Phnom Penh - Resting the feet, avoidin' the meat.

A bird took a poop on my face about an hour ago. I was on my bicycle in PP waiting for the traffic light to change when a white and black poop fell out of the sky and almost landed in my eye. The only thing I could do was just wipe it off and keep moving. I just wanted to share that...

About the cycle trip-

I have found a new and most excellent love in life... distance cycling! When I set out from Saigon I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but it turns out that a bike can actually cover some ground as long as you keep shoveling noodles, rice and sugar into your stomach every 4-5 hours. The road proved to be fairly smooth so my first day was very easy aside from the constant highway chaos. The first day I covered about 80 kilometers before I had to stop for the night. I have never felt so good at the end of a day. I also saw a side of Vietnam you would never get to see if you were bussing it on the tourist trail. I have decided that this is the way to travel from now on.

During the final Viet-exodus I even had time to stop off at the Cu Chi tunnels for a quick look-see. There I found a great respect for the ingenuity of the VC after seeing how their tunnel defense operated. Thousands of North Vietnamese parked themselves under a hillside just 60 miles outside of the central base of their enemies (ballsy move). In one case (army base 25), the VC were right underneath the group unsuspecting American soldiers who mysteriously kept getting shot in the night. They developed underwater escape chutes, smoke and heat dispersal chambers, bomb shelters, and sophisticated booby traps. Brave guys, but I'm glad as hell that I didn't have to be in those rat traps for more than a few minutes.

The second day was my entry into Cambodia. That day I crossed the border a little after 7 AM and noticed the change in country immediately. Cambodia is not called the poorest country in SE Asia for nothing. I felt as if I were caught in some time warp from the moment I pedaled through the mud across the border. The economy is almost completely based on agriculture which means you get an eyeful of chickens, buffalo, rice, mud, and naked villagers. On the heels of one of the world's nastiest civil wars and ugliest socio-political experiments (Khmer Rouge), Cambodia is back in the dark ages in most regions. It was all smooth going except for a flat tire that forced me to stop early for the day.

Poverty, for some reason also means unqualified friendliness in this place. Not friendly in the Vietnamese, "Give me your riches you fat western slob and I'll smile at you" kind of way. When I say unqualified, I mean that people generally want to welcome you into their place, exchange a few words, gawk at your crazy white face, maybe practice some English, and help a traveler on his way. People aren't trying to rip you off and you feel good about being generous when bargaining.

Before I go any farther I have to say that there are quite a few people in real dire need here. If you look at the photo gallery update, I took a shot of a woman collecting trash and her 2 naked children were sitting in the garbage cart among the cans and broken bottles. There are 2 kids if you look closely inside the red hammock slung across the handle bars. I have seen quite a few street children begging for food, pencils, and money. Also, the number of land mine casualties who hobble around trying to sell "traveler accoutrements" is another shocker. It's hard to eat a $3 meal in front of the lingering street people outside, most of whose lives would be greatly improved (extended) with only a few quarters. Still grappling with this one.

That said, I need to continue my story before the sun comes up in this internet shop. The 3rd day I set out early in the morning for the monster stretch. Because I stopped early on the 2nd day, I had about 30K to make up on day 3. This meant I had about 120K to do to reach the capitol city. The road was monotonous and uneventful with hypnotizing stray thoughts of home, an imminent career decision, and interesting flashes of new Cambodian idiosyncrasies occupying most of the day.

Then the sun went down before I was ready for it (I don't think the sun cared much). I could have sworn I was supposed to be in Phnom Penh by that time and was sure that I was just about there. 1 hour went by, still not there. Then 2 hours of tricky night riding went by, still not there. Luckily, I was able to MacGyver my little flashlight onto the front basket with a bungee cord, but the faint light it did provide was little comfort to me when I kept having near misses with fully loaded dump trucks racing past me. Then I turned my flashlight around and lashed it to the back (better to be seen than to see I figured).

At last I reached the bridge over the Tonle Sap river, gateway to the beautiful PP. By this time I was starving so I pulled into a store and ate 7 servings of Doritos (sounds better than the whole bag) and downed a victory beer. I found a dodgy hotel with AC and crashed hard.

That's the story for now. I'm now just waiting for a Laos visa while in the meantime, studying Cambodian history, doing some planning, seeing the street and restin the feet.



{Side note ---> I was wondering why everyone is so nervous about my freckles that have become so abundant under the tropical sun. I got my answer the other day from a person who spoke a little English. Apparently, most SE Asians think that freckles are a symptom of AIDS. So now, if they notice and make an issue out of my angle kisses (as mama used to call em), I get a big kick out of casing everyone around with my arms out. The HIV boogie man whooooooo.}