We can't go no further north!

Reini was as good as his word… better even, as he had actually fitted the shock on Saturday evening although I didn’t collect the bike until about 10.30am on Sunday. We spent the rest of the day mooching around Sen Monorom including a visit to the temple at the top of the hill. To be honest I was feeling to rough to do much more as the head cold that had started on Saturday on the way back from our elephant trip had now struck with a vengeance. Of course it wasn’t really just a cold, it was… MAN FLU… but Allie just wouldn’t recognise it. Although to be fair she did throw all sorts of unknown drugs down my throat, which being an obedient hubby, I just swallowed without question! Monday morning came around in a bit of a blur. We loaded the bike and headed north for Banlung. If I’m really honest I don’t remember too much about the ride as I was too busy feeling sorry for myself as only a man with MAN FLU can!!! Allie was her usual patient self giving me pills to pop every so often, and so the day passed.

 

The view from our hotel window!

Allie Tastes her first Street Food

Banlung was a lot bigger than either of us expected. From looking at the map we were thinking just a small town rather than the dirty great city we rode into. We did a circuit of the town looking for a hotel. We checked out one in a rather nice setting right by the lake but decided on reflection that we would rather be more central so that we could have a wander around in the evening to see what the town had to offer, after all it was only shortly after lunch when we finally checked into our hotel. The hotel was only a few hundred yards from the town market which was huge. Apart from the vast outdoor provisions market there was another even larger covered area selling mainly gem stones and bling, most of which was being manufactured on the spot. Interesting though it was the heat in there was unbearable so we beat a hasty retreat back to the street. We spotted a lady selling small baguettes with some sort of unknown filling almost outside our hotel and as we hadn’t eaten since lunchtime on Sunday we wandered up to check it out. The baguettes were being lightly deep fried before being filled with noodles, vegetables and a row of small meat balls, which had also been deep fried; we bought two and they were delicious! Our first introduction to Cambodian street food and if it’s all as good as that, I’ll be very happy. Cost? About 30p each!

In the evening as we wandered in search of a restaurant we spotted another western looking couple on a street corner who came from… Essex! You just couldn’t make it up if you tried, could you? Young enough to be our grandkids, they’d been on the road for two year although had worked a year in New Zealand to replenish funds. We walked along the road together looking for a restaurant we had been on a billboard, but when it turned out to be a pizza and burger joint Allie and I left them to it and went to look elsewhere.  Ten minutes later we saw them coming past our restaurant and called to them. They came in but we were amazed when after a quick hello they went to another table…. Guess they didn’t want to talk TOWIE all night !

From Banlung the next item on the itinerary (such as it is) was Preah Vinhear. I’d read about it; heard about it from Iain & Debz and well as from Dazzer so it was time to find out if it would live up to the hype!  Whilst it wasn’t a long ride up from Banlung, I suggested to Allie that in view of dire warnings we had read about the road up to the temple, that we should book in early at a hotel, drop off our luggage and make the ride up just a bit easier. So we checked in at Sr’a Eam an easy little ride from our destination at about 10.30am and headed straight off out once more. A little way out of town I stopped to take some photos at a roadside shrine when another little Honda Degree swung round and pulled over by us. In the grand tradition of bikers, Robert, a Frenchman now living in Australia and his Cambodian girlfriend Simone had just stopped to make sure we were OK. They rode off just ahead of us to the ticket office for Preah Vinhear and we caught up with them once more there and headed up more or less together. Were the warnings of the dire road justified? No, not really. Whilst it was certainly very steep in places and got a bit rocky at the very top, it was nothing that should give a half competent biker any problems, in fact it was the most fun bit of road we’d found so far! But then perhaps that says more about me than about the roads!

What did definitely live up to expectations was the temple itself. Not only were the remains of Preah Vinhear awe inspiring in themselves, the location was simply stunning. It is Cambodia's most dramatically situated Angkorian monument, 800m-long Prasat Preah Vihear is perched atop an escarpment in the Dangrek Mountains with breathtaking views of lowland Cambodia, 600m below, stretching as far as the eye can see. It is also right on the Thai border and has been a source of tension for many years in fact as recently as 2011 the Thais lobed a few rockets across and even today, the Cambodians and the Thais sit watching each other through high power telescopes. We were told that only two weeks earlier the Cambodian army pulled back from the defensive position it had occupied around the perimeter of the temple. It was certainly yet another high spot on our tour and left us in even great anticipation of Angkor Wat which was now only a days ride away.

But first I wanted to head a bit further north to Anglong ven to find the place of cremation of Pol Pot who I had been surprised to learn had died 1998 whilst under house arrest. Surprised, in that I would have though he should have been executed for the atrocities he had perpetrated on his fellow countrymen and surprised also that Cambodians would want to mark the spot of his cremation. As it happened, although I found the right spot after a bit of searching, due to a funny little man trying to get cash out of us just to look at the spot, all I got was a fairly distant photograph. Needless to say no receipt was being offered and it looked as though he had just put up a wire and decided to make a charge. I did think of just walking through but didn’t think it worth the hassle.

The last resting place of Pol Pot - rather more than he deserves I would suggest!

As befits a good communists last resting place - 

a huge casino being built right opposite

Anglong Ven was on our direct route to Siem Reap anyway so it really hadn’t put us out of our way, and it was good to run up to the mountain pass and get right up to the Thai border. Amongst the interesting things we saw on the road apart from a few Buddhas was a heavily overloaded three wheeled pick up, basically a motorcycle trike with a pickup back, whose brakes where obviously not too good. Out the back he had run a length of rope with two car tyres tied to the end of it on top of which he had placed a large bag about the size of a cement sack as a drag. He just coasted down the very steep hill at about 10mph until it flattened out, then lifted it onto the truck and carried on… cunning as a fox I thought !!!

We arrived in Siem Reap at around 5pm after one of our longest days on the road, which seeing as neither of us was fully recovered from our colds, made it quite a heavy day. We rode past a couple of rather posh hotels before deciding to try our luck at a third. It looked way over our meagre budget, but if you don’t ask…! I knew Allie had had enough so when the manager offered me the last room at a special deal at 25% off their normal price due to a fault with the bath. I grabbed it. Yes, it was twice the price we had been paying but with breakfast thrown in it didn’t make too much of a difference; in fact I booked for two nights. All of our hotels on this trip so far have been of a far higher standard than I had been expecting, but this one was just that little bit more special, in fact there is even a swimming pool (not that will get a chance to use it). We checked in, showered and wandered out to find food. Eureka, just two doors down we found Pho Yung, a great little restaurant. When I saw the menu I just had to try to Pad Thai, just to compare it to that which had been served up to us incessantly on the last Scoots trip, as I couldn’t believe it should really taste that bad… It was fantastic! Allie had the Khmer yellow noodles with chicken, and we washed it all down with a few bottles of the local Amber nectar! A great end to a tough day.

Tomorrow, Angkor Wat. If our luck holds it should be another really special day. I know it was the main attraction that brought Allie to Cambodia ( mine was just to be travelling with Allie!) and I so hope that it lives up to her expectations….