Tag Archives: Sihanoukville

Day 55: Along the ocean

Distance: 108,59 km Time: 5:40 Total distance: 2279 km

Again I begin my post with yesterday, as I went into a bar yesterday evening to enjoy one or two beer and then it happened,  a local family was invited me to drink some of their beers with them from the happy hour. The guys presented them self as Rom, Diamond and Lucky. They were all tuk tuk drivers 😂 (on the left side one can identify the reflections of the wheels of my bicycle😁)

They also had some food on them,  like chicken and this one:

These fried insects tasted really good (salty) and I didn’t have the feeling like I had one time on the road when one insect landed in my mouth while riding😂 These were very soft.

Today I started normally. At the beginning it was a little bit hilly but nothing really steep. After 20 km it got flat again for the rest of the day. The flat part began with rice fields which then got replaced by little fisher villages.

At the road I then thought: yeahh great a hill

But the road went over the hill in Cambodian style: going around😂

The first wreak I saw on the road

Finally one good shot of a water buff

20 km before I arrived I met 2 cyclists from Poland. First they were just interested in my bicycle and equipment and then the topic changed to where to find a good restaurant on the road. We separated quickly as they still had to do 60 km to Sihanoukville.

Now I am in Kampot,  another touristic city at the ocean of Cambodia.

Tomorrow I will cross the border to Vietnam😀

I once (pretty often) told myself on the bicycle to talk a little bit about my equipment. I still don’t know why I took this shot today of my handle bar,  but now I can talk about it. So from left to right: 

  1. A red buff,  I take it off to clean my face from sweat.
  2. My bell,  it’s useless here,  because they don’t know the sound,  and it’s not loud enough for them.
  3. My GPS,  telling me (most of the time)  where to go and how many kilometers remaining. It’s not always good to know how far you still have to go,  but I think otherwise I would never go so far. It’s fixed with a red cord in case it fells of because it’s not correctly fixed. It happened once to me on the road bike at 30 km/h back at home. It’s still working fine but I think it’s not really healthy for the GPS😂
  4. In the front: my handlebar bag (yeah it’s still there,  although I said it was broken,  it doesn’t look perfect,  bended to the front, but it’s okay, I think). It contains: My camera, notebook (not a laptop, but paper),  my sunglasses (when they are not on my nose), my phone,  power bank. On top there are paper cards of Nepal  (completely useless with GPS and smart phone). On the right side there is my little horn,  actually that one is really useful as bell because people and some animals are used to the sound and it’s louder. It also amuses people when I park my bike somewhere,  so I always know that somebody is looking after it☺️. The orange thing hanging down from the bag next to the fixation of the bag is from the juggling convention in Herxheim.  It was a frog with 4 legs,  now it only has 1 left😂 (hang in there froggy)
  5. My road computer,  telling speed,  distance, time on the road, average and total distance. Normally it’s set to maximum speed so that I don’t always see how less I went since I last checked,  which would be every few seconds,  if it would show the distance.
  6. A black sweat band. It hard to see on the handle but it’s the one I use the most on the road, because the buff is hard to get of and doesn’t really absorb that much sweat but it’s good when I want to clean my head when I don’t have my helmet on.

Day 54: Coconutbeach

no cycling

First the rest what happened yesterday. At the ferry I met some more people from the hostel in Phnom Penh but they went to a different beach than I. It was nice to met them again.

The speed boat ferry took one hour but it brought me directly to the beach where Soraya and Andreas were staying. I saw the sunset on the water: AMAZING


At the beach, Soraya welcomed me at the pier and we went to the tens where we got invited in for christmas dinner by the owner.

After the dinner the owner came by our table and told us to change to our swimsuits to see glowing plankton. As I had never planed to swim on my trip I didn’t pack a swimsuit,  so I just went into the ocean with my underwear. What I saw then was amazing. The owner turned of the lights of the beach,  he went with us into the water and told us to shake our hands inside the water. The plankton, which one can’t see because it’s too small begins to glow as soon as it thinks,  it’s being attack (That’s what the owner told us). So now imagine how swimming in the night must feel like,  when the water starts to glow green as soon as you start to move. Amazing (again).

After the swimming in the night, we spend some more time in the restaurant playing a game and went to sleep.

Until now it was all what happened yesterday.

I decided to stay a whole day at the beach with Soraya and Andreas,  before going back to mainland with the last ferry. Sadly that one left already at 14:30. So I kind of only had half a day at the island,  but it was still amazing. We went swimming and walking around the island before I had to leave.


We took one last selfi when I had to leave

Arrived at mainland I collected my bicycle from the ticket office of the ferry,  as I was not allowed to take it with me and I didn’t see why I should have taken it with me. I found a hostel and skyped with my family at home as they were all together at one place for christmas😀

Now I am planning my day tomorrow to get to Kampot (100 km).

Merry Christmas 🎄

Day 53: Down to the beach

no cycling,  just 4 km together to get to the bus in Phnom Penh and from the bus to the ferry in Sihanoukville.

I tought it would be a wonderful morning. Getting up,  have some breakfast, the van would pick up my luggage, I would follow him to the bus station with my bicycle (it didn’t fit into the van,  which picks you up to get to the bus station) , get into the bus and get down to the beach of Cambodia.

It didn’t all went as planed. Till the pickup everything was all right. Then I was told to wait at the hostel,  as the van would go to another hostel to pick up more people and they would come back for me so that I could follow them. I waited and waited. Suddenly they passed by without breaking,  they just honked and waved to me. The chase through the city began. Arrived at the bus station I got my luggage back and searched for the bus. My luggage got stored in the bus and then my bicycle…​ no. I forgot to buy the ticket. Okay I will buy the ticket for the bicycle,  5$. They didn’t want to sell me a ticket for my bicycle,  they told me “no space”,  I had to take another bus one hour later. Luckily I saw the space in the luggage compartment of the bus and I knew that it would fit as it was the same type of bus I took some days ago. They kept telling me the same lie over and over, till I got really angry and shouted at them, that I know that there is space and I know what to do to get it in. Then suddenly they said okay and even let me jump over the queue at the ticket office,  as it was already 9:15 (the bus should have left at 9:00), but heyyy its cambodian time😂 My bicycle got a ticket too, took my front wheel off placed my bicycle in the bus,  my luggage (which they already took out again)  back in and went into the bus. I had to do everything by myself,  they didn’t even help me😂 I wasn’t the reason for the delay,  there were more people coming later than me! 

In the bus I realised what they tried to do to me. they tried to scam me. Because the bus at 10 o’clock is another bus,  which costs the double😯 f**** a****** (to keep it child save here😂) 

The rest of the ride was normal,  they stopped at 12 o’clock at a restaurant with reasonable food and arrived with 2 hours of delay at Sihanoukville. From there I had to take the ferry to get to the island where Soraya and Andreas are staying. I had to wait for one hour on the ferry (departure time at 17:00). So I am chilling at a bar next to the beach.

Tomorrow I will probably try to get back to mainland and start cycling again towards Vietnam 😀 Alternatively I would stay another day on the island,  I don’t know yet. I have to see when I am at the beach ⛱