Day 5: Koh Trong to Ponleu Themey 

I planned for breakfast at 7 but I was up almost two hours earlier once the chickens started clucking. They had been clucking all night but even the best earplugs couldn’t drown out the sound of a roaster. 

For breakfast, I had baguettes with black currant jam, lycees, oranges and a rice cake with pork fat in the middle. I wasn’t a huge fan of the rice cake but the fruit was delicious. It seems that baguettes are common for breakfast. I was told it’s a leftover tradition from when the French were in Cambodia. 

The French guy decided he was going to stay another day but I had a ferry to catch. The first ferry of the day started at 8 and luckily I didn’t have to take my shoes off to get on it. Once back on the other side, I realized it was Saturday. Usually, I would be working right now. I spent some time thinking of what I would have been doing and for some reason this fact made me giddy to ride when I knew normally I would be stuck inside.

Since it was still the early afternoon it wasn’t too hot and there was nice cloud cover. However, the day had the potential to really heat up, especially if the clouds went away.

After a while, I noticed that this sign kept popping up. It was an advertisement for My Boy: condensed beverage creamer. At the next fruit stand, I showed a picture of it to the shopkeeper. He asked if I liked it but I’d never heard of it before. He said everyone puts it in their coffee and on top of their ice cream. To me the can looked like something out of the 90s. The morning also led me past more monasteries and schools. As usual, as soon the kids in the schoolyard saw us they would run-up to the gate and scream ‘Hello’. I would always yell ‘hello’ back regardless if it was one kid or twenty.

Around noon I stopped for a refreshing sugar cane drink. This time I got a short video of the making of this delicious juice. Apparently, before electricity was more common people used to turn the wheel by hand and the drink was more expensive. Now it costs barely 25 cents for a water bottle of the stuff. After the break, the scenery continues past rural houses and roadside stands. It was late afternoon on a Saturday I saw a lot of people either dancing in their yard, playing cards or working on their house/garden.

I knew I was supposed to come across the Mekong river again and get on another ferry. At another fruit stand I asked how far away the crossing was and when does the next ferry left. The ferry leaves once every hour and it was about 15km away. It just turned 2 so I leisurely biked the 15km to the crossings since the next ferry didn’t leave for another hour. As I got closer to the ferry crossing I passed two more cyclists! They were taking a break at one of the many shops along the road and seemed engrossed in their conversation s so I didn’t say hi.

At the crossing there were a lot of people, mostly motorbikes, waiting for the ferry. I had about 20 minutes before the next ferry left so I got a snack of hardboiled eggs and a coconut drink. I don’t like coconut that much but the eggs were good. As I got on the ferry I spotted the cyclists from before. Unfortunately, there were too many other people, motorbikes and cars I could not weave my way over to talk to them. Athough they waved from the other side once they spotted me. Although the ferry was quite large I was surprised at how many people and cars could fit on it. I was sure the captain would say okay that’s enough but he just let everyone in until the ferry started pulling away from shore. Even then people ran on. One guy tried to ride his motorbike quickly over the ramp but he was too slow so he ended up in the water.

On the other side of the river, I biked for a short distance before stopping for food. It was mostly the same as before; rice, beans, and noodles. For dessert, I received a banana that had been mashed with coconut and condensed milk then fried. I have to say I did not like it at all. The banana and coconut didn’t go well together. Plus it was very oily from being fired. Still ate it.

After lunch, I ran into the other cyclists and actually ended up talking with them for a while. One of the cyclists was doing a couple days cycling tour with the other cyclists who was acting as a guide. Since we were going the same way we ended up cycling together. After a couple of miles we came upon a really green field. I asked what it was and was told to stop and take a closer look if I wanted. Of course, I wanted! It turned out to be a rice field. I’ve seen them in China but in Cambodia, it was much greener. I think the other cyclist who had hired the guide was annoyed that they had stopped so they took off while I enjoyed the scenery a little more.

I had checked the topography before I left and understood it to be all flat. So imagine my surprise when this sign snuck up on me. Normally this is my least favorite sign but I was ecstatic to see it. So far the riding had been easy and I hadn’t gotten a chance to work for any of the views or delicious snacks. Turns out the uphill wasn’t really much of an uphill but it did give me a chance to stand up to peddle and stretch my legs. At the top the sun finally came out and it started to get hot.

For the last 30 minutes of riding, I came across the rubber fields. I only knew what they were from the french guy from the day before. True to his word from the day before these trees were much taller. What amazed me the most was how neatly the rows of trees were planted. The straight diagonals would be the envy of any marching band. Each tree had a bowel that was attached it was collecting sap. Pretty tired and now I’m going to sleep.