It's time to bike, bike, BIKE!

From Phnom Penh to the city of Siem Reap where the famous Ankor Wat ruins are the distance is approximately 189 miles. We biked it in three days.

Day one: Phnom Penh to Skun (a small town with a few guest houses to break up the long trip) About 55 miles
Once we escape the traffic mob in the capital, slowly the scenery changes and the cluttered huts on sticks become less thick until finally rice fields create space between them. Men in sarongs (plad looking skirts), bulls pulling wooden carts, and motorcycles pull EVERYTHING and ANYTHING! I see several motor bicycles with a long stick across the handlebars and another long stick across the back of the bike. Each stick holds roosters hung upside down! Also, there are motorbikes with wooden bamboo barrels with pigs inside. In Skun, we find a guesthouse/hotel with a balcony and we are mezmorized by all the overstuffed minivans and motorbikes hauling odd items. We really enjoy observing the local life from our balcony.

Day two: Skun to Kampong Thom
About 50 miles

The land is flat and all my practicing on Michigan hills has prepared me well! I keep up my speed and pass all the bulls, carts, vendors, and school children on bicycles. I glance back behind me to make sure no tourist buses are coming. I see it is clear and begin to swerve around a biker when I realize there are large packs like our own attached to the back of the bike! A GPS attached to the front of the bike catches the sunlight and twinkles! And so here in the middle of nowhere in Cambodia, we meet a fellow biker! "Well, hello!" Steve says.

"Where are you from?" the guy asks.
"We are from the United States." I say
"I am from South Korea." the guy responds, "My name is Charlie."
"I am Steve and she is my wife, Teresa."
"Are you going to Siem Reap?"
"Yeah! We hope to get there in two more days."
"Where are you coming from today?" Charlie asks
"We stayed in ...the dirt town that starts with an S...uh, oh yeah, Skun, and you?" Steve asks
"I stayed at the police station down the road."
"Where did you start your trip at," I ask.
"Well, I biked all of China, Vietnam, Laos, and now here and have been on the road for 13 months."
"WOW! That is awesome! How far are you going after Cambodia?"
"I want to go into Thailand, then cut South. Then hopefully I can get a boat or something to India and bike there, then to Africa, then to South America and finally across the United States in five years."
"You like coffee?" Steve asks
"Oh yes."

We all liked coffee. Charlie taught me to mix green tea with the coffee to create a "new" beverage. Some coffee, Some tea, the hours snuck away with the clouds while we were lost in conversation sharing adventures.

Charlie became a good companion and as it turns out we biked together not only to Siem Reap in Cambodia, but all the way across the border and into Thailand.

Day three: Kampong Thom ALL THE WAY to Siem Reap (100 mile day!)