2 December 2022, Friday

After the brief hiatus yesterday, it was back to business today, as we (somewhat) resumed our cycling in Cambodia. Breakfast was at the usual 6:30am before we checked out of our lovely Frangipani Royal Palace Hotel in Phnom Penh. We also bade farewell to two members of our group, A and Y, who were going to Hanoi and then back to India. It was always the plan that they would drop out from here, but it was still kinda sad to lose the two of them.

At 7:42am, we left our hotel and hopped on a bus for the 300km ride to Siem Reap. Our guide told us it would take around three hours to get there. One thing I learnt is that in Cambodia, when they give you an estimate of the travelling time, you have to take it with a pinch of salt. We only arrived at our cycling starting point at Soutr Nikom at 12:35pm. Including a 20-minute toilet break in between, the entire bus journey took almost five hours.

I overheard SD telling his wife over the phone that this felt like a bus trip with cycling in between, rather than the other way around, and I sort of agree. I think it would still be acceptable if the bus rides were a maximum of two hours, but anything more than that is too long. Don’t get me wrong, the bus was fully air-conditioned and very comfortable. I have also endured much longer bus rides on sleeper buses through Vietnam and Cambodia during my Grand Adventure in 2018, so this five-hour ride was nothing.

But since this was a cycling trip, I expected to cycle more and I would have preferred to sit on a bicycle saddle than on a bus. I would also have loved to cycle from city to city each day, with minimal bus transfers in between. For example, hopping on a bus just to get in and out of the busy city to the outskirts where it was more conducive to cycle. It was also not ideal to take long bus rides because by the time we started cycling, it would already be very hot.

In fact, the original programme for today entailed travelling by speed boat on Tonle Sap Lake for six hours from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, followed by only 18km of cycling to the hotel. But I think the boat was not running so we took the land option instead. To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of travelling by speed boat so the bus worked out better for me. Nevertheless, it is what it is, so we just rolled with it.

We started riding just before 1pm. The sun was out, even though it wasn’t as hot as in Vietnam. But as soon as I was on my bicycle, I was happy again. Unlike Day 6 where we cycled mostly on paved roads through the Cambodian countryside, today’s route involved more cycling on the characteristic red soil tracks that are common in the eastern part of the country. The earth tracks made for some bumpy rides but it was fun.

We cycled past farmlands and local village houses. Our guide Hun told us yesterday that traditional Cambodian houses are built on stilts while the houses belonging to Vietnamese are built on the ground. Despite the heat, it was an enjoyable ride through the rural areas.

We finished cycling at 3:20pm and had our lunch at Prasat Bakong. Our cycling distance today was only around 26km, the shortest for the trip. Of course, I would have loved to cycle more, but I was also glad to end now because I was very hungry – breakfast was almost nine hours ago. During the bus ride earlier, some members of the group passed out ladoo (a quintessential Indian sweet shaped like a small ball and made of sugar syrup) and Indian spicy cracker snacks, so that helped to hold me up a bit. Thankfully, lunch was pretty good so I filled up my tummy well.

At 4:15pm, we departed from our lunch venue and hopped on the bus again; luckily it was a short 30-minute ride. Along the way, Hun explained that the name Siem Reap means “Siam defeated”. Siam is the old name of the kingdom of Thailand, up till 1932. For over a century, from 1795 to 1907, the province of Siem Reap was under the control of Siam. After that, the French made a treaty with Siam in exchange for a few provinces and Siem Reap was returned to Cambodia.

Hun further explained that the real Siem Reap people are mostly farmers in the countryside, while those in the city doing business and studying came from Phnom Penh. Two types of rice are grown here, depending on the season. During the rainy season, the farmers would grow “long term” rice, which takes six to nine months to cultivate. During the dry season, they would grow “short term” rice.

The place we were going to visit was called Kampong Khleang, the largest floating village in Siem Reap province, located about 55km east of Siem Reap town. Kampong Khleang is located on the floodplain of Tonle Sap lake. Some of the village people live on boats while others live on stilt houses. During the dry season, the stilt houses can be more than six metres above ground, while during the dry season, the water level reaches up to one or two metres below the house.

Hun said that the Vietnamese started coming to Cambodia to live before World War II. After the Vietnamese came, they taught the Cambodians how to eat everything, including insects and dog meat. During Pol Pot’s reign of terror in the 1970’s, there was not enough food so the locals turned to these alternative foods as well.

Smoked fish is common here because in the past, there were no refrigerators so the locals smoked the fish or made fish paste out of it, which could last for three or four years. They would cut the head of the fish, remove the bones, add a lot of salt into a jar containing the fish, add water, before taking it out to grill and dry.

There is electricity in Kampong Khleang but no clean water. The villagers would draw water from wells or the river, and use their own filtration system to purify the water. They would then store the water in big jars during the monsoon season, to help tide them over the dry season, which starts in November.

