Heading back to Sisophon.

They say in sport, what you eat today will get you through tomorrow.  Last night Len and I walked down to the Eden Cafe on the river.  I know food like this is not good for you, but when you're burning calories by the thousands, the food doesn't stay long enough in the body to cause me any harm.  Well that's what I reckon.  Our dinner of chicken burger with chips and tomato sauce washed down with a nice cool drink is what the Dr ordered.  The only problem down on the river were the mosquitoes that loved to bite me.  Len did get some insect repellant from the young couple who were sitting nearby.

We walked back to the hotel to end a terrific day.

I thought I would fall to sleep straight away, but that was not to be the case.  I was feeling a little coarse in the throat and had a constant tickle that needed clearing.  I sat up watching some TV constantly clearing my throat.  I thought I might be coming down with something.  What may have caused the problem was how cold my air con was the night before.  Trying to find the perfect temperature for my air con was just about impossible.  I ended up turning the thing off.

I turned the TV off at 10pm hoping to doze off.  All I could hear was the blasted dog downstairs barking at shadows, trucks and buses tooting their horns at god knows what and the moron in the room next to me, making noises like he was pumping something up in his room.   To add to this, my next door neighbor kept opening and closing his door.  I was not happy.  I was really tired, sore throat and had another long day on the bike tomorrow and was going to cook in that intense heat.

I had one last look at my watch and it was now 12am and my alarm was set for 6am.  I managed to fall alseep and woke at 5.30am.  Due to the constant noise of vehicles passing our hotel I knew that sleep was now over for the night.  My throat was sore, and I knew I was going to suffer on the road.

Breakfast was a nice egg role with a couple of cups of tea.  We were on the road by 7am and heading back to Sisophon some 70ks away.

This photo is outside the Banan Hotel where we're staying in Battambang.  Already at 7am the place is alive.  We rolled out of town for the mandatory 1 hour ride before stopping for our morning tea.  Now how aussie is that?  I told Len, Aussies always have morning tea, it's part of our working conditions.  We pulled over to a small roadside stall and ordered some tea.  We both had a couple of cups and just chilled out for 30minutes.  We were in no rush to get to Sisophon.  The road was dead flat and we had nothing planned for the rest of the afternoon.  We left Battambang early to try and end our ride before the day really heated up.

We got back on the road and by 9am the day was already 35 degrees.  On one of our nature stops this strange looking tractor with wife on top passed by.  Now that has to be the coolest place to place your wife on a trip.  And she's gagged to stop her nagging.  I know who the boss is in his family.   On a more serious note, no matter where we are in Cambodia the people from children to the elders are so kind and polite it puts some of us to shame.  About our tea stop, they didn't want to take any money for it, so I gave her an amount to fix the bill.  

 Our next stop was an early lunch at a larger establishment.  With a large pot of tea and a bowl of noodles and beef I was full.  I used chop sticks just to prove to Len I'm not completely useless.   And the meal, it was fantastic.  So back on the road for the last 20ks to town.  The traffic was increasing and so was the heat.  My satnav unit now registered 42 degrees C at 11.50am.  We rolled into Sisophon and went back to the Botoum Hotel where we stayed 2 days ago.

I should note that Len was very strong on the bike today.  He led from start to finish.  We usually ride about 15-30 metres apart which is the safest way to ride on these types of trips.  One other thing I should mention.  As I was riding my bike I came across this sandal sitting on the road.  I thought that looked familiar.  I stopped and went back to pick it up. 

I caught up to Len about 2ks later where he had stopped to wait for me.  I told Len he now owed me $5 dollars.   He wanted to know what for, so I showed him the sandal I'd picked up off the road.  The tight ass never gave me any money for finding his sandal. 

Now safely in the hotel I'm going to lay down and have a rest and try and get this throat cleared up.  Tonight we'll head down the road and have a look at this town and get some dinner.  Tomorrow we enter Thailand.

This is my bike with 2 panniers on the rear and a front handlebar bag to put my camera and stuff I need throughout the ride.

Safe riding.