In 1969, The Apollo 11 team spent 4 days on the moon after travelling 380,000 kms to get there. In a similar vain, Beck and I cycled 15,000km to Cambodia and only spent 3 and a half days there.

In all these cases, the short stay has been due to limiting factors outside of ones control; food, fuel, oxygen, atmosphere or, in our case, the need to reach Singapore for a booked flight in mid-June.

I'd stressed to Beck that we wouldn't have enough time for Cambodia. My preference was to cut back into Laos from central Vietnam, making a more direct path to Bangkok. I didn't win this argument so we compromised on doing the shortest route across Cambodia- following the coast from Ha Tien in the east to Cham Yeam border in the west.

In order to get at least some beach time in Cambodia, we decided to do a short first day into the country. We headed for Kep Beach, checked into a good resort with a pool and rested up. After nearly 6 weeks of Vietnamese coastline, it felt very different here, wilder in a sense. The sunsets were more dramatic, sea chopier and the quality of light very vivid due to the redness of the soil here.

Another observation was Cambodia's bizarre currency system. Their system of showing all prices in dollars results in it being relatively more expensive when compared to others in SE Asia. At every point money is lost: the price of something is converted from riel to dollars at a bad rate, then rounded up the nearest 50 cents (they only want whole dollars or 50 cent coins), then once paid, change is given in riel at a bad rate, which you may or may not be able to spend in the next shop/restaurant.

The early abundence of hotels on the coast lured us into the false belief it was easy to find accommodation in Cambodia. Heading slightly more inland the next day was less memorable, passing through endless palm plantations. There are very few options for alternative routes; it's the main highway or ride off road. Given time pressure, highway it was. After fruitless searches for homestays shown on the map we ended up staying in a bizarre hotel on a road junction called 'Sovandollar hotel' which wasn't $7 per night. I suspect it was built to house visting businessmen of the Chinese companies that seem to own all the palm oil refineries here.

The following day was more inspiring on a gently undulating and less busy highway. It was a welcome departure from the endless flat of south Vietnam and early Cambodia. Beck didn't seem to agree and spent most the day behind me. At one point when waiting for her I saw another cyclist in the distance coming towards me. This turned out to be a Brit called Geoff who'd cycled from Singapore. He exchanged some valuable advice about south Thailand and Malaysia that lay ahead of us, departing with a warning about the big hill coming up.

We pressed on, Beck demoralised by the warning of the hill. I pulled ahead again only to be distracted by a van beeping at me after a few km's. As it roared past I realised Beck was in the passenger seat. Being early evening and 110km under our belts already I didn't see it as a huge crime to accept the offer of a lift for the last 15km into town, buying time for a sunset beer.

We weren't sure whether the man was an official taxi driver but then he somehow managed to turn the topic of conversation onto views on immigration, despite his limited english. So, obviously he was a taxi driver.

Reaching Taiti we checked into a cheap homestay. This was a very peaceful setting with moored yachts that sail up the tidal river from the Gulf of Thailand.

Tatai was only 30km short of the Cham Yeam border, which we rolled towards the next day. Feeling we’d done Cambodia a disservice by not exploring more of the country we scoured the map for things to see nearby, soon spotting some waterfalls. After weaving down some narrow, dusty tracks we stumbled upon them and enjoyed a paddle. Being early morning we had the place to ourselves, save for a few stall owners setting up for the day.

And that was the conclusion of our short yet disproportionally expensive trip across Cambodia thanks to the odd payment system and spreading the $35 visa cost across 4 days. Beck was happy she'd visited another new country on the trip albeit at break-neck speed and only at a superficial level. Maybe one day we'll go back and spend longer there, which I'm sure is what Armstrong and Hilary hoped of their fleeting visits. M

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