patlog

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Sihanouk Ville - 10th Mar

There should be more to offer here in this beach resort, Sihanouk Ville but I did not really explore, reaching at about 6pm and leaving the nxt morning..

Checked out at 9am after breakfast, I set off to boarder town Koh Kong.. There is always some pressure crossing boarder with a vehicle, especially when I'm without a 'carnet'.. and local vehicle insurance.

the port..

waters are quite clear, though the beaches are not that impressive.. maybe there are some nicer beaches which I did not visit..

Op for a Casino hotel.. hopefully the 'rollers' will subsidise my room.. haha. True enough, only usd25/.. a nice big room with breakfast.

My GPS first took me to Independence Hotel.. USD170/..?? oh, no thnks.

took about 2 hours form Kep.. reaching at 6pm+

Glad to see some hills.. after my 7 days around the center of Cambodia which is rather flat..

Fill up at a small local gas station, I proceed to Sihanouk ville. My engine starts to 'knock' for the second time in Cambodia. This old thumper, with a very low compression ratio of 8.3:1 should be able to tolerate very low octane gas. I have been using 91 and above and that should be a luxurious 'cocktail' to this engine.. I am sure the gas I earlier top-up is adulterated. After pumping back at Esso, the engine breath well again.. So, try to use reputed or major stations like Esso and Total which is available here..

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Leaving Phnom Phen - 10th Mar

after a 2 hours rest, at about 4pm now, I decided to proceed to Sihanouk Ville, a bigger beach resort, that is about 130km from Kep. Claus prefers a nearby hill resort instead, so we part from here..

Wow, he is even equipped with gas burner and kettle to make coffee..

Clause decided to take a dip while I choose to take nap..

own by different operators, they were rather aggressive trying to get us to their particular shade.. we got into one and had our lunch break here at almost 3pm..

here we found this 'atap' shades.. (quite cool..) two long rows almost 50 of them, all with hammock where you can even spent a night here.

After checking with the boat operator, a boat ride across to the island is usd20/ return trip regardless of how many days there. bikes will be parked here and is said to be safe. we decided not to do so and proceed to look for other beach area for a break

reaching Kep at 2.10pm... thats about a 4 hours ride of only 145km.

just before reaching Kep, I was following a Baja until his water bottles started flying off at this off-road section.. I stopped together with him and thats where I got to know Claus from Denmark, who rode almost all over Cambodia on this rented Baja. I help him with my extra space I had to put his drinks and rode together into Kep.

Roads are still not too good towards Kep, a very small resort or picnic area on the southern coast of Cambodia.. some on going road works. Traffic is getting lesser and the air does improve..

a little detour due to road works..

started off down south on highway 3 was bad.. broken roads and potholes as big as moon craters..

I did not ride at all after reaching P.P.. traffic is so heavy and the way they drive and ride is crazy.. coming form all directions, you sometimes don't remember it's left-hand drive, right-hand drive or is it 'any drive'..