RFH2: Last Ride

We finished strong…with a 49km ride, mostly uphill, to see the temple Banteay Srei. At the top we took a picture of all our dirty shoes to show that these soles have traveled from Saigon to Siem Reap in just two-weeks time while raising awareness about human trafficking and the work of Hagar International.

We have grown to be a family of 10, with three actual family members in our midst.  It is strange to think we won’t be on a bicycle together following our fearless guide around Cambodia or Vietnam anytime soon, but it’s special, this time we spent together.  Not only have we grown to feel like a family, but we’ve cycled about 400miles (~645km) together, peddling side-by-side, single file, and sometimes three or four across.  We have shared every meal together, mostly set, family-style, menus, and had individual conversations about everything from the weather to personal and intimate details of our lives- with lots of laughter in between.

I could not have dreamt up a better group for the Ride for Hagar 2 and it was clearly evident that each person was placed in the group for a specific reason. For such a time as this.

And as I travel back to Phnom Penh for a day’s rest before flying back out, I am thankful for the experience and cannot wait for Ride for Hagar 3…

RFH2: Siem Reap

For our second to last day of cycling, we explored the Angkor temples of Bayon, Ta Prom, and Angkor Wat.  We had a temple guide, along with Lin – our fearless
leader- and we all wore our Hagar shirts today, making for lot of questions from other tourists in the temple complex.  My favorite was explaining to someone who thought perhaps we were cycling for Hagar the Barbarian. We explained that’s not exactly what
Hagar is about. But I think the shirts were fun to wear all together at least once and meant I was able to explain Hagar to at least a few people.

After copious amount of photos and video footage through the tree-lined streets and in the temple ruins- Ta Prom is always my favorite- we headed back to Siem
Reap where we got ready for the Cambodian Circus.  I’ve never seen the Phare, Cambodian Circus and I must say it was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen.  The organization is wonderful, working with youth who come from hard circumstances, and they learn about acrobatics and other creative arts.  The things they are able to do are incredible.  It was a wonderful way to finish our evening.

We’re in the final stretch of our trip and it doesn’t seem quite right that our little family will no longer be waking up and riding together each day.  I am thankful for each person and that we will have another day of cycling tomorrow before we have to think about saying goodbye…

RFH2: Kampong Cham to Siem Reap

We started the ride on the Mekong with what I considered chilly weather.  It was a gorgeous day with bright blue skies, beautiful green fields and wonderful countryside. We all found out today that Cambodia does indeed have hills.  Today’s 65km ride was peppered with hills, both up and down.  Some in our group loved them, and others were just glad to see them finished, but it was a good feeling of accomplishment when we finished the ride today and relaxed in the bus transfer to our hotel in Siem Reap.

During the day we cycled up a huge hill to see a temple complex with lots of different statues and colorful decorations.  I think we all enjoyed the picture opportunities there.  Through the village we stopped for sticky rice before cycling up and down hills.  We also saw potato flowers (actually it’s tapioca starch!) and after lunch we stopped at a rubber plantation to hear about how rubber is harvested from the trees.  A fascinating and educational day filled with beautiful sites.  It’s hard to believe we checked in to our last hotel tonight and we won’t be changing cities again.

But, I’ll choose to think about the fact that tomorrow we explore the temples…

RFH2: Phnom Penh to Kampong Cham

Our short day of riding sure was eventful.  We started the day with a stop at Hagar’s Main Office for a meeting with Sue Hanna about the work that Hagar does.  I snuck off with Amie for a quick trip to Brown Coffee and to say hello to old friends at the office.  It was really nice to catch up with Amie and good to see old friends.  Thyda even told me I’m too tan and I need to cover my skin more, I’ve missed that honesty and I’m glad I’ll have a few days back after the Ride before leaving for America.

After our time at Hagar got ready to ride and headed off into Phnom Penh traffic for the ferry to Silk Island.  If you’ve ever been in Phnom Penh traffic, you can imagine that I was a bit nervous to have 10 foreigners who’ve never cycled in that traffic cruising
down Sihanouk by the monuments and through the roundabouts.  We made it through, and I think I prayed the whole time.  After leaving the ferry we headed up to see silk weaving.  It’s neat to see the way they harvest, and make the silk and then dye, weave and cut the fabric.  It’s such a beautiful and impressive process.  Kelly even tried her hand at weaving.

Back on the road we had one spill, which gave us all an adrenaline rush, and we made it to our stop all in one piece.  We only rode about 24km today, but I think that was enough for us all.  Then we transferred to lunch and off to the spider village, where Kahu – who is AFRAID of bugs- held a tarantula! Had it crawling all over her.  Others tried the fried spider.  Finally we made it to Kampong Cham and we saw an advertisement for pizza in the lobby and all decided to just order in.  It was a stellar choice.

Tomorrow we travel to Siem Reap…

RFH2: Phnom Penh

A day off the bikes and touring around the Capitol city.  I was a bit nervous to make sure the group stayed safe and not near any protests or other gatherings, and we had a lovely day- but it is important to know what’s going on in Cambodia and stay abreast of this time of change for the Country.

For our day in the city we had some free time in the morning – until lunch at Hagar Catering at noon.  So we went our seperate ways with a clear meet time, and my group went to Brown for coffee (because I’ve missed it) and then walked to Independence monument.  We were
meant to go to Daughters of Cambodia after that for some shopping but it was closed today, so half went for massages, and my half went walking to the Royal Palace and along the river front, before stopping for ice cream at Blue Pumpkin as a precursor to our lunch 🙂

Lunch was amazing, as usual, and I was surprised to see Sue Hanna walk in.  She was meeting another group, but I was able to see her for a short while and I’ll see her tomorrow morning as well.  After lunch we walked to the Russian Market (perhaps a bit far) for some shopping and I got to see my old flat and market.  That was nice- and I ran in to Amie at Anchor Mart!  It really did feel like old times and just like it was supposed to be.

