I got up early as the monks are up very early too. Before I brushed my teeth they were already back with warm food from the town. I had some rice with thick chicken soup and noodles. While having that, different monks were bringing me more things to eat – sweet things, soy milk to drink, fruit dumplings, another bag of fruit I have never tried before etc. I could not stop them. Only the last one with two huge pieces of fruit I managed to refuse politely pointing at my stomach and gesturing how full I was already.

Before I left the temple Surasat (the monk who took me there) brought some more food, another bottle of water and a huge box of medication (I think it was Paracetamol) to take to Cambodia and distribute it among people as charity. I accepted that, as that was the least I could do in return for their hospitality. Unfortunately I have to report that I lost the box on my way here (Angor Wat, Cambodia). It was in a plastic bag strapped to the PacSafe mesh I have around my camping gear and I must have shaken it off on the very bumpy road in Cambodia that I had to ride to get to Angor Wat. I strap things in plastic bags to the mesh regularly and I have never lost anything before. This box with Paracetamol was really very big and heavy though and the weight must have caused it to be untied from the mesh and subsequently lost. I am very sorry about that. There were people along the road basically all the way though so I’m sure someone will find it and share it as there was enough to last for a couple of hundred years to a single family.

Before I reached the border between Thailand and Cambodia I could not resist not to follow a tourist marker once more. This time around it was for another ancient city so it was not going to be on an off road track. I just didn’t know how far away it was again. I tried about 20km and then turned back, as I could not risk spending any more time getting to a place at an unknown distance. What a shame that they don't have the distances mentioned on all the numerous thourist markers in Thailand... :-( 

Everything went quite smooth on the border. On the Thai side I parked my bike and went to process my passport and then my Carnet as well. For that I was sent about a hundred meters back to customs. The custom officer apparently hasn’t seen a Carnet before, same as the other officers on previous borders before him. Nevertheless, same as the Thai custom officers at my point of entry, he was quite open to listen to me telling him what to do. Once more he didn’t even want to see the bike, which was also nothing new.  Another officer at a checkpoint required the vehicle import paper that I originally got at entry, only to be disposed of as soon as they found out that I was not supposed to have if I had Carnet already. It was harder to explain to this officer that I din’t have the paper anymore because I had Carnet in the first place. Still it didn’t take long and he went and made a copy of my carnet and the passport and was happy. I was free to continue to the Cambodian side, where I expected bigger problems.

To my pleasant surprise Carnet processing was much smoother there than anywhere else so far. The processing customs officer does it reasonably often, apparently, and so he knew what to do. Even better, he could speak good English and even could speak Polish. He studied in Poland for 6 years. He also informed me that there was another Czech passing the border on a motorbike the same day in the morning, only in the opposite direction, out of Cambodia. He even showed me his export Carnet slip to prove he was not kidding.

The Cambodian customs werethe last bit of paperwork I had to do before I was free. Before I received a visa to my passport for a fee of 1000 Baht I had to exchange US Dollars in a store across the road. After that it took only about 5 minutes to have the visa issued.  It was there where I discovered that my drive chain was still too tight with all the weight on the bike, so before I continued it needed adjustment. Out in the sun I adjusted the chain and as soon as I discovered on what kind of road I was going to be traveling I was glad that I sacrificed all the sweat doing it.

If it was only noticeable after I arrived to Thailand that the country was poorer than the neighboring Malaysia, you certainly can’t miss the difference in the wealth of the countries between Thailand and Cambodia. The road gets suddenly much worse, the vehicles older and even more overloaded and there is much less motorbikes, which are replaced by large amount of pushbikes. Also interesting is looking at the traffic at the border: Going into Cambodia there is a seemingly never-ending queue of trucks loaded with all kinds of material while in the opposite direction there are large amounts of people pulling or pushing wooden carriages loaded with fruits, vegetables, shoes and remaining family members. I didn't see a single truck going in this direction. It was a very interesting look.

The first few dozen kilometers after the border are sealed – the Cambodian style (patches over patches with potholes and broken sides of the road). After that you get about 90 kilometers of unsealed, highly potted and uneven road. I found that riding on the edge of it was quite OK however, with “very wavy” replacing “very bumpy”. I have bottomed out my rear shock absorber several times on both of these types of surfaces but the side is still much nicer to ride. There is basically no city or town between the border and Siam Riep. There are only villages, stand-alone houses and (rice) fields along the way.

Not only on the unsealed road it gets very dusty when you get behind another vehicle that is going reasonably fast or is reasonably big. I was, however, more than happy to be swallowed by the dust on occasions rather than having to ride this road when it is wet as that is one experience that I don’t mind at all missing on. The weather was very kind to me today I have to say. Not only I didn’t have to ride the unsealed road under wet conditions, but also I had the sun shining on the country and people, both of which are very beautiful I think. During this first day in Cambodia I really fell in love with it. It is interesting how even the vegetation can change behind a border of a country. Here in Cambodia it seems that the vegetation has much more freedom to grow where and when it wants to which creates and environment that is looking much more natural and is so much prettier than in the neighboring Thailand or Malaysia. The current level of civilization common in most countries nowadays has not reached Cambodia yet. I feel very happy and fortunate to be able to (finally) see something really different from the culture I’m used to.

From the above you can probably gather that I was actually happy about the fact that tarmac haven’t reached even the main Cambodian roads at some parts as the dirt road look fits perfectly with the surrounding scene. The look at the country from the seat of my bike is really healing and even though there is nothing to heal on my body I at least feel very happy that I am here and have the chance to see and experience it.

The weather stayed good until I found my guesthouse and it only started to rain now. I hope it will be all cleared by tomorrow.

Cambodian people, with whom I have admittedly had not much chance to get in contact with so far seem to be very nice too. They smile when you smile, they wave when you wave and they help if they can. Some girls are very pretty too, which I have to admit was kind of a surprise for me, as I for some reason didn’t think they would be.

Siem Riep is not a cheap town to stay in, since it is very much a tourist town. The first few guesthouses I asked for a price for a single room gave me a price range of 7 – 15 USD a night (everything here is charged in USD as the local currency is basically worthless). That didn’t make me too happy as I plan to stay two or three nights. I searched and searched until I was getting more favorable answers. Now I’m staying in a guesthouse in which I have bargained the price for a single room (it has double bed though) with an on-suite to 5 USD for two nights or 7 USD for three nights. That is my current price category I can afford… ;-) The room is good and the personnel really pleasant and helpful. Also, they speak good English as it seems they do in most of the guesthouses here. I will have to find out if they learn it in school or where did they learn it from.

There are also a few very nice high standard hotels here surely worth of staying in if you have sufficient finances for it.

(344km)