Today, we’re riding into Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. It’s our last day riding in Cambodia, which is both exciting and sad. Today’s ride is about 65 miles and we’ll need to figure out a couple ferries along the way.
We’ve been told that Phnom Penh is a pretty cool city, with a vibrant culture and interesting restaurants, and so we are looking forward to visiting.
Phnom Penh was founded in 1434 to succeed Angkor Thom (where we just visited near Siem Reap) as the capital of the Khmer nation but was abandoned several times before being reestablished in 1865 by King Norodom.
When the Khmer Rouge came to power in Cambodia in 1975, they forcibly evacuated the entire population of Phnom Penh and drove its residents into the countryside. The city remained virtually deserted until Vietnamese forces invaded Cambodia and overthrew the Khmer Rouge in 1979. Phnom Penh was gradually repopulated in the following years. Because of the virtual extermination of Cambodia’s educated class by the Khmer Rouge, the city’s educational institutions faced a long and difficult period of recovery. Source
We left Kampong Cham early in the morning to try to avoid the heat of the day. The roads were good, and so we made good time to our first ferry crossing. There, a ferry was waiting so we just rolled on and waited for it to leave which happened in 10 minutes or so. The cost was 2,000 riels ($0.50 US) for us and our bikes.
A young boy was there with his grandparents and Chris engaged him with our mascot, the stuffed toy Benny the Bunny, which the child was shy about initially but then captivated by. In the end, the boy got the bunny and we felt good about giving Benny to a young boy from a country that has been so friendly to us. Benny had traveled with us across Europe, NZ, Vietnam and now Cambodia. Happy trails, Benny!
The roads continued to be good, flanked by temples and markets all the way until about 10 miles from Phnom Penh. Our second ferry appeared to have stopped operating, as a new bridge was in place a few miles down the river, where we crossed. Over the bridge, a long frontage road avoiding the busy highway brought us within a few miles of the actual city, where we joined wide roads, big traffic circles and moderate traffic. In one traffic circle, we vied for space with a huge truck, and then the driver honked gently to get our attention and gave me a giant thumbs-up and a huge smile. What a welcome!
As we entered the city center, the streets narrowed and we jockeyed comfortably with tuk-tuks, motor-scooters, cars and pedestrians. There is a logic to the seeming chaos of traffic here, and we now get it! It’s actually kind of relaxing to just be in the flow of traffic here.
Our hotel has a discreet door on the busy street, which we passed by and then circled around to find. We left our bikes with the attendant and checked in! A lovely place, like an oasis in the city. We showered, drained a couple of beers from the mini-fridge in our room and then settled into happy hour soon after. We’ve arrived to our last stop for a while before going back to Colorado in a few days.
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