Tag Archives: on the road

Day 276 – An unexpected pick-up

Gosh, what a lovely spot. I do look tired though

Gosh, what a lovely spot. I do look tired though

Check out time for our lovely hotel was 12 (noon) and we intended to use every second of that time to relax, enjoy the garden and update the blog while we have wifi. Breakfast was served late from 9 am onwards and we just kept our spot to lounge on one of the platform. After blogging for an hour we had an extra tea or coffee (which was still available from breakfast) and dug into the box with sweets once more.

But even the most chilled out morning in a while comes to an end so we packed and waved good-bye to Yazd which we really enjoyed despite it being rather hard on our budget. It is 316km from Yazd to Esfahan, something that is easily do-able in an afternoon ride. However, we had decided to wild camp tonight to save money so there was absolutely no time pressure on us. Unfortunately, the road led straight through a desert where the sun burnt down. It wasn’t inviting to dally.

I was exhausted already: In the heat and on the bike is not a good place to be ill

I was exhausted already: In the heat and on the bike is not a good place to be ill

Around 2 pm, we stopped at an old roadside caravansary which had some spots in the shade and was probably used as a stop for truckers. A quick snack lunch and an extended break later, we were back on the road. I still didn’t feel well and was really happy with the break. I guess I’m coming down with a bad case of cold or something; my head feels kind of funny from all the slime that is building up inside of it. You are welcome for this description. =P

Once we hit the mountain range behind which Esfahan lies, it got cooler and more comfortable on the bike. Soon, we were starting to look out for a camp spot. Spare time can always be used for the blog and a bit of a lie down cannot be bad for a sick me either. We passed the first “maybe” spot when I suddenly realized that we hadn’t bought anything for dinner yet…and no extra water as well. So the looking for a camping spot stopped and instead, we looked for a shop now to replenish our tank bags.

Such a lovely, welcoming place

Such a lovely, welcoming place

The first place we found was an actual village or small town called Toudeshk. So we turned off the highway and stopped at the first shop we saw…it was closed. Just when we got going again, a taxi pulled up to us, the driver looked out and asked if we were looking for a guest house. Since we weren’t, he pointed out the next open shop to us but then continued to ask if we would come to his guest house…maybe just for a tea. We had the time so why not? Buying bread, cheese and vegetables was done quickly and then we followed Mohammad to his guest house. Turns out that it is Tak-Taku Homestay which is recommended in the Lonely Planet and is a lovely, lovely place. Like a little oasis.

Completely vegetarian: Ash and an eggplant dish

Completely vegetarian: Ash and an eggplant dish

We sat down with Mohammad and parts of his family to eat water melon and drink tea, joined by other guests after a while. It was lovely. Unfortunately, we really really didn’t want to spend money on a guest house but Mohammad insisted on showing us an option. So we had a look. Understanding that we are on a tight budget, he offered us to sleep in the fire room which only has three of the platforms in it and no beds. This would allow us to stay for very cheap. We said yes as all we really need to sleep is a roof and no bugs. Thus, we had a lovely late afternoon at the guest house, an amazing chat with the fellow guests and a great home-cooked vegetarian dinner.

Meeting Leon from the Netherlands, Tilman from Germany and Jose and Jorge from Portugal meant we had very well-travelled company who were also interested in politics, much to Flo’s pleasure. With dinner after dark, I was getting tired rapidly so I opted for an earlier night than Flo.

Day 193 – Kampong Cham

Crossing the first of the two great rivers in Phnom Penh

Crossing the first of the two great rivers in Phnom Penh

Time to get moving again. After two days in Kampot, we now looked northwards…and to the East. Distances are not too great but since 80 kmh is the fastest we usually can go, it still takes time. For now, we ended our stint to the South and went back up again. Not wanting to end up in Phnom Penh for the night, we had set our eyes to Kampong Cham instead.

It was a good day for riding even if the weather is back up to over 30 degrees. Most days are okay as long as you are in the shade but riding on the roads, perpetually having the sun shine on your helmet makes you heat exhausted and drowsy quite quickly. So we stop for water breaks every now and then. Though Cambodia doesn’t have the always convenient warungs of Indonesia, it has small, garage-sized shops everywhere along the roads. These shops sell everything you might lack: From cold drinks to soaps and shampoo, a pen, some cookies, you get the jest. They all have an ice box (often literally) outside; the fancier ones sell ice cream, the more regular ones just cooled drinks.

Almost there, but the fatigue has hit pretty hard.

Almost there, but the fatigue has hit pretty hard.

So after an hour, we stopped at one of these and bought two bottles of cool water. The owner made some chair appear for us in the shade, so we plopped down and downed our water. Since this is also the “break from the bike” time, we hung around. So the owner came to talk to us. His English was really good and he was very interested in what we had seen so far in Cambodia and where we still planned to go. It always makes people happy when they realize you are actually interested in seeing their country and are not just stopping at Angkor Wat before being lorried out to Laos. He recommended the East to us again and said people are even more friendly there. When we asked him about his English, it turned out that he had worked with an NGO, had to speak English all day while helping former drug addicts. But now he’s more of a businessman and advocate for Cambodia.

We left him to continue our journey but stopped in Phnom Penh for lunch, then continued. It took us until 4.30pm to arrive at the Mekong Hotel. There, the most amusing thing was the security guard, trying to help us carry in our luggage. The panniers are too heavy for most but he still tried without complaint, although the 40 kg obviously nearly broke him. Dinner was had in another training restaurant with lovely staff. It was yummy, even though it was out of its signature black pepper squid dish, to Flo’s dismay.