The finale

The heat was thicker than the traffic as a rolled my bicycle through congested streets of Bangkok. But it didn't matter, time didn't exist at this moment. I was elevated above personal comfort from the fact that I have arrived to the place where it all started. I have arrived at the end. I successfully completed my first cycle tour in South East Asia. I traveled a tough 3105km through Thailand and Cambodia.

Total distance = 3105km
Ascent = 20969m

Green is the trail I biked. The blue is the bus ride.

I cycled through some interesting landscapes the last couple days. Lots of big limestone cliffs I dreamed of scaling.

A cool little town with a huge cliff in its backyard!

I mights need to invest in some new parts soon.

Thanks for following everyone. I will try to post the occasional Misadventure. I am sure to have many with my time in British Columbia. 

Songkran AKA The Thai Water Festival

Songkran, the Thai new years celebrations where they throw lots of water at anybody and anyone. Crossing the border  back into Thailand I got a warning from the border guard saying that I will get soaked. I smiled as he stamped my passport. Oh boy did I get wet.

The road to Chanthaburi was all downhill and I am pretty sure I had a nice tail wind to whisk me 90km before 1pm. I am feeling fine and all is doing well, bike included except for some annoying break sounds I can't bother to fix.

The countryside of Cambodia heading towards Paillin.

Dinner is somewhere in there.

From Battambang I left for the Thailand border. The road was the usual bumpy and narrow. Trucks with a big black cloud of smoke whizzed by stealing my oxygen and replacing it with poison. I reached the city of Paillin after 80km and decided to call it a day.

I wish I could start every day of cycling with that!

First Flat!

From Paillin it was a quick 20km to the border where they stamped my passport and let me pass. I then biked a good 90km to reach Chanthaburi.

Yep, more countryside

and just a bit more ;)

Total distance is 2821km.

Just a couple more days until I am taking my bike apart in Bangkok.

On a side note. The new brooks is a little sore on the ass. But its not that bad! I have faith that it will get better. Anyway, I think the next post I will be writing from Bangkok!

Battambang

I have lost count of the days. It feels like I haven't done a full day of riding for weeks.The last big day I had was going up to Bokor Hill. But all that will change because I am finally feeling like myself again. I spent days battling a fever and headache that would just not relent. Then randomly, after days of headache everything seemed to get better. I am not sure how it happened but happen it did.

The last couple days in Kampot were as relaxing as ever. I got to spend my time with a wonderful friend. We went to the beach, ate fruit, watched movies. Now that's a vacation! I also bought a new Brooks saddle. It is very stiff but I am told the stiffness would relent under the constant pressure of my sit bones to make the most comfortable seat ever. We will see. After biking for so long with an uncomfortable saddle I have a hard time believing that any seat can be comfortable. 

But all good things come to an end and we parted ways. I jumped on the slowest bus to Battambang ever. A 500km bus ride turned into an 13 hour ordeal. It was torture, but my bike and I survived. I will stay the day to explore the nice little river city. The market is right beside my hotel!

The blue line is the bus ride. I will be riding my bike to Bangkok so about 400km to go!

Battling the headwind, dust, and traffic to get to the beach.

The most recommended saddle for touring. Lets see how it works for me.

It really feels like the end of my trip. There isn't much to see in between Battambang and Bangkok but for miles upon miles of dried out agricultural land. It will be good land to suffer while I break in my Brooks saddle.

The Down Days

I sit in Kampot ... still. I had went on a couple of adventures but they were admittedly forced. My sickness would just not relent. Usually I am the sort of person who says "Ahh I am sick, oh well, it will go away eventually. I just got to push through it. " And so I did these days of biking and oh boy did I suffer.

I decided to bike up the road that leads to Bokor Hill. It used to be an old French town that was built to get away from the suffocating heat in the lowlands of Cambodia. The road starts at sea level and cruises up to an elevation of around 1050m. That's a good bit of climbing!

And so for the next 7 hours I went up that mountain as slow as could be until I crested that peak and rolled slowly into the old town of Bokor.

