From Battambang to Pursat we've had 2 very nice cycling days! Both days, we made sure we found small roads to avoid the busy N5 - and succeeded most of the time. In fact, yesterday we cycled nearly the whole day on dirt roads! Today we also succeeded to do more than half on dirt roads and small rural roads, it cost us easily an extra 15km but it was totally worth it. Beautiful cycling, and what a contrast to riding on those busy national roads!
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| It started as a proper dirt road, but became smaller and smaller... |
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| And more and more muddy and bumpy - but we carried on and had a great time! |
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| Both days, we cycled for many kms on dirt roads along this kind of canal, mostly good cycling - until today we came to a point where we could not continue and change our plan. This brought us to even more beautiful roads, so no complaints! |
Yes, some of it was a bit challenging, muddy sometimes, bumpy. Some of these roads would definitely not be possible during the rainy season. It seems there has been quite a bit of rain in this area a few days ago, as in some places it was still wet and muddy, causing us even to alter our plans slightly at some point.
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| Lunch in Tippedei, small town on our way |
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| The center of town |
It's clear not many tourists go where we have gone these 2 days - if any at all. People were mostly very friendly, although often very surprised and astonished. We had many "hello"s from children, and they are so nice, spontaneous, that you just want to answer each time. Sometimes they're also very shy however; at some point we stopped to buy a pineapple in a small roadside stall, and while the lady nicely cut it for us, children from the village gathered. They were fascinated about what was going on, nevertheless they kept their distance, even if we tried to break the ice.
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| A perfect place for a break, hammock included |
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| Sometimes we crossed these "overflows" - which in dry season are luckily not overflowing |
Yesterday we ended in a town called Moung Ruessei or something like that, after 65 beautiful kms... Today, in Pursat, after around 80km. Both towns are not that much interesting as such, but we have a nice place to stay (especially yesterday, the Kheang Oudom Hotel; quite new, very clean and comfortable, and 15USD). In both places we even found a nice ice coffee after arrival, always a treat! In fact, Pursat seems to have quite a few fancy cafes and restaurants, surprisingly.
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| The beauty of symmetry |
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| Another such dam-like overflow. People were fishing and cleaning their motorbikes here |
Tomorrow a first big day. around 120km to reach Pramaoy... We're riding into the Cardamom Mountains tomorrow, should be a first highlight of this trip, let's see! And oh, by the way, there might be no internet there for the next couple of days - so possibly, some silence on this blog...
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| Professional moving services in Pursat |
