Cycle to Kep

This past week Cambodia celebrated the Buddhist celebration of P'chum Ben, or Ancestor's Day, which lasts anywhere from 5-9 days depending on to whom you talk. We at PEPY happily recognized the national holidays, and enjoyed a 5-day weekend. Jonathan and Tim, two other interns, and I took off on mountain bikes, and cycled down to the coast for a mini-adventure. Actually, we hopped on top a mini-bus until we were well out of Phnom Penh, but we did cycle over 100km on our first day, down to the sleepy town of Kep. It was a gorgeous day and a superb ride through the graciously flat Cambodian countryside. Below are photos and captions from the first part of our journey...


Yes I have the yellow jersey, but Jonathan (center) is the only real cyclist in the group.

From the top of the mini-bus. This cool lady rode on the back and collected the money. Why were we on top you ask? The 15-passenger bus already had about 30 inside. Not exaggerating. At one point, even the rooftop became too crowded, and I was STANDING in the rear window on the left side, arm's reach from the passing vehicles! The words for crazy in Khmer are "lop-lop" and "chkua-chkua". This voyage was both.

Finally! We're off the mini-bus and almost on our way...

Roadside view on a brilliantly sunny afternoon.

Along either side of the road, there is a house about every 50-100 meters. As we passed each home, 98% of the time, kids and adults too, come out beaming smiles and shouting "HELLO" and other bits of English that they know, like "Whatyourname?" and "Are you marry?". It seemed the further we rode, the more friendly and spirited the greetings became, often as if they had been waiting for us to pass. This happened for the whole of the 100km, even the last two hours when we were pedaling in the dark and could not see the houses from which the voices hailed.

Smiling faces like this one, for the entire ride.


Afternoon begins to fade on palm-dotted rice paddies. Also, Cambodia has the best clouds. Ever.

Cows, ever present on and beside Cambodian roads.


Another stunning view, on the right a gate leading to a pagoda.

A high-school boy, whose name I've already forgotten, who rode up next to me on his motorbike, and traveled alongside for 20 minutes while I pedaled. He and a friend were on his way to English class, and couldn't believe their luck to meet a foreigner on the road. We chatted a good bit before pulling over briefly to take this photo. He was so excited to speak English, and couldn't wait to tell his teacher that he had a real English conversation on the way to class. When he finally rode ahead, a bit late for the lesson, he shouted back to me "Good luck, thank you so much" at least a half-dozen times.

The beauty of Cambodia is often masked by its poverty, muddied rivers, littered roads, and ramshackle buildings--especially if one remains in the city. On this day however, some truly gorgeous faces of Cambodia were revealed, filling me with satisfaction and wonder.