February 25, 2020
Day 8 - Crunching a Century
Middle of Nowhere to Sisophon
Those backroads cost more distance but made for a more interesting bike tour. The main road #359 cuts straight across to the Cambodian border. I had cycled it several times already and figured there's no point to repeat it.
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Eventually I was throttled onto the main road anyway and stopped at a gas station to chill out. An American cycle tourist with an armful of Gatorade dropped by and asked if I was cycle touring. She was touring with her husband and they were further inside the compound drinking coffee. Somehow I must have been spotted. We got chatting, and I learned they were on an extended trip from Singapore and had come all the way up the coast. Their plan was to ride towards Cambodia then Vietnam. It seemed like a good idea to ride with them to the border. They (Ashley and Paul) were going to stop at the border tonight, while my dubious plan was to push onwards to Sisophon.
Distances are dictated by the towns. If you stop for the night at the border then the next day is either an easy ride to Sisophon or a long slog to Siem Reap. On the other hand, if you can push to Sisophon in one go, then the ride to Siem Reap is shorter the next day and you can get there in one day less. So that's why I was going to push.
This wasn't exactly the Tour de France but I just wanted to to reach the next tourist haven to do more partying and question my life choices like back in Pattaya. If anything, I was the slow poke today. I struggled to keep up with the leader as Ashley was in remarkable shape and just killing it with this pace. We fought the headwinds hard. This was sustained for hours and I really started to feel it. I was dying of thirst, and relished any opportunity they decided to stop at a gas station.
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It made me realize why I do group fitness. It's the only way I can get the motivation to push hard. If it's physical activity by myself, I'll find some excuse to slack off.
As it turns out, Ashley runs marathons and does them extremely well, so it would explain everything. She was effectively the pace-setter. It was a welcome chance to ride with this couple because all the extra distance I gained put me within striking distance of the border at late afternoon. This meant that crossing the border and finishing off in Sisophon was within the realm of possibility.
When Paul earlier said how much distance was involved today, I started dreading my idea and thought maybe I should just stay at the border too. Even so, I was stubborn enough to stick to my plan.
We parted company at the border to meet again in Siem Reap. I tried to share as much useful information as I could since I've done this trip several times before. Part of that meant changing baht to dollars at the Krung Thai bank which gave you a better deal on the Cambodian visa. That was exactly what I did myself afterwards then was all set to cross.
Crossing the border was painless. The best way is to use the vehicle lanes on the Thai side, and an officer will help you park the bike while you fill out your departure card and get a stamp. Then you're off. For visa on arrival, I only paid $30 plus 100 baht. That extra 100 baht probably went into the official's beer fund but it was cheaper than last time so I didn't care. Next was to get a stamp at the following booth. Make sure you do that after getting the visa. If you don't, you'll be screwed when you later exit the country.
All that done I rolled a bit further into the town and stopped at Pizza Company. I was immediately mobbed by elementary school girls wanting to practice free English. So much for the plan to get to Sisophon early.
One of them was only 4 years old and could already do so many things her age that I was astonished. Fluent English and martial arts to name but a few. Apparently the parents force their kids to learn skills at the earliest possible age they can to get ahead. Even so, this girl was light years ahead of anyone else I had talked to.
It was surely dark by now which meant the next 3 hours were going to suck, but so be it. I had to get to Sisophon because I was stupid enough to have pre-booked accommodation. Sure enough the road was not much fun with the incessant traffic even at that time. Much busier than I remembered it, but at that point there wasn't much to be done except grind it out.
The best part was pulling into the town of Sisophon and then gradually rolling down the long downhill of the hotel driveway, right into the arms of my welcoming entourage. They knew me from a past visit. They were awesome and helped check me in then wish for sweet dreams. Food around here at this time of night would be impossible. That pizza back in Poipet had saved the night.
Today's ride: 161 km (100 miles)
Total: 707 km (439 miles)
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