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Day 186 – Battambang

This was an easy riding day today. Only 175 km on a mostly deserted highway from Siem Reap to Battambang. The reason to stop so soon was two fold. For one, so that we have a good launching point for the remainder to Phnom Penh, but secondly to stop early enough to have some time to explore Battambang.

We found some colonial architecture but were mostly impressed by the chillaxed atmosphere of the town

We found some colonial architecture but were mostly impressed by the chillaxed atmosphere of the town

The city is the capital of the province by the same name. In recent history, it was occupied a couple of times by the Thai. It has some cool French colonial architecture left standing and is a way to experience a little bit of what “normal” Cambodian cities would look like.

We took our time, started after a late breakfast and made good progress. The road is smooth, the traffic manageable – with the exception of the overtaking by some of the cars. There is a clear but annoying hierarchy in Cambodia: Cars don’t see oncoming motorbikes as a valid reason not to overtake. After all, they can always move to the shoulder. Unfortunately, this extends to us – but I will surely not go off the tarmac into sand at 80 km/h, so it takes a bit of focus and liberal use of the horn to explain the error of their ways to the kamikaze cars every 10 km or so. Overall, it is still quite manageable though.

Our first lunch outside the tourist area of Siem Reap: BBQ Chicken and Papaya salad for US$2.75

Our first lunch outside the tourist area of Siem Reap: BBQ Chicken and Papaya salad for US$2.75

Lunch was taken at a roadside BBQ joint that stood out by its spotless seating area. It has become harder to find passable places to eat – Indonesia was a highlight in that regard. This time we were lucky though – and even got a veggie salad for Nina. The owners were charming, the BBQ chicken delicious and all of it ridiculously cheap at $2.75 US.

Sadly, the recommended cute little backpacker place would only take two day plus reservations, so by the time we arrived, they were booked out. We went with Agoda once more and found this comparatively luxurious hotel, just a little bit out but still within walking distance for $8 US per night. Once more we unloaded, got a shower and got ready to hit the town. The afternoon was just right for it. It had cooled down a little and the light was gorgeous again.

Flo found a "trimm dich pfad" (workout stations) at the riverside and had to try it

Flo found a “trimm dich pfad” (workout stations) at the riverside and had to try it

After a loop to take in the river and architecture (and some fooling around at the monkey bars) it was time to feed Nina’s inner chocolate monster. What better place than the Choco L’Art – a gallery / cafe run by a French / Khmer couple.

Since we were keen to get to bed and ready for a long day of riding tomorrow, we decided to go straight from tea to dinner. Once more picking a “dining for a cause” restaurant, we treated ourselves to delicious Khmer food in the most cozy of places. We are still blown away by the harsh contrasts between the Cambodian reality outside, especially during the dusty dry months, and the spic and span places set for westerners to leave their hard dollars.

Day 5 – East

 

the island off the east cape

the island off the east cape

This is as far east as we will go on this trip. If and when we finally reach Frankfurt, we will almost be equal distance away from this place on earth regardless of looking west or east. It also happens to be as far as one can go on the North Island of New Zealand.

As for our day itself: It was a blast. I cannot understand why this region is not more popular and so much undersold. We had a glorious sunny and only mildly chilly day. The landscape reminds me of an enchanting mix of Scotland and the Bretagne. Steep cliffs, hills and paddocks, and then always coming back to the sea.

Tolaga Bay pier

The view back down the pier

Even though we had a late start, we walked down the pier at Tolaga Bay before lunch. We both enjoyed how the powerful surf was crashing against the steep limestone cliff on the one side and the brave lone surfer in it on the other.

Brief side note: Might have met the dumbest sheep yet. It took off from the road full tilt into a fence and got stuck in said fence rather comically.

Lunch alone on the beach at Tokomaru Bay. With Gisborne-grown ripe avocado on toast and local oranges for dessert. Sooooo good.

The absolute highlight though was the ride out to the East Cape lighthouse: Horses with their fowling and the cows with their calves, the surf always right there and the sun in the back down a beautiful gravel road. Later on, the ride back into the sunset was pure magic.

