Koh Kong to Tatai: A short hop before tomorrow's ride - The third step ... The rising sun upon our backs - CycleBlaze

September 26, 2017

Koh Kong to Tatai: A short hop before tomorrow's ride

The rain bucketed down again last night and didn't stop for more than a few minutes the whole day. We checked out of the Asian Hotel at about seven o'clock and cycled down to the plastic chair where we had eaten when we first arrived in Koh Kong. An enormous plate of pork fried rice was a bigger breakfast than we thought was necessary but it turned out that, given the food option available later in the day, it was just what we needed.

Today's plan was to get to Tati so that we could have an early start on the climb out of Tatai the next morning. With it being such a short ride, we didn't rush at all. We took a long break of about three quarters of an hour at a shrine near the top of the climb when the rain started to chuck down in earnest. The shrine seemed to be devoted to some deity of fertility judging by the enormous phalluses at the alter. While we were there a middle aged couple came in to make an offering and to pray. I am not sure if the prayers were for the gift of a grandchild or for the man's virility because the lady was still in her pajamas and they disappeared in a hurry after rushing through their devotions.

Fertility shrine.
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On leaving the shrine we bumped in the first other cycle tourist we have seen since Anette Maile about six weeks ago. Lukas, from Germany, was on a two and a half week tour around Cambodia and was on his way from Tatai to Koh Kong. While talking to him the rain started falling heavily again but by this stage we were so wet it didn't really matter.

The downhill to Tatai was uneventful and on arriving in the hamlet we quickly found the only guesthouse. There are also a few hotels and eco-lodges in the area that are out of our price range. I managed to bargain an aircon room down to $15 from the asking price of $20 but still paid too much. There were also fan rooms available for $10 that weren't worth $5.

We did a bit of bird watching from the bridge over the Tatai River while the room was being cleaned up (I'm guessing Lukas had it before us) picking up a lifer in Yellow-vented Flowerpecker. We then suffered through a lunch of rice and gristly pork at the plastic chair next door.

Boats on the Tatai River
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After spending the afternoon working we tried to find better supper at one of the other plastic chairs (there are only about ten houses in the hamlet and most seem to be plastic chair eateries) because the one we we had lunch was now serving "death by karaoke" in addition to the inedible food but this one was so bad that Leigh passed on supper and settled for a bunch of bananas.

Today's ride: 21 km (13 miles)
Total: 6,041 km (3,751 miles)

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