The road to Thailand

Before I get into today's ride, I should mention our walk around the market yesterday evening. Wherever I go to different countries, I always like to walk the markets to see what they're selling and get amongst market life.  The food comes in all variety and sizes.  The people always offer you food for free to try before by.  Sounds just like back at home. 

I did manage to take some photos of the sellers as we walked around.  No one was concerned about the photos and all were happy to smile for the camera.  And they never asked for any money in the process. 

With the sun having well and truly set if was time to head back to the restaurant next to our motel for dinner.  Another great meal washed down by a coke and I was stuffed like a pig.  We returned back to our hotel and took it easy for the rest of the evening.

Above is a photo of the Botoum Hotel, Sisophon, Cambodia.  For 15 dollars for the night you couldn't go wrong.  The owner and his family and all the staff were so nice friendly to us. Nothing was a problem to them. 

By the time 8pm come along I was struggling to keep the eyes open.  I only got about 5 hours maximum sleep the night before and tonight I was determined to be asleep by 8.30pm. This sleep wasn't disrupted by rabid dogs, trucks, buses, jeepneys or motorcycles beeping their horns for no good reason.

I got up by my alarm at 6.10am.  The panniers were already from the night before, so all I had to do was walk down the stairs and load my bike.  Len shortly arrived after me and soon we were sitting at the next door restaurant ordering breakfast.  Len had eggs and tomato's, washed down with a Starbucks coffee, and I had 1 omelet which clearly wasn't enough.  I wasn't going to hold us up and order another one, so decided to get on the bike and get the ride under way.

faces of market life in Sisophon.

This market kept going well past 7pm.

Walking around the markets is a great way to finish the day.

I wasn't too sure what these ladies were selling, but I'm sure with those smiles they'll do alright.

The corn was tempting, but she wasn't going to cook it for us.  No sale.

This gorgeous young lady is the daughter of the owner of the hotel we're staying at.  Ready to go to school.

Now for the rest of the ride.  We left about 7.30am today as we didn't have that far to ride to the Thailand border.  Once again we had a strong headwind and sat around the 20km mark all day.  Nearly all the way lining the roads are small bamboo huts selling drinks and food.  Families actually live in some of these run down shacks.  We stopped for a drink after about 25ks to refill our water bottles and get out of the sun.  

After a short break it was back on the road for the final push to the border.  During this section of the ride Len did what he does best, sits on vehicles and gets a tow.  Now I would never do that.  As you can see in the photo above, it's Len sitting on being protected by the headwind.

 And here's another photo of Len sitting on again.  He'll do anything to get out of the wind today.  This one took us all the way to the border town of Poipet, Cambodia.  This was a real dust bowl.  We sat down for an early lunch of noodles and beef which tasted really good.  I think they might have ripped us off on the price a bit this time.  Nothing to really worry about.  

It was time to ride the 1km down the road snaking our way through all the people and traffic waiting to enter Thailand.  We rode straight through the crowd and right up to the Cambodian customs area.  It took about 10 minutes to be processed and we were on our way to the next check point.  

Each time we do the border crossing, one always stays outside with the bike to make sure nothing goes missing.

The Thai border immigration took a lot longer.  There were heaps of people lined up and I was first to go through while Len stayed outside minding the bikes.  Then it was Len's turn, he was much quicker.  We rolled through the crowd and rode on into Aranyaphet heading for the Market Hotel.

This place was mentioned in Tripadvisor as a good place, and they were right.  Standard room with air con, decent bed, wifi, for 12 dollars.  No breakfast, but it will be cheap, so who cares.  Oh, they have a swimming pool.  So it's time to wash this body down in their pool and go for a walk of the town.  I did see a bicycle shop was we rode around looking for this place.  I like to buy a jersey if I get the chance.

Tomorrow we start the ride north nice and early as it's going to be a long hard day in the saddle with a couple of decent climbs. The flat roads of Cambodia are now behind us.

Safe riding till next time.