I am further pleased to report that I carried my GPS all the 135m / gazillion steps up to the lighthouse for proof and bragging rights …

D-Day or not

D-Day. The day to leave Wellington for our epic trip.

It started with all working fine. Got up at 7am, packed our things for the bike and got the obligatory ‘this is all our gear’ shot.

ALL the gear

ALL the gear

Went to the doctor at 9.30am and things started to crumble slightly. Apparently, our awesome nurse has left her job and the replacement that we got was…less ideal. We had to have one last shot of Hep B here. Flo was fine but for me, this shot was the worst we got so far. It hurt with every single drop that was pumped into me. It hurts so much. Like my arm is useless. Meh.

Had to fix some stuff in town, like posting a hard drive with all our photos to my mom via courier and got home quite late. There was not much time to finish packing our boxes before they were picked up to be mailed to Germany to Flo’s uncle. Flo and I worked our *butts* off and Flo literally finished the paperwork while I was watching the driver pack our things into the van. We might have cut this one a bit too close.

Cleaning out our flat was quite the task. It breaks our heart to throw things into the trash that are still perfectly fine to use. So instead, we packed it all up, had a last sweep of our flat and were nearly off to a delivery to an OP shop when Flo had to pay tribute to the tradition.

Flo's nearly split forehead

Flo’s nearly split forehead

The tradition demands that Flo has to hurt himself before we go on a bigger trip. So while having a sweep of the kitchen, he ran head first into a closing cupboard door and got hit by it on the forehead. I might have slammed the door shut but Flo’s forehead was nowhere near it when I did and he just appear in the wrong spot with lightning speed. I am pretty sure he has a slight concussion so I immediately decided that today would be a bad day to ride the motorbike. Luckily, Brendan was around and offered us to crash his living room for one more night. It does feel like we’ve come full circle staying in the same living room we did on our first night in NZ.

All our stuff made it to the OP shop in the end and it did feel really good to not waste that much.

Making a difference – UNICEF NZ

In the tradition of other great, long distance motorcycle travellers, we decided to add a cause to our journey. So in addition to experiencing a new country, a new culture, meeting people and seeing places, we want to be able to give something back. For this reason, we will try to raise money and have a fundraiser going for each country that we will travel through. This is our contribution to the decrease of world suck. 🙂 DFTBA!

Nina visiting UNICEF NZ

Visiting UNICEF NZ

We will break it up into parts for each country or section to be able to help diverse charities, make it interesting for you, the lovely people who donate, and to keep having a fundraising goal within a month or two rather than half a year away. The money will go to big, established charities rather than to small local ones; as much as we want to support small ones, it seems unrealistic to believe we can discover a small charity for every country, that is also legit and vouchered for, without constant access to the internet or putting hours of work into it.

Givealittle campaign image

Givealittle campaign image

For the start of our journey, we will explore more of New Zealand. We haven’t been to the East coast or Northland yet! Thus, we will also fundraise for a New Zealand charity. We have decided that the money of our first fundraiser will go to UNICEF New Zealand. To get a better feel for and connection to UNICEF, I met up with the lovely staff of the Wellington Office today. To be honest, I was quite overwhelmed that three people took the time to see me and were interested in what Flo and I are trying to do.

UNICEF New Zealand is helping many Pacific islands that we will not come through on this journey. However, they also have projects in Nepal and Laos, two countries that we WILL come through. Giving money to UNICEF NZ allows them to allocate it to where it is most urgently needed.

Both projects, in Nepal and Laos, aim to better the educational situation for children. To be able to go to a school has a lot of prerequisites that need to be fulfilled first. Access to clean water, medical treatment and general hygiene are a priority. As is getting children who work full-time into a better position.

Nepal, which was hit so hard by the earthquake, now faces a different problem: Child trafficking. Exploiting the poverty after the disaster, children are bought from their families with the promise of sending them to school and then sold into slavery of one form or another.

If you are interested in specific regions or projects, please read up on it on www.unicef.co.nz

So to help children in these countries and around the world: Please consider donating for our fundraiser. We added an extra page labeled ‘Making a difference’ for all our current and future efforts.