After the fun weekend with the hashing friends, it was time to leave Cambodia. Originally we wanted to travel north from Kampot, via Phnom Penh (well, we'd try to go around it if possible), Kratie and Stung Treng. From there we'd go east into Vietnam. Some years ago, we had done this stretch as well and it was very nice - it was basically the beginning of our bicycle touring passion (see
this post). However... we had to extend our visa for this, and that would have been quite a bit of hassle. It could take up to a week, and we didn't really want to wait that long for it. So we looked at plan B - and that is what you will read below!
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| Fantastic view, taken on the SHOT hash run |
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| Going back to town after the run, by boat, on a sunset "cruise" |
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Kampot was also about nice food...
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| With part of the hash group |
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| Enjoying a magic potion... |
Our hashing days in Kampot were great fun, and it was so good to see our friends back. It was also a "heavy" weekend, as the hoppy brew flowed freely and we had our portion of it... It was time to hit the road again! We left Kampot early in the morning, but not without buying ourselves a last delicious raisin roll from our favorite
Belgian bakery! After that, we left town, and we had found a nice road instead of the main road towards Kep. It was in fact one of the most beautiful parts of our Cambodia trip, through scenic, charming villlages, rice fields, along a lake and past the many kampot pepper plantations. A wonderful farewell to Cambodia! Once we joined the main road again (dusty and busy indeed), it was just a few more km until we left it again, taking the road to the border.
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| Early morning, ready to go! |
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| But not without a last visit to the Belgian bakery! |
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| Just a few km out of town, we turned into this dirt road (in good condition) and found some very beautiful area for cycling |
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| Did I already say it was beautiful? |
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| Arrival at the Secret Lake, a sneaky picture through the trees to keep it secret |
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| Erh well, I thought this was... beautiful! |
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| A lake crossing, doubling up as a car wash (well, motorbike wash then) |
At some point, we were looking for a nice place to take a break, and saw a signboard towards a "beach". We decided to just go and take a chance - and it was again the right decision. Wonderful 2,5km, and then we arrived at what is called a beach... No real beach, but definitely beautiful and perfect for a shady break. And a bit cynical: at the beach there was a sign that this was a plastic litter free beach... Well, in reality, there was still a long way to go. It's wonderful that there is a first step, but without further efforts I'm afraid that is just a bubble.
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| Salt mines on the way to the beach |
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| Perfect place for a shady break |
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| With a view |
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| This view |
From the beach it was just another half hour, and we were at the Cambodian border. After 26 beautiful, challenging, fascinating days we were leaving! I will make a summary of the Cambodia trip in the next few days, but in any case, it was really fantastic. The exit at the border was just a formality - ahhhh in a nicely air conditioned building (for once, I wouldn't have mind if it had taken a bit longer). There was no attempt to any corruption - just an exit stamp and that was it. We then rolled to the Vietnamese border, where we first had to do a health declaration. We thought that was a scam, but the guy was just very friendly, was impressed by us doing this on a bicycle, and we could go on to the border control. We had to wait a little for our turn - without aircon here! - and handed over our passports. This guy did try to get some pocket money: 1 dollar each, please. I just laughingly said we didn't need to pay that, that we had our visa from the embassy and paid 55$ for it - and that was also the end of it! With a guilty smile, he waived it off, stamped our passports, and we were ready to cycle into Vietnam!
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| At the Cambodian border; it was fantastic, see you again! |
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| And in Vietnam! |
We have been in Vietnam before: first backpacking in 1993, for 2,5 months. Then again as a tour guide, in 1994, for 2 months. We have been a few more times, but just on short trips for a few days. So we're really looking forward to re-visiting this country that we traveled extensively so long ago, and we also really loved it back then. It'll be exciting to see how things have changed since! As always, when you arrive in a new country, it's both a bit challenging - you have to find your ways again - and exciting. It's also clearly different. If one thing, Vietnam is clearly cleaner; the town we're in now, Ha Tien, is much cleaner than any place we've been to in Cambodia. Traffic is similar, although there are more motorbikes. People seem different, more active, more assertive. And of course, a big difference is that we can read Vietnamese (which does not mean that we understand it though!) - it helps a lot in at least knowing what things are about. We still remember a few very basic words from previous visits, so that helps too... In any case, the first hours have not disappointed, we're more than ready to start country 2 of this trip! Vietnam, here we come!
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| Ha Tien town, riverside foodstalls, mostly with seafood |
