Friday 5^th November

OMG x a gazillion! First ride in Cambodia. First lesson in checking spd tension before setting off and having to stop! First set of bruised and cut knees and shins. That was the first 400 yds of the ride!!!

Today was an awesome day. We headed out of the city south onto Highway 1, the same highway which G and Kris had spent much of the last 8 weeks on in Vietnam. I am reliably informed that the Cambodian side of this was a tad worse off. To describe it for you…imagine if you will the M4. Now remove the surface of the road and shut one side of it. Then lay some gravel chippings and let the weight of the traffic provide a new pot holed surface. All the while the other side of the carriageway is being prepared. The other carriageway then becomes another road for moto’s, us and the odd car that judges the distance between the cones correctly. The speed is not the issue as maximum is 30mph and that is only down to suspension, the proximity of other vehicles, motos, tuk tuks, lorries, coaches, buses, pick-ups is but one of the things to keep you focused. Dust gets everywhere and 6 lines of traffic overtaking each other coming towards you is kind of interesting in an ‘am I seeing things type way’

Essential to wear although cuts down conversation...

Confidence, urgency and driving skills are the factors that dictate road based activity and not everyone has all of them. We rode back into the centre of the city to book Mondays treat and negotiated the maddest roundabout in the universe. 16 lanes of traffic not all going in the same direction or the same way round the roundabout. Head up, awareness radar on and peddle like a loon. I do not yet have the confidence to hang onto the back of a trailer pulled by a moto for the energy less way of road cycling but it was good to see how much G has adapted to how things get done round here. Just under 30 miles and 37 degrees, roll on Tuesday and the first 50 miler!

I needed to add this one...we in the UK need to be better at loading our vehicles!

A trip down memory lane for G tonight to the most awesome Indian restaurant in backpacker alley. Well worth the tuk tuk trip…