From China to Thailand

Boarding the plane to Hong Kong and knowing to be back on the road soon felt really good after spending almost 3 months in Germany. Arriving back in Kunming made me instantly feel like coming home. Before I could leave the airport I was held back by the immigration police as the only one, and there had been quite a few westerners with me on the plane. I suspect the visa-extension, I had obtained last year after leaving Tibet, or perhaps they had information stored in their database about the fine and the alien travel permit which I obtained in Ali in West Tibet. After a brief check of what a cyclist carries along in his luggage and many apologies I was allowed to leave. Stepping out of the airport a minibus-driver was already waiting for me and the big cardboard box where my bikme was in. Excellent! We loaded up, hit the road, swallowed by Kunming’s crazy traffic. Back at the Cloudlands-Hostel was a big hello. After acclimatizing for a couple of days, revisiting my favourite food places I hit the road. With amazement I had to realize that, apart from having put on weight, most of my fitness was gone. But fortunately, the body seems to have some kind of memory, so, after two weeks I was again able to do the big climbs in southern Yunnan Province.

Southern Yunnan, with its huge rice-terraced slopes, interesting minority people and delicious food everywhere was an awesome place to travel. In contrast to entering the country, leaving China was just a matter of how long it takes to get the passport stamped. Crossing into Laos was easy and somewhat straightforward. Many people seem to like Laos. Laos is Backpackers heaven. And indeed, Laos is nice a nice place. The Lao people are friendly with little ambition in hassling tourists, which makes travelling easy. The climate in Laos was, the same like in Southern China – very hot. From now on my main task will be to stay properly hydrated, and to avoid the hottest time of the day. Having travelled mainly through less-touristy areas yet, Laos seemed a bit boring at first sight: everything conveniently set-up catering for both the budget- as well as the better situated tourist in need for entertainment. But my attitude towards the country grew better the further south I progressed.

Crossing the border into Cambodia was again no big deal, with the immigration staff being extraordinarily friendly and courteous. Just the guy who issued the visa asked for US$ 21 straight (the usual fee is $20), which didn’t leave any opportunity to avoid the $1 “stamp-fee, which probably went straight to his pocket. Not that I’d go broke on that dollar, but as a principle I try to avoid paying bribes or imaginary fees. A few minutes before, getting stamped out of Laos was more exciting: just when I had the immigration officer at the point where he’d got bored of the fee-extortion game and willing to let me leave without paying any extra-money, a minibus with some locals and a Swedish couple showed up. Witnessing our conversation, the Swedish guy toldme, the immigration officers listening, that this would be a legal fee, opening up his “Yellow Bible” the Lonely Planet edition “Southeast Asia on a Shoestring” showing us the respective passage. Well, no need to say how I felt about such an amount of solidarity by fellow travellers….

10 Km’s down the road, I met Stefan, a Dutch cyclist, who provided some useful details about the road ahead. The ride to Steung Treng is pretty straight forward these days with drinks available every few km’s marked by orange freezers alongside the road. Arriving in Steung Treng, I decided to have another day off (didn’t do much cycling recently), but the next day going to Kratie would be a tough one: approx. 150km, hot, headwind, sealed but rough road. I met Alain again, a 19yo. Swiss-french guy which I had previously met in Laos.

We were both quite happy about the unexpected encounter, pushing on the next 3 days to Kampong Cham. There we separated, I went south to Phnom Penh and Alain pressed on to Siem Reap. Getting closer to Phnom Penh stirred quite some excitement, having read and heard lots of wild stories about the place. After struggling the whole day on dusty dirt roads, getting sick from all the dust-intake, I finally traversed the Tonle Sap River over the Japanese Bridge and started the usual quest for decent priced accommodation. I ended up in a new guesthouse, which wasn’t open yet, but the owner was the brother of the owner of the well-running guesthouse next door and happy to make some business. It was not a real bargain though, but it was convenient for the bike and the owner had a lovely young wife, who gave me best of her attention…

Phnom Penh from what I have heard and seen so far, seems to be pretty tamed these days: no people with big guns roaming the streets, no brothel villages and no freely available ganja anymore. All kinds of NGOs and foreign investment have taken over, with masses of expats spoiling the place. The Tuol Sleng (better known as Security Prison S-21) then brought me back down to earth: finding out that under the Khmer Rouge Regime within 2 years time out of 20.000 people (men, women and children) who have been detained, severely tortured and killed, only 7 managed to get out alive, is a fact to digest.

Not to forget about the other 2 million who have died, by just being randomly killed due to suspicion of being a traitor, a spy, an enemy of the system, or simple being starved to death by malnutrition and forced labour while producing rice (!) to be exported to China in exchange for weapons. However, compared to Laos, Cambodia is still a wild place. Having had 2 (!) prime ministers for quite some time, no special permits needed to pick up work or ride any kind of motorbike, 20 people, 2 motorbikes, 3 fridges and a lot more stuff travelling on a minibus designed for 8 passengers, eating fried spiders as a substitute for vaccinations, or a fish paste made from by fish which is soaked in water for a week, before further processed…

The owner of the guesthouse seemed to be a nice guy, but became a bit annoying soon with his lack of professionalism. So when I left, he ripped me off a bit. Not badly, and probably not on purpose, rather his non existent bookkeeping skills where the reason for this. More or less it was my own fault – I shouldn’t have been so trustworthy or at least have asked for receipts. So I just accepted the facts trying to not let it spoil my day, headed downstairs, packed the bike, stole a kiss from his lovely wife and headed towards Siem Reap!

Siem Reap, with it’s gorgeous ruins of the ancient Khmer-Kingdom, better known as Angkor Wat, is the main reason why tourists are attracted to Cambodia. Fortunately it was off-season so most sites were peaceful and could be appreciated respectively. Apart from the temples, the main attraction for a cyclist was the town’s Pub-Street and not to forget the “Tell”, a Swiss German restaurant with probably the best schnitzel to be found in Southeast Asia.

Apart from the climate and the dust, which both do not suit very well to do extensive physical exercise, I could have stayed another month or two in this lovely country. But, as my visa was about to expire and I did’t feel like heading back to Phnom Penh to get an extension I had to say good-bye and leave for the final leg: a 160km-stretch of dusty, corrugated dirt road to Poipet, the border town to Thailand. Quite a few people told me horror stories about the condition of the road, as well as the border itself. As for the road condition, I am not on a bus or pickup truck so I can take it easy. As for the dodgy character of the border: Central Asia had been a good training. The road was tougher then expected but the border was piece of cake: after I started queuing with the rest, an official made me advance the line of backpackers to get my passport stamped! These are the times when I strongly realize that cyclists and backpackers are different species… After the exit stamp was in my passport, I rolled over to Thailand, my 21st country.