Taking a break. If the air was clearer you would see Kampot way down there.

Got some spectacular views. This is taken from the Summit of the climb.

Once you start heading down a bit and into the Bokar town area the climate changes dramatically from the scouring sun to an eerie misty landscape.

An old church in the fog looking all spooky.

The old casino. What else would the French do up here I guess.

After spending some time up high I decided to go down a bit and find a camping spot. I has starting to feel a little down again and I thought getting camp set up before the whole sickness fell upon was imperative. I found a really cool area where I was able to push my bike up this rock by the road and into an opening in the jungle. I made a little camp fire and cooked some noodles. I feel asleep soon after. Then the sickness feel upon me and I spent the night with chills, heat flashes, and mostly everything thing. I survived a beautiful nights with the lights of Kampot shining bright below me. I didn't get a photo of the landscape that night I regret due to my energy drained mindset.

Dinner almost served.

My new cup now doesn't look so new.

After the trip to Bokor Hill I cycled to Kep City where the sickness peaked. I got a 20 dollar hotel room where I spent the day/night in a delirious stupor. I survived the night and decided that I must go to the hospital. I rode my bike back to Kampot where I will stay the next couple of days to fully heal from this bug. However, in Kep I did get to go to a French pharmacist who prescribed me a whole whack of pills. After taking the pills and having another rough night I now feel particularly better. I have a big appetite and I feel energy coming back into my limbs. Lets hope I am cured!

However, the planned trip to make back to Bangkok by bicycle is now flawed because I do not have enough time to make up these lost kilometers. I will stay in Kampot for at least a couple more day. So I have decided that I will take a bus up to Battambang, which is close to the Thai border and try to ride the bike from there to Bangkok. I am sad that is has come down to that but this is what time restraints do.

So with the last couple days of biking I now have cycled 2595km and climbed 19432m. Not bad!

Kampot

I am pretty comfortable right now. Sometimes I dream about this exact setting when I am just trying to break through the mental wall say 4 to 5 hours into my cycling day. I am sitting in a veranda on the riverside of the Preaek Tuek that runs through Kampot drinking a relatively good coffee. Coffee, what a magical drug. The thing I regret most about my packing for this trip is that I did not bring my stove. How wonderful would it be to boil some water and make a french press every morning, afternoon, and evening. Now I have to wait for every largish tourist city to get a decent cup. Next time, bring the stupid stove!

For the last couple days since leaving Sihanouk I have had a pretty mild case of diarrhea that has eventually sapped most of my strength. Waking up this morning was a real chore but I managed. I got my room for another night so I hope to rest up and try to get over this. Fruit and veggies for the rest of the day.

So how about the last couple days eh? It has been a interesting journey to Kampot. I could almost say it has been some of the most demanding roads or trails I have ever toured on except for that one day I had on my British Columbia tour between Chilliwack and Hope where I pushed my bike for 20km up a super steep mountain road. Leaving Sihanouk I mapped out a route on Google maps that would bring me across some of the country side. Turning off the asphalt almost immedialty I hit a single track that was sandy then rocky, sandy then rocky, and then sandy then rocky. I eventually came to a dried up creek bed where I had to carry, well kind of drag my bike over some knee sized boulders. Eventually I made it across this and pushed my bike up the road with lots of doubt that it would just immediately stop. However it didn't, the trail kept getting progressively worse but it continued just the way Google said it would. I find it amazing  these 6 inch wide trails are even mapped. The only way I can see this happening is that someone from Google actually followed these with a GPS some time ago. Anyway upon cresting the peak of the hill I saw the national highway 4 off in the distance and the trail turned into something similar to a dirt road.

I regret not taking photos of the past bad sections but I was getting so frustrated I was in state of mind where I didn't want to stop but just keep on pushing through.

 On the highway now I am heading towards Ream National Park where I intended to take some more back roads and try to find a deserted beach to spend the night. Before reaching the national park I reached Ream Beach, a little stretch of sand semi developed with restaurants and guesthouses. I stopped at a place where a Turkish fellow who claimed he is 73 years old who speaks fragmented English lives. He made me a coffee and offered me a room for 2 dollars. I regrettably had to decline because I really wanted to get a bit farther today.

