Kampong Cham to Kompong Thom

Tuesday December 19, 2017, 68 miles (110 km) - Total so far: 2,734 miles

(4,401 km)

A great ride today.

Riding out of Kampong Cham on highway 7 is busy but fine. We then turned onto route 71, which is much quieter and makes for very pleasant riding. No shoulder but not busy either. Plenty to look at including rubber and fruit plantations, and we found an ice little place for an iced coffee. Lots of 'hellos' as usual! There was one short section of dirt (about 2km) but, actually, the surface was smoother than a lot of paved roads!

If you don't want to push on all the way to Kompong Thom, Kompong Thmar is probably your best option. We had originally intended to stop there, and I'd found a guesthouse on google maps that gets a great review from a cycle tourist - Romchong Guesthouse. It's a fairly big town, if a little dusty. There's a large Tela petrol station at the junction between the 71 and the road through the town - spotless toilets and a large mini-mart for provisions.

I'd been dreading highway 6, but was pleasantly surprised. I was hopeful that the surface would be ok (having courted CGOAB for recent reports!) and it is (currently) pretty much perfect. Wide shoulder too - it's like being in Thailand! It's also surprisingly scenic, with wooden houses nestling amongst palm groves. Lots of drink stops - we stopped at one and, as is often the case, looked like we'd literally made the guy's day. You also ride along a stretch where lots of stone carvings are taking place - it's quite something. We both agreed we'd assumed the stone buddhas etc were actually moulded concrete - nope, they're carved.

We arrived in Kompong Thom in time for a very late lunch at Arunas. This place is on all the guides, but we thought it was a bit of a hole! The restaurant is wholly uninspiring inside (huge and grubby) but the food was decent, and cheap. The hotel itself is the least inspiring I've seen in Cambodia - really dingy and there was a cockroach in the bathroom. No thanks! One plus point was that they suggested we could carry the bikes to the room.

We checked out another place but it was full (turns out it's in the Lonely Planet) so we turned to google, and found the Santeheap Guesthouse. Highly recommended - it's clean, bright and spacious. Excellent fan room with windows on two sides for $6.25. Also friendly and English speaking as a bonus. We were shown where to leave our bikes, which are locked to a pipe and screened from view of passing traffic, albeit outside.

We had dinner at the Love Cafe - western food, run by an American lady. The veggie burger and quesadillas were excellent (particularly the latter), but they don't serve beer! Good tea selection though :)