CAMBODIA - Land of smiles

Our time in Cambodia was divided into two parts. The backpacking one with Tommy’s mom and the cycling one. In the first one, nothing went as planned and Roxy finished in very bad condition in the hospital. In the second part, the greatest disaster of the journey happened to our equipment.

As soon as we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, Tommy's mum landed in the country for three weeks. The plan was to hang around in the South of Vietnam for the first two weeks and visit Cambodia for the last one. Let’s say that the last part didn’t go as planned !

After visiting the beautiful Mekong Delta Region surrounded by coconut trees, we crossed by boat the water border near the city of Chau Doc and cruise up to the capital of the Cambodian Kingdom: Phnom Pnem.

Not even two hours after arriving at the apartment, I (Roxy) started to feel very bad and had to take a nap. It didn’t get better. That’s how the nightmare started. The hardest week of the trip. After a sleepless night at the hotel, we decided the next morning to visit a hospital. « You have DENGUE fever and you need to be hospitalized for 7 days » I couldn’t believe the words I just heard.

40 degrees fever for 7 days. Pain everywhere. A lot of pain. Blood platelets dangerously going down every day and all that ended with a rash. In the end, the slightest touch hurt. It has taken the whole 7 days for Roxy at the hospital. Not less not more. Exactly what the doctor said. On the 8th day, Roxy got out and we had to take a bus back to Vietnam, where Tommy’s mom was taking her plane from. That’s how our first part in Cambodia ended up.

One week later we were back on the saddle slowly heading back to Cambodia and slaloming again - this time with bikes - in the Mekong. The border crossing went smoothly and we were happy to be back in this country. It was the change of pace we needed. Smiling faces, no honking, and many places for wild camping. We missed that. We were back on the coast again which looked more than dreamy. This time the decision was made to stick to the coast and not come back to the North. In one day we reached the city of Kompot. The charm of this small town captivated us so much that we decided to take a day off right away. A huge surprise awaited us there: many French products in grocery stores, bakeries, and restaurants. Felt like being back in Luang Prabang, Laos. We did an evening tour on a kayak in the Mangrove area. Alone in the wilderness. A deep breath in the nature that was obliged.

It was a good decision because the following days did not spoil us either with the condition of the road or the weather. Buckets of water falling from the sky every hour transformed giant potholes into giant ponds on the road. Fortunately, there were plenty of places to stop at people's sheds… to wait. To our surprise, many of the Cambodian people we met spoke English, unlike Vietnamese. It was a huge relief.

The bad side was the weather. We were racing with the rain every single day. It’s started to be complicated to stop every hour and have all our clothes wet all the time. Too humid to dry out. What’s more, as the soil was soaking wet, many wild camping spots were no more suitable to pitch the tent. We were forced again to ask people, just like in the good old days! We found ourselves several times at local gardens or wooden huts, always warmly welcomed.

It was one of the easy days. Good road with only little shitty sections. Beautiful landscapes. Undisturbed nature. And we even happened to be in the heart of the country’s largest national park. We had cycled only 45km and wanted to stop in a guesthouse before an upcoming big climb. Weirdly, there were all full and at the same time, there was a power cut throughout the city. Sweating in a room without the AC, hot water and not being able to charge our computer did not convince us.

While cycling out of the village we noticed some wooden huts close to the road. We didn’t want to start the climb at 14h, so we decided to stop and ask if we could stay for the night. The owner turned out to be an American/ Cambodian middle age guy, who was adopted by an American just before the Red Khmer Genocide… One of these incredible encounter. Not only we could stay at his hut but he also showed us his birds farm, took us to the veggie market, and shared with us his unbelievable stories. Finished chatting together all evening drinking good Cambodian beer.

The next day the tragedy happened. Not even 10km after having left Kennie's little hut, we were climbing on a pretty steep road. Suddenly, we noticed from afar a truck approaching with the speed of a donkey. Bingo - we thought. “We could grab it and hold it for a free little lift!” Tommy passed in front to hang on to the right of the truck leaving me the place behind. The truck was going slowly. It was steep. It would have been perfect to do 1-2km. And fun. As always. But not this time.

It turned into a disaster. We didn’t even last 1km and we had to let it go because our arms hurt too much. It was too steep to hold a 50kg bike! I saw Tommy starting pedalling in front of me and at the same time I noticed a little thing falling from his bag on the road. Dense smoke around the bicycle. Oh my god. “The pannier is burning” - I screamed to Tommy.

The exhaust pipe was spitting air a thousand degrees too close in Tommy's direction causing melting and burning the pannier with the down jacket and sleeping bag inside… The biggest tragedy of the trip for a one-kilometer lift… A lot of emotions, nerves and tears because it couldn’t have been unimaginably worse. Luckily, Tommy let the truck off at the good time. Maybe a second before a bigger disaster. That same evening Tommy did the surgery for 3 hours to repair the damage and the result is close to a masterpiece. The bag is fixed with a sewing thread and patches (losing the small 2L bag at the back, a few bits of tape on the sleeping bag, and on the down jacket, which suffered the most… It will leave the lesson for us in the future. Hopefully.

We ended up our Cambodia adventure in the last city near the border with Thailand, Koh Kong, where we spend three nights in a cheap nice hotel with a swimming pool but without hot water ! Cambodia has its own priorities ;)

Thailand we are coming !