We caught the fast boat from Seam Reap to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. The ride out to the wharf to catch the boat was over a very bumpy road, flooding had washed away part of the surface, we needed not have worried about rushing as the boat was an hour late leaving as more and more people were squashed on board, all are tourists like us so everyone had luggage. Our bikes were lashed to the railings. We motored out onto the Tonle’ Sap, Asia’s largest lake which is huge. During the wet season melting snow from the Himalayan mountains cannot get away to the ocean and the river flows backwards filling this lake, doubling it’s size. Many people live on or near the water some in houses on stilts, or on rafts so they float up and down with the water level or on boats, most earning their living from fishing. After crossing the lake our route took us down the river to Phnom Penh where the river front has been developed with a promenade, lawns and palm trees and across the road restaurants and cafes spill out into the street. The Foreign Correspondence Club is in this area and one night we spent a very pleasant evening there in the upstairs bar where we watched the busy street below and the river opposite from a window table. There are new modern buildings going up and a Chinese influence is evident in the restaurants and businesses. Stray dogs, which have been a feature of this country are not evident here in Phnom Penh. Older houses sit side by side with the new villas. It was Australia day the day we travelled to Phnom Penh, our room had cable television so we watched the tennis. We have explored the markets, visited the Kings palace, the museum and Mike visited the gruesome Killing Fields and the Tuol Sleng Museum on the back of a motorbike. It is difficult to walk around the streets as the footpaths are used as parking for motorbikes and cars, market stalls and businesses encrouch out from their shops. We have to walk along the road most of the time, locals never walk they drive or take a tuk tuk but for us it is the best way to see the city. It has not been easy for us to have access to good food here in Phnom Penh, the markets do not offer food we can eat and we were not sure if we can trust the restaurants until we found a gem, Mamas, where the food is good. The owner is an archeologist and lectures at the university but he says the pay is so bad he and his wife need to have another income so they run the restaurant where the money is good but the work is hard. We got our visas for Vietnam here. We left Phnom Penh early in the morning to beat the rush hour and Mike navigated us out of the city, quiet at first but as the traffic built up we had to be alert, about 20 kms out the traffic lessened and the road widened and we were on Highway No. 1, the road we would follow all the way to the border. The ride to the Vietnam border was flat as we followed the Mekong River and passed lush mango orchards, bananas, pumpkins, corn fields and rice paddies. We came to a river crossing which had to be taken by ferry, a large market town was on the other bank and we were the only Westerners, people stared at us and were amused at us wearing shorts. We bought some bananas to eat as we had not been able to purchase food along the road all day. Arnold a cyclist from Rumania who we met along the road was also having the same trouble. We saw a group of people eating in a outdoor gazebo so went to investigate and it was an organized supported bike ride going through Vietnam and Cambodia. We joined them for lunch and exchanged stories, about half of them were from Australia. We were happy to have the company and also to have a meal, but the food situation was the same the next day and the next, Mike has lost some more weight. As we approached the Vietnam border we saw a number of large houses being built which were a stark contrast to the small wooden houses typical of rural Cambodia, we also saw some large factories but a big surprise was the twenty or so large casinos right at the border, we assume that people come over from Vietnam to gamble. The crossing into Vietnam could not have been smoother, our passports were stamped on the Cambodian border, no lining up, then we walked across to the Vietnam border and we were quickly dealt with, no checking of luggage just our passports stamped and we were waved through and we rode off down the road, we were now in Vietnam.
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