Surly They Won't Make It

14/4/25

We got woken up at about 1am. We’d heard rumbling thunder the previous afternoon. Now it had developed into stupidly heavy rain. The sky was lighting up all the place. It went on for hours. We could hear the water cascading off the roof.

We got up proper at 5:15am. We were on the road by 6am. The steep ridge on our left hand side was one of the many quarries that the sandstone was obtained from for temples. In the first hour we only covered 6km. We were faffing around at the market. And also trying to stop the green Surly clicking. It’s mildly annoying and seems to be emanating from the left pedal. 

The road wasn’t as flat as we’d been used to. We were going up and down. It wasn’t our legs hurting though but rather our faces. We were smiling, waving and shouting “Hello!” so much. It was phenomenal how friendly everyone was. It was also their New Year. A few days of holiday to celebrate the water, which had definitely started to arrive. It also highlighted the splodges of oil on the road.

Periodically there would be very loud music playing from huge speakers. We didn’t enjoy all the music. It was more raging drum and bass, than peaceful beats. We had no idea how the electronics survived the torrential rain from the night before. Or how the local people survived the noise that they may not enjoy.

There was no Sun so far. It was nicely clouded over. But also very humid. The road surface of the 64 changed from average tarmac to red dirt to bumpy tarmac then finally to smooth tarmac. As we crested the top of a hill there were monks sat outside their temple with a megaphone. One of them said “good morning” in what seemed like a British accent.

Scott had given us temple tips for our ride. They were littered all over the place. The temple we chose to visit wasn’t actually one he’d recommended. But one we thought was accessible for us. There was a kilometre of gravel track. The rain had made it sticky. We walked the last part into the woods. there was a nice temple when we arrived. Someone had just left and their incense was still burning. A full can of drink had just been opened. The set of six towers were close to each other. We could make out inscriptions on the stone door jambs. 

Once we got back on the road it headed uphill. It was an actual little climb. Tiny chainwheel required. As we went back down the other side we saw a group of people praying under a gazebo near a small shrine. We continued to go up and down, up and down. It was just getting hotter and hotter.

The next group of well known temples is known as Koh Ker. The village at the bottom of the 10km access road is called Phumi Môréal. But we weren’t going to visit Koh Ker. Not only did we not have time, but we were a little templed out. Instead we stopped and bought two freshly grilled corn on the cob. A watermelon. Two iced coffees. And a big bottle of water. We headed off again, begging for clouds. It was hot, dusty and very humid. As we left the town we glanced down the market street. It was a rutted red-dusted track. Pass.

Occasionally a hyper elite went past. Brand new land rovers looked unusual and out of place in rural Cambodia. There was clearly some horrific inequality here. The next stretch went on forever. Streams of scooters were going in the opposite direction to us. It was a long, straight and undulating road. We did our best to push harder but as the temperature climbed so did our heart rate. The surface had been dreadful. Stupidly bumpy. Suddenly it changed and became smooth. What a relief for our bums. 

We stopped at the town of Kuleaen and bought some vegetables. We hunted for tofu but no chance. We still had about 20km to go. The mountain on the right hand side was getting closer and the tarmac remained smooth. The biggest pick me up, despite feeling exhausted, was having the children come out and wave us. They were surprisingly excited to see us. We returned as much jubilation as we could muster.

Rural Cambodia was characterised by traditional houses on stilts. Big open fields with zebu grazing. Small vegetable plots. Huge advertising signs. Sometimes it was a very odd mix of old and new. The only cars are big expensive ones and there’s a big financial gap to all the other people riding scooter. Many of the scooters were also falling apart. The massive SUVs continued to drive down the centre of the road, tooting, shoving everyone else out of the way. There were quite willing to run you off the road if you didn’t concur with their priority.

Two boys slowed down on their scooter and wished us a happy New Year. We tried to reply in Khmer. Semi-successfully. As we passed through a checkpoint, the army uniform clad officer beckoned for us to slow down. Then he promptly sprayed us with a giant water gun! We relished the cooling down. 

Phnom Tbeng Resort wasn’t much further. It was a snazzy place that could even be booked online. A smart room with a giant Samsung television. The food menu was expensive. We ate some cashews that we’d bought earlier then ordered French fries and plain rice. We ate it with our vegetables in the room. Watched Black Mirror. The last episode of season 7 is a sequel to the first episode of season 4 so we had to go back first. It had been a big day and we were both feeling agitated by almost everything. We went to bed by 8:30pm.