55 kms to Udong and back

So you thought I was done with long cycling trips right?  Nope, nope, nope. Think again. 

Saturday Tim, Katie, and the MBAs (i.e. two Hagar interns) met up at Cafe Yejj before embarking on a roughly 55 km bike trip to the Udong area.  Tim's new GPS led the way along one of the National Roads, where we peddled and coughed up black exhaust as we weaved our way out of the city, to the "real" Cambodia, where I welcomed quiet mud-red dirt roads, bright green rice paddies and children swimming in streams shouting "hello!"  

The first 1/2 hour of cycling or so brought us to a little house next to bamboo tracks and a Caterpillar tractor... an opportune time for Josh to fulfill his life-long dream of driving one. 

While we waited, the old man living at the house called up his buddy to bring the train (lorry) to take us to a village near Udong and 40 minutes later we found ourselves and our bikes loaded up on the rickety boards, pummeling down the tracks. This was my second time on the bamboo train and it was just as fun as the first, not just because I'm breathing fresh air, but because it's the real "off-the-beaten-path" Cambodia: skinny cows, flooded rice fields, ancient railroad tracks, dirt roads, palm trees, and darkening skies. 

When we came to a small village near Udong we unloaded, bought some ciek (bananas) at a stand and a woman told me I was number 1 barang on bike!  I'm not entirely sure why, but nowadays that beats Obama getting the peace prize. She also had to point out how white my arms were in comparison to hers. I took off my bad-ass (not really) gloves and showed her where the Cambodia sun had drawn the line.    

One bike ride up a hill (I may have walked my bike half-way up while Tim charged to the top in record time) and we were at the temple. We took a coke break, some pictures (including one of very disturbing statues involving shooting human beings with a bow & arrow, see below) and I used the monk's latrine.  

Half-asleep on Sunday, I rolled out of bed to volunteer at a Democrats Abroad US Health Care Reform brunch followed by my first $15 dentist appointment in Cambodia. Yay for still having all my teeth!