Today is a cold and rainy (!) day in Battambang (they say "Battambong" though). We had planned to stay in Battambang for a day, as it's a pleasant place to enjoy, before heading into the Cardamom mountains. We have a nice guest house with a small swimming pool but it is closed, and as it's cold anyway (it really is!), writing a blogpost is a perfect thing to do.
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| Last evening in Battambang, the street in front of our guest house, clouds gathering for last night's and this morning's rain. |
From Kralanh to Sisophon we did 62km, easy riding. We had a bit of headwind, reminding us that even a little bit of a breeze makes a clear difference... It was a varied ride. The first part, more than 25km, we continued on the N6. From then we took a side road which was much nicer to ride on; we had a very nice stop at a Buddhist temple on a hill, with a pleasant breeze, overlooking the surrounding flat rice fields. The last 15km or so, we found some unsealed roads to cycle on, and this was really nice. In that are most of the rice had already been harvested, and people were working in their fields to prepare for the next planting season. Hard work in the sun! It gets surprisingly hot; we thought the weather would be a bit milder at the end of November and until January but so far it has been 33-34C during the day; very hot, especially because there is hardly any shade most of the time. We've been leaving around 7.30am, but probably should start leaving around 6am to avoid more of the heat.
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| Early morning on the N6. Safe enough for cycling, a bit boring however. |
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| Mid-morning break at a Buddhist temple, a peaceful, breezy and shady spot |
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| Stairway to heaven? |
Early afternoon we arrived in Sisophon, a small but not too bad town. After a quick shower we had a late lunch, and then... found a very nice, fancy coffee shop across the street. That was the last thing we had expected in this place! Also our hotel, Botoum hotel, was not too bad at all. We liked the stop in Sisophon, we expected a bit a boring dusty almost-border town but that was absolutely not the case. And we had good coffee too!!! We decided this time not to take our camping gear, I wrote that before. That also includes cooking gear - and we even went that far to not even take our coffee stuff on this trip! Coffee means: coffee pot, pack of coffee, gas canister and stove. So we left it all home, and travel light. But that means that a nice coffee shop becomes very attractive now (and we hope to find many in Cambodia and Vietnam)!
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| A kind of cockles, with chili, out in the sun for cooking. |
It also means, that our "traditional" coffee stops in the morning have been replaced by fruit stops. There is a lot of yummy fruit in Cambodia, fantastic mango's, small size watermelons - perfect for a break - and: avocado's! It's maybe even nicer...
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| Lots of (fishing) activities happening on the water |
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| On the smaller roads |
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| Short break in the rice fields, enjoying a bit of shade |
From Sisophon we headed to Battambang, a 74km day, still flat and easy riding. The first 5km, getting out of town, were on the N5; busy and with no hard shoulder to speak of. Then we turned into a smaller side road, unsealed and calm. There were some roadworks but that was no problem at all. It was around 20km before we hit the N5 again, and these were very pleasant kilometers. We then had 30km on a hot, dusty, boring N5, with construction works all the while. That was good and bad: it gave a lot of dust and was sometimes bumpy, but on the other hand we could ride most of the time on the road under construction where there was no traffic. Where we had to ride on the N5 itself, it was absolutely uncomfortable, as traffic was too busy, not enough space for cars and other vehicles to share the road, and potholes... So it was 30km of "autopilot" cycling, just carry on and get it done, with a lunch stop midway.
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| The initial 20km unsealed road was nice to ride on |
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| Spot the difference... Left: the existing N5 - here in relatively good condition with no traffic. No decent hard shoulder to ride on. Right: the expansion of the N5 under construction. OK to ride on, no traffic, but sometimes pretty bumpy and lots of dust! |
We then left the N5 and went into enjoy mode again, on the way to the Ek Phnom temple - an old Khmer temple ruin. We stopped for a while, visited the ruins and enjoyed fresh coconut juice, to then finish the day and ride into Battambang. We had already had a very nice lunch on our way in, and in Battambang there was plenty of choice for excellent dinner - Cambodian food. While we were having our dinner, we saw a big group of tourist walking in the direction of the restaurant, and I immediately said they had to be Belgians. And yes, they were, 14 pieces, a tour group. Funny how you can immediately spot, just by appearance, they are Belgian - every single one of them looked distinctly Belgian. Not sure if we would give it away ourselves as well...
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| Ek Phnom, Khmer temple ruins |
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| Nice contrast between the green and red of the flowers, and the grey stones |
So far, we have had a mixed cycling experience in Cambodia. The parts on the main roads, the N6 and N5, were not nice. The N6 was comfortable riding, but just boring. The N5 was not comfortable at all. Luckily, we've been able to find some alternative roads; they always make the trip longer, but have been worth it. Without these, the past 3 cycling days would have ranked very low in our favorite list... What makes up for it as well, are the people. They're often spontaneously friendly, and it stays very natural, not overdone at all. Sometimes, especially on the small rural roads/trails we've taken, they're really flabbergasted to see 2 white people passing on a bicycle. But still, they're totally friendly, and we've always felt safe and welcome. So, a mixed impression so far of cycling here, but of course this is after only 3 days! Much more to come!