Reaching the outer limits of Ream National Park.

Ream beach. Just another beach without the crowds.

Leaving the Turkish guys house after the coffee and a shot of some sort of coconut vodka mix I headed to the unknown. Google has made a trail on the Ipad that shows that there is a way to where I want to go. I follow the blue line across the digital map. It took me  two hours to cover a distance of maybe 15km, maybe not even that far. Anyway the route turned to a dead end where villagers spoke "no road" and pointed the direction I traveled. I turned back around and tried another little trail, it also turned to a dead end. The Turkish guys offer kept on coming up in the back of my mind. Rejected, I start heading back the way I came until I see this little trail. I look on Google maps and it is mapped, it seems to meet up with the road I am seeking. I follow it, at first the sand is just compact enough I can ride the bike on it. Eventually it turns to beach sand. Eventually there is a big pond that I carry the bike across. Eventually I am pushing my bike through a cattle field. Eventually I am on a beach with not a soul around.

A great feeling to find the beach after that ordeal. A sandy road follows the coast just like Google maps claims.

I think about sleeping at this beach but if the road continues to be as bad as I have encountered I really want to get closer to the main road again. So I continue up the coast. After maybe 3km I find this resort hacked into the Jungle hanging off some rocks looking straight into the ocean. I stop in for a beer. I probably look a little crazy and I order a beer and a water. After chatting with the 3 English guys who are running the resort they say if I keep on following this trail I will eventually hit a Chinese road that is newly constructed. I am pumped! They say stay the night here in the dorm room free of charge. I accept.

My little paradise. 

I fell asleep on some cushions. That's how I spent the rest of the day. I woke up and the sun has set. I grabbed the camera to try and take a nice photo of everything around me. That's the best I got.

Ahh what beauty. I wish the moon would of been just a little lower to fit it into the frame.

I returned after a stroll along the beach and I see a couple more people at the bar. I drink to much beer and end up falling asleep. I wake up and it's morning and I admit, I am a bit hungover. I make a breakfast of oats and palm sugar. The sun is rising.

Jumping from rock to rock hungover is not so nice. But the watching the sunrise was so worth it.

I left the resort and was soon pushing my bike through the jungle. The trail ended and there was a sign that said "no entry". Jesus Christ. I remember seeing another trail, a little bigger then the one I was on but it wasn't on the map. I decide to push my bike back up to to. It goes up hill. I go up hill. Then, I notice a little overgrown trail that does go in the direction that I need to go. Everything now is just guess work. Its a trail, it must go somewhere...right? I go that way, the trail has probably not seen any activity for a very long time. The surface is just hard enough to make way. I bulldoze my way through bushes that block the trail. I figure the best technique was to hit these trees as fast as I could. I would hold my breath, close my eyes, and ride through anything that blocked the path. The path continued and got worse and worse. Then I thought, well it can't get any worse right? ... then it rained. Well eventually I made it the asphalt and rode a 100km to Kampot.

Cambodia. You are killing me.

Looking at Bokor National Park. These mountains reach 1000m.

 And here I am. Still in Kampot.

Trip totals. 2452km. 18058m ascent. I have just a couple more days of the coast. Then I will be headed inland to make my way back up to Bangkok. Time is slowly running out and soon this trip will come to an end.

The yellow line is the last 3 days from Sihanouk to Kampot. I am going to the border of the Vietnam border, the thin yellow line before I start heading back to Bangkok.

Well thats about all. Here are some other random photos I took on Otres beach in Sihanouk ville.

The lights of Sihanouk ville.

The Way to Sihanouk

Riding a bicycle in Cambodia can be frightening experience, especially riding on the national highways. Maybe it is just where I have been riding, there is one road that seems to be paved. Maybe when I get closer to more populated areas the roads wont be so congested due to more roads being used. We will see.

