Sok Sapbai

I had a brilliant week, spent mostly in the Northwestern province of Siem Reap, home to the many temples of Angkor, as well as one of the PEPY schools. I spent three days at the school, helping our wonderful English teacher Tolors and getting to know the students a bit better. The kids never fail to impress--they are bright and eager and grasp English speaking basics with ease. Some of the kids have even invented their own English slang, mimicking the Khmer slang pattern of flip-flopping syllables. For example Sok Sapbai (happy and healthy) becomes Sai Sapbok...in English they transformed "I dunno" into "Oh-dun-nai". Many laughs when I finally caught on...



While I was there a team of PEPY Tours cyclists came through(on their way from the Thai border to Phnom Penh), stopping at the school for a day and night. Everyone enjoyed meeting the students and even helped Tolors teach his evening English class. Good times.

The following day I was able to join the riders as we biked from the rural school to the small city of Siem Reap, about 70km. Gorgeous weather and beautiful flat countryside made the dust kicked up by the passing trucks bearable--biking is absolutely the best way to see a country!


We spent several days in Siem Reap, which is the jumping off point for the Angkor Temples, just kilometers away. Saturday we had a great time mountain biking around the temples--the main roads between the temples have been paved but its easy enough to find some dirt and single-track paths as well. At one point as we're pedalling past a crumbling 1000-yr old structure, the PEPY director turns and says "My life is a 10". Ditto.




The photos, taken from the back of a motorbike in the late afternoon, are from the rural area of Chanleas Dai, home of the PEPY Ride School.