After a tuk tuk ride back to the hotel, we all relaxed until dinner at Khmer Surin followed by the best talent trick by Michelle.  We’ve all be sharing our special talents throughout the trip and Michelle said her’s involved a trick outside with whipped cream.  It was totally worth it and now all 10 of us can do it…it was quite the site to have a group of Westerners standing around outside in a circle and watching one person do this special trick with whipped cream.  I think that just shows you how much this group has become like family over the past few days.

Tomorrow we visit Hagar and then hop back on the bikes…

RFH2: Takeo to Phnom Penh

 

From Takeo to Phnom Penh by car only takes a few hours, but by bicycle, and one the bumpy backroads, we rode only 40km to our lunch stop, with a Hagar foster family, and that 40k felt more like 100.  At lunch I had a bit of a reunion with the moms and I was surprised they remembered me so well.  It was really sweet and thankfully I remembered enough khmer to carry on a bit of a conversation- which brought me so much joy.

After lunch we headed to Phnom Penh in the bus, but stopped at the Killing Fields first for those who had never been.  It is important for everyone who comes to Cambodia to have an understanding of the Khmer Rouge and the genocide that happened, and it’s difficult to experience. The ride back in Phnom Penh was a little more somber…

But, I saw an old friend when we arrived.  My tuk tuk driver Ngeth!  He recognized me and I recognized him.  I walked over to say hello (although inside I am absolutely bursting with excitement for seeing him) and he walked straight up and hugged me…twice.  Oh it was so nice to see him and made me really happy to be back in Phnom Penh.

Tomorrow we will explore the Capitol city of the Kingdom of Wonder…

RFH2: SIhanoukville to Takeo

After a wonderful day of rest, the idea of riding 60km seemed easier to swallow knowing that we had a 2 hour transfer on the bus first.  It’s always difficult to say goodbye to the beach, but it’s much easier knowing that our guide Lin would have interesting things to tell us all along the way- and I remembered that we stopped for the amazing sweet jellied coconut on the road.

After stopping for lunch, we met up with our bikes (and our drivers and mechanic) at a village hospital.  We hopped on and began our 60km ride to our hotel in Takeo for the night.  The ride was beautiful.  We stopped in shaded areas, and by a stunning lake.  We rode through tree covered streets with the wind at our backs.  And we ended up at the guesthouse as the sun was beginning to set.  In time for a quick change before dinner.

We even get to sleep in a bit tomorrow before beginning the journey to Phnom Penh, through Takeo tomorrow…

  

RFH2: Rest Day

For our free day in Sihanoukville we took a boat ride to the island of Koh Rong
Samloem.  Along the way we stopped to go snorkling along the coral reef, and fish off the boat.  Kelly, who “doesn’t do water” got in and snorkled, and to the surprise of our boat crew, Ruth caught a fish!

The island was like paradise. We relaxed on the beach, went for a swim, walked along the coast, had an amazing BBQ on the beach- cooked for us by the boat captain and his skipper- jumped off a large boat into the water, and even did a little weterobics (that’s Clive’s version of aerobics in about 2ft of water).  In general we laughed all day and thoroughly enjoyed a day away.

We arrived back to Sihanoukville around 6pm, changed, and then went out for dinner.  It says something about the work ethic of Cambodians that our boat crew were working at the restaurant for dinner, after a full day’s work on the boat with us. Impressive.

Tomorrow we’re back on the bikes, hopefully well-rested and rejuvenated…

RFH2: Kampot to Sihanoukville

The ride from Kampot to Sihanoukville would have taken about 100km today, but parts of it are not safe at all so we transferred after 55km, from Tuk Sap to our hotel.  After 5 days of being on the bicycle, and clocking over 264miles (~425miles), there was a sense of excitement for the day off the saddle.

    

We ate dinner at a BBQ place right on the beach, with our toes in the sand.  It’s a beautiful seaside town and there is a lot to love about it, but part of the reason we come here on the tour is to discuss how children are made vulnerable and the impact of sex tourism, and about the demonstrations in Phnom Penh from factory workers.  We had some conversations about how the child trying to sell fireworks at 9pm is most definitely cute, but also that any 8 year old girl/boy should be at home with parents and asleep, not alone on a beach selling to tourists.  That creates vulnerability.

So it was with a heavier heart that we walked back to the hotel, via Blue Pumpkin for some ice cream, and a mini mart for waters.

Tomorrow we will relax on a boat trip to the island of Koh Rong…

RFH2: 84km and a Border Crossing

Day 4 on the ride was quite the whirlwind.  We started the morning in Vietnam, by the riverside, and by 10am we were saying goodbye to Vietnam, and our guide Tiger.  There we had to get all our gear together and walk into the border patrol.  The process of crossing the border in Ha Tien/Prek Chak isn’t too difficult but it does take time.  So by 11am we had each filled out 3 different forms, had our temperature taken, and were finally on Cambodian soil, greeted by our guide Lin, a mechanic/caboose rider and our new bicycles.

After a quick coffee and some adjustments, we were off- headed to Kep for lunch and Kampot for the evening. I was no longer riding caboose, making the ride today much different than the days prior, and today was longer and the terrain in Cambodia is much different than Vietnam, but it was wonderful for me.  I had a sense of coming home, that I can actually understand some of what is being said around me and the sights and sounds are things I’ve missed for the last year.  So it’s good to be back, and so nice to have Lin as our guide again this year.  We were able to catch up and chat about life since the ride last year.

Riding in to Kampot we were able to watch the sunset, and it was beautiful.  A great welcome in to the Kingdom of Wonder…