Trumpets and Rain

Happier times earlier that day

I fully expected a hero's welcome in Siem Reap after biking 150kms that day: trumpets sounding, people cheering upon our entry into the city. What we got instead was a downpour. Our first downpour of the trip.

I looked up at the sky and said, "Seriously?" 

Eight Hundred Kilometers Later: Siem Reap to Surin

National Highway 68: The Road to Uncertainty

November 9, 2013. There is this newly paved stretch of road from NH6, about 52kms after Siem Reap. It's so unknown that if you search for it in Google Maps, the road stops and leads to nowhere. This was the road to the Osmauch/O'Smach border of Cambodia, which would lead us to Surin, Thailand.

A few kilometers on NH68, I felt something snap from my bike. The shock made me lose control and I ended up crashing into Pen. We both fell on the side of the road. Luckily, neither of us were injured. LA, who was pedaling behind us, saw the whole thing. My pedal detached itself from the crank! He tried to remedy it as best as he could but the bearings were frozen stiff. I was afraid that if I clipped myself on again, another crash would be imminent, so I removed the cleats from my left shoe.

The aftermath of our crash. LA is trying to fix my pedal, while Pen looks on.

Eight Hundred Kilometers Later: Lists

How difficult is it to write about a two week bike trip across Southeast Asia? Every day there seems to be a highlight of the trip and trying to compress it in one entry seems extremely challenging. Yet creating separate posts for each day pose their own challenges as well. 

How long can I keep this up? Editing pictures, creating infographics and writing half-baked entries that may or may not be posted? It's worth a shot to write something memorable. Or maybe just to sit down and write.

Practical Stuff on the Road
1. Your gadget should have a wordless travel app. Or better yet, pictures of things you will really, really need on the road, like: eggs, water, ice, toilet, guesthouse.
2. Never cross a border on your own or else be scammed like Pen. She was charged 50,000 dong upon entering the Cambodian border of Bavet for God knows what reason.

Caught on camera: scammed at the border!

3. Tell your bank you're traveling abroad so you can withdraw from your ATM. Otherwise, be prepared for a frustrating process of unsuccessfully trying to withdraw from your ATM or searching for a money changer or a bank that's open on a late afternoon on a weekend. Yeah. Exactly.
4. I don't care what anyone says on how gadget dependent we were. Wifi rocks. Gadgets rock.
5. Do not look at your Garmin/whatever gadget you are using to measure your mileage/kilometer signs. You will go crazy. Especially if your expected mileage for the day is 90kms and you're only on KM 30.

Do not look at your Garmin! You'll go crazy!

6. Instead of taking the Poipet border to enter Thailand from Cambodia, take the Osmauch border instead if you have time. What a hassle-free/people-less experience it was!
7. Get a Brooks saddle. Instead of suffering through saddle sores, and weird blisters from cycling shorts and uncomfortable "performance/racing" saddles.
8. There are always little roadside stores where you can stop for a meal or a cold drink, but always bring comfort food. For this trip, we brought a whole jar of Nutella.

Beer and Nutella were lifesavers

9. Extra clothing is overrated. Doing our laundry became a regular occurrence and big cities always gave us an excuse to shop for clothes.

We spent a lot of time doing laundry. We were so used to seeing each other's undies hanging all over our room.

10. Just put your bike in an effin box. We were confident that airport check-in counters would allow us to roll our bikes in (without any packaging whatsoever) simply because we've done it before. Airports have strange rules sometimes. So to avoid the hassle of nearly missing your flight (or just to avoid the hassle), just get a decent bike box and pack your bike in.

We got away with unboxing our bikes in both Manila and Bangkok but not without endless pleading. Next time, we'll just put our bikes in boxes.

11. Do not take a late night flight out of Manila to HCM. Otherwise, be prepared to sleep outside the airport.

We got kicked out off the airport and spent the night on benches outside waiting for sunlight.

Cambodian Guesthouses Rock.
1. Wifi all the time (except in the tiny town of Samreoung, 60kms away from the Cambodia-Thailand border).
2. Rooms that can comfortably fit 2 queen size beds, huge wooden chairs and tables and still have space for your luggage.
3. Bathrooms that can fit a queen size bed.
4. Speaking of bathrooms, bidets in EVERY bathroom.
5. Toothbrushes in every guesthouse. (Quality wasn't so great though. Every time I used one, my gums and tongue would be scraped raw.)
6. Extra towels and blankets
7. Hardwood bed frames.

Our Gadget List
2 iPad minis
1 iPhone
1 Sony Xperia
1 Samsung Galaxy Note 1
1 Kobo Reader
1 (non-functional) Nokia
1 GoPro Hero 3
1 Lumix LX7
1 Garmin Forerunner 305
1 extension cord
A lot of cables/chargers

How to Keep Yourself Entertained on the Road
1. Tell yourself over and over you can do it
2. Think of new business ventures to topple existing ones
3. Sing songs from the Sound of Music and Disney movies
4. Put your earphones on and listen to your iPod (er, not recommended)
5. Take out the GoPro and ask your companions stupid questions.
6. Daydream..
7. Pray/meditate.

Eight Hundred Kilometers Later

How difficult is it to write about a two week bike trip across Southeast Asia? Every day there seems to be a highlight of the trip and trying to compress it in one entry seems extremely challenging. Yet creating separate posts for each day pose their own challenges as well. 

How long can I keep this up? Editing pictures, creating infographics and writing half-baked entries that may or may not be posted? It's worth a shot to write something memorable. Or maybe just to sit down and write. 

What I remember the most was the nonstop pedaling. The road was so flat most of the time (except for a rise in elevation upon approaching the Cambodia-Thailand border), there was barely any opportunity to coast/freewheel.

I remember the intense heat as crisp morning air slowly gave way to the burning midday sun. I remember how refreshing it was to gulp a can or a 1.5 liter of Coke. Something I would never do back home but seemed like a necessity on the road.

I remember the children frantically waving and shouting "Hellooooooo!!!" at us as we biked along the highway. At some point, we even had an escort of schoolgirls on their bikes as they accompanied us for a few kilometers along the Cambodian highway. I remember wanting to return every greeting but there were some days when we were so tired that the simple act of waving or shouting a greeting back took so much effort on my part.

Schoolkids on bikes were a common sight as they biked and laughed with us along the highway.

Where in the world did we get the discipline to wake up everyday at 5:30am, have breakfast before 7 and be on the road before 8? We would pedal until the midday sun would scorch us, then we would stop for a snack or a meal, and then pedal again until the afternoon. Our rides the first few days would take us to a town by early afternoon. The last few days of our ride however meant long afternoons and sunsets on our saddles