I left Ko Kong in a drizzle, a common occurrence it seems. I rode through beautiful mountainous jungles for the whole day with some nice climbs and descents

The Cardamom Mountains.

Do you see my bike?

Amazing to see so much forest everywhere. So wild compared to Thailand.

Follow the little line.

. Getting over and down the last pass was a race because the clouds looming in the distance were threatening. Thankfully at the bottom of the hill there was a little house selling water. After getting some I made my way to little spot of forest off the road. I made sure to look out for landmines. People tell me to be careful about that but mostly I should be careful in the north of Cambodia. Anyway there was a fire not long ago it seems. I reasoned the fire would detonate the landmines. I like how I make judgements I know nothing about! Anyway, I got my tarp set up just in time because seconds later all hell broke out. I jsut stood under the tarp for like 45 minutes holding my bike up saving it from the rain. I also learned that my tarp leaks water. Good to know. The rain died down and I made gruel, seriously, I made gruel. I tried to sleep in the hammock for the night but that plan failed due to mosquito's eating me. I set my tent up eventually.

I woke up after a surprising deep sleep.

Looks so peaceful. Funny that this is in Cambodia, could easily of been taken in Canada. It seems the photo is slanting right to left, its because the ground slants from right to left.

I decided to to a short 40km ride. I was tired. I found a guesthouse that was occupied by millions of ants. I watched them troop zigzagged lines all around the floor. I had to hang my food from the ceiling since they were determined to get their teeth in everything. It thunder stormed again at night. This time I was under a roof!

And now we are at today. After leaving Srae Ambel I soon merged onto the national highway 4. It was a horrible experience I am sure I will repeat. The road was narrow and the trucks large. I opted to the gravel shoulder. It wasn't so bad with music coming from my headphones drowning out the large trucks zooming by. I eventually was able to find a route through a huge plantation that aloud me to quietly go on my way. The road was sandy and bumpy but to me that is 100 times better then a roaring highway with no shoulder. I have too many things I love at home to be just another bug on their bumper, like my dog... and my car. Just a bit over 100km I got to the city of Sihanouk. Its hard to believe this is part of Cambodia. Or maybe it is just the parts of Cambodia I saw so far. To compare would be to compare night and day.

The sun burning the mist away.

We have some real intelligent conversations together. They kept on getting closer while I was eating my breakfast.

A planted tree times infinity.

How about a summary to date eh? So far I travelled 2289km ascending 17576m. I have been riding my bike for 221.48 hours (only if I got paid for this!)

Ahh I'm getting so far away from Bangkok!

Tomorrow is going to be a hard day. I have like 4 beaches I want to explore and I need to find a new pair on sandals since my old beloved ones are still in Ko Kong. I love day offs!

Decisions, Decisions

"Be honest is good life." These are the words painted on the steps of the guesthouse. I read these words as I try to pick out a route through Cambodia. Do I go North through the Cardamom Mountains or continue southeast to the border of Vietnam. Even though the mountains guarantee adventure I am leaning towards the coast. Mostly because that was the route I had roughly drawn out in my mind before I left Canada. It doesn't matter what I choose, I will regret that I wasn't able to do both. All I can do is take everything I can out of the choice I make.

Today I got to nothing important. I got on the bike and tried to find the local beach. Trusting my trusty map I got extremely lost and ended up crossing some large puddles.

Just a little puddle. Wet shoes ensued.

After backtracking all that way I found the road. It was the obvious one that was paved I passed earlier. I found the beach and I slept. I also ate a mango and an apple if you were wondering.

Koh Kong Beach

I got my spoke fixed as well. The mechanic had none of the right tools but what he did have was smarts. He couldn't take off my rear cassette nor my disc brake. So he bent the spoke so much I thought for sure it would brake. He eventually found the right bends to get it threaded through the hub. Success, I now have all spokes again.

Well tomorrow I head east. Further away from Bangkok. I have this feeling in the back of my mind always not to get to far away since I need to make it back there. I really don't want to take a bus the final days. But I still have 25 days so I shouldn't worry so much! Alright, I hope I can write again soon.