Forum regular, Pete Jones, is still cycling the roundabout way to a job
interview in Bangkok, so here’s the latest from his excellent travel diary;

Heart of Darkness

After a fruitless ride and a night inadvertently spent in a whorehouse
(no..really), I found out that barangs (that’s you and me, bignose) aren’t
allowed across the Chau Doc Cambodia-Vietnam land border. So…I slogged
it back to Phnom Penh and struck out east along Cambodia’s Highway One.

Conditions weren’t too bad at first, reasonable tarmac. After 62 km I hit
the Mekong’s broad, lazy curves and bought my ferry ticket for 400 riel
(7p). I was then herded into an enclosed shed with the local peds, lots of
chest-high people waiting behind a gate for the ferry to arrive. The
humidity in the place was unbelievable. Although I’m now reasonably well
adapted to the heat my body’s thermostat must have tripped – I was
suddenly literally running with sweat, gushing off me. One cute little
thing brushed against my arm, then flinched away with an expression of the
most abject disgust. I felt like a worm.

After a while the ferry beached itself and the gates opened. I joined the
stampede splashing through ankle deep water onto the ferry, then settled
back to enjoy the ride – watching the kids playing with the bike’s gear
levers and odomoter, and puzzling over the clipless pedals.

On the other side it all went downhill. The ‘road’ once again turned into
ruts, dust and potholes. At last, after a long 127km day I pulled into
the central square of Svray Rieng, my destination for the night. On one
side of the place there was a decaying Soviet era concrete hotel (why was
it here?). I didn’t waste any time getting out of the sun, riding the bike
right up the access ramp and through the front doors into the foyer.
“Howdy!”

Next morning saw a quick 42km dash to the border and I was across with
surprisingly little fuss. The black market money changers sniffed out my
dollars while I was getting my stamps and before I knew it I was on my way
again, spinning the big ring through verdant rice fields, whistling
snatches of The Fish and hoping I wouldn’t be a-comin’ home in a box. I
arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) today at 11:00 after an easy 96 kms –
uneventful except for being propositioned by a homosexual motorcyclist
(“You very long. I want to love you.” Er..no thanks) and dealing with the
increasingly manic traffic as I entered the city limits. First World
infrastructure and Third World driving habits – not the happiest of
bedfellows.

That’s it. Thanks for your patience. Off to Laos to visit the ex then it’s
back to Bangkok for the job interview (my main reason for being in the
region) and home. Or not…

Pete Jones