All the meat gets a dusty crust automatically, when they sell it directly at the roadside.
We better go for a fresh cold coconut.
Dusty Cambodia.
About three weeks ago we left the sea in Vietnam, now we arrive in the south of Cambodia near Kampot at the seaside again.
Our plan is to visit the small island Koh Ta Kiev. In Otres, short before Sihanoukville we try to find a guesthouse where we can leave our bicycles and most of our luggage for some days. Some say, no problem, just park it here in front of the house. But we want to have a safe place somewhere inside. And fortunately after a while we find a new guesthouse, where the Ukrainian owner allows us to store our stuff in his house.
Ready for the island.
The next day we wait for the small ferryboat which should bring us to the Kactus Resort/Guesthouse. But on the ferry they tell us that it is a round trip boat and they will drop us off at the wrong side of the island, not at Kactus. Actually not such a big problem, but as we didn’t know about the water situation at Kactus, we thought we might have to buy expensive water all the time, we have a 20 liter water drum with us. Oh no, two kilometer jungle trail. Sometimes mistakes happen!
The water is too heavy and bulky. We hide the water in the forest and I get it later as a sportive challenge.
Koh Ta Kiev is (still) a small paradise. There are no roads and no cars or scooters on the island. Walking is the only type of movement. No WiFi and just some electricity at the bar/restaurant. Life is very basic. We stay 4 relaxed days in this place. One highlight is swimming in the sea at night, the beach is called plankton-beach, it’s amazing to swim and see the green light of the bioluminescence.
After these days in peaceful seclusion the poverty of Cambodia is even more conspicuous for us.
Finally camping again. 🙂
On our way to Thailand we pass huge palm oil plantations. As the most might know they are new planted human made monocultures to the disadvantage of the rainforest. And palm oil is in every second item of a normal supermarket!
We firstly have a coconut.
Unspectacular looking trees, but the jackfruits are extremely big. Not to mistake with durian. One of the biggest fruits in the world was a jackfruit, it weighed 34 kg.
Most parts of Cambodia are flat, but cycling through the Phnom Kravang National Park we have to climb some mountains, which are quite exhausting in the extreme heat.
In the middle of the forest we find a good place to camp, next to a transmitter mast. We are happy about the place, it’s very open and we aren’t surrounded by the deep jungle.
The next morning we get up before sunrise and climb up the big mast a bit, but not to the top, just 20 or 30 meters. The door wasn’t looked.
We don’t see elephants, just the sign.
It’s time to celebrate again. We spent 1000 hours on our bicycles since we started in Nuremberg almost one year ago. At the same time we pass the 15.000 kilometers mark. So it’s very easy to calculate our average speed (including every wheeling of the bicycle as well): 15 km/h, it is the best speed for travelling. 😉
Our second last night we stay in a small nice wooden guesthouse. Children play football behind the bungalows. At night we sit in front of our little hut and write diary. The amount of flies is uncountable, but they are only interested in the light.
As we cycle pass a typical Buddhist memorial place, we stop and have a closer look. Symbols for the fertility of men seem to be very important here.
We see a lot of overloaded looking cars and buses. This is just one example.
At the 11th of March we cycle to the Thai border, Hat Lek. Our visa for Cambodia ends and again 4 week have passed fast. We will enter Thailand, a country we have been before in November and December. The feeling is nice, because we know a bit better what to expect.
Bye bye Cambodia.
