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Mar
2004-09-14 16:27:39

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as well. Still one hour for us to go before the alarm clock, but we are both awake as ever. What a night, it has been very hot yesterday and so is the guesthouse room. The room hardly fits the bed that is placed in the corner of the room. At the end of the bed is just enough space for one bicycle, we only have to squeeze it a bit and in the end it is leaning on both the bed and the wall, not reaching the floor. The space at the other side of the bed must be used to open the door, but since the guesthouse owner has a daughter that very much want to touch every part of our bicycle, we are eager on putting the second bicycle in the room as well, blocking the door from the inside. We place our mosquito net, but even if the mosquito net would let the wind through from the fan, there is no reason for celebrating tonight. The electricity is turned off at 23:00. Here we are, in a hot and claustrophobic small room, with no fan to give us refreshment. We start laughing and light the candle that has probably been placed there for a reason. From 4 am the electricity starts running again and I understand why the Cambodian roosters are awake by this time. Luckily the French baguettes are already available at the market.

After the border market the road turns into a kind of rain forest. The road is a made of fine gravel but with a good surface. The red dust makes sure that you can not see a thing when a car passes. Luckily, this road is not very busy expect for some scooters and pick-ups that function as tuk-tuk's (public transport) between the border and the nearest village. Whoever wants to cycle in Cambodia must be prepared and willing to eat Cambodia. Cambodia has one of the worst road network in the World together with Congo and you will be eating a lot of dust. The roads are bombed during the Vietnam and civil wars with carpet bombs and the first 100km we see a lot of de-mining activities next to the road.Ice Cream baguette

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