We reached a ticket booth at 4:30pm, and alighted at a jetty 15 minutes later. At 4:50pm, we started our boat ride. I had visited Kampong Khleang during my Grand Adventure in 2018 (click here to read my blog post), but that was part of a cycling and countryside tour and we boarded the boat from a different jetty. It was mid-day when I visited in 2018 so it was very hot then. This time round, it was evening and much cooler.

We had the entire boat to ourselves and Hun said that we could go to the rooftop of the boat if we liked, and many of us went up. It wasn’t really a proper deck and I could feel how thin and soft the metal sheet was. I was a little worried that it wouldn’t hold all our weight, but it did.

As we sailed down the waterway, we snapped lots of photos while enjoying the view with the sun about to set. The afternoon heat was gone and a large rainbow had formed across the sky. We sailed past many houses on stilts and saw up close how the locals lived. Some of the houses had colourful sun shades and many had potted plants lining the porches. There was even a church and a health centre for the residents.

About 25 minutes later, we left the last of the stilt houses and sailed through a mangrove area, where we saw some floating houses and restaurants. Five minutes later, we reached Tonle Sap lake, which was a huge body of water so vast that it looked like an ocean. Many other boats were also here to see the sunset.

Our timing was perfect as the sun was right about to set. After taking some photos, I sat down to take in the view before me. I watched as the sun dipped steadily and disappeared into the water. Every day, Nature puts on a magic show but we are often too busy to witness it. It was great to slow things down and enjoy the magical sunset over Tonle Sap lake.

We turned back as soon as the sun had set. On the way back, we sat on the roof of the boat and chatted with one another. I told UJ and GJ how thankful I was to them for inviting me to be part of this wonderful journey. Over the past week, the cycling group had become like family to me. I was just so happy to be there and enjoy the experience with all of them.

We reached the jetty at 6:10pm, and the sky was completely dark by then. We hopped on our bus not a moment too soon, because heavy rain started to fall immediately after. It was perfect timing. We were so blessed to enjoy the boat ride through Kampong Khleang and witness the sunset without being caught in the rain.

After an hour on the bus, we arrived at our hotel in Siem Reap, La Residence Blanc D’Angkor, at 7:20pm. There was only one staff member at the front desk, and he seemed disorganised and flustered as he gave out the room keys. There were no lifts so I had to climb the stairs to my room on the third floor. It wasn’t so bad for me because I was carrying a large backpack, but most of the other members had large suitcases so it was a bit of a hassle.

As it was a boutique hotel, each room was adorned with a different wall painting. Our room had a black-and-white painting of a boy resting his head against some temple ruins, and it looked slightly creepy. The room and bathroom were large, but the water pressure was low and the water didn’t drain from the bath tub, so it became a mini swimming pool after I showered. The worst thing was that there was no Wi-Fi connection in the room as the hotel’s Wi-Fi signal was too weak. I didn’t think much of hanging around the lobby to use the Wi-Fi either as I had already been bitten by mosquitoes before I entered the room.

We gathered at the lobby an hour later and everyone expressed their displeasure at the hotel. I am usually very easygoing because I have stayed at $10/night backpacker hostels before, but I would say that even those backpacker hostels were better than this. It was also because we had three nights in Siem Reap so we needed something more comfortable. If it was just one night here, we would have made do with it since it was just for a few hours’ sleep.

In fact, we were supposed to stay at another hotel called Damrei Angkor Hotel. I am not sure what happened and how we ended up with La Residence Blanc D’Angkor. Looking at the photos on Google Maps, the room and hotel facilities at Damrei are much nicer and it is within walking distance to the main shopping area at Pub Street. La Residence Blanc D’Angkor is 3km away from Pub Street and there is nothing in the vicinity.

We hopped on the bus and left the hotel at 8:25pm, arriving at Real Pub & Lounge 10 minutes later. Our outdoor dining area had fairy lights and a cascading water feature amid a garden setting and it was quite nice. The food took a while to be served and we were famished by then. Some of the group members were not happy with the food so they left and had pizza elsewhere.

During dinner, a few representatives from the group had a discussion with Hun to express our concerns. After “negotiating”, it was decided that we would continue to stay at La Residence Blanc D’Angkor tonight while Hun searched for another hotel for the next two nights’ stay.

We left the restaurant at 10:12pm and went back to the hotel. It had been a long day and no one was in the mood to explore the nightlife of Siem Reap. I tried to turn on the TV in the room but there was no remote control and no way to switch it on manually. I went to the reception to ask for a remote control but the staff member apologised and told me there wasn’t one. Everything was really not working in this hotel. Later that night, we got word that Hun had secured another hotel for us so we would check out early tomorrow morning and have breakfast at the new hotel before riding. Hope the new hotel will be better!

Despite the hiccups with the hotel and the long bus rides today, it was still a good day overall. I really enjoyed watching the sunset at Tonle Sap lake and the bonding and conversations during the boat ride at Kampong Khleang. While not everything will be perfect all the time, we must always count our blessings and remember the things that went right. That brings us to the end of Day 8. Only two more left days to go, sob!