Had another go at border crossing after riding to Moc Hoa where there was a proper crossing set up rather than a bamboo barrier across a dirt road. Exiting Vietnam was a simple procedure - we just got stamped out and told "Go Campuchia" so off we went through no man's land and over to Cambodia border where border guards were much friendlier. Filled in a couple of forms, paid the visa fees found out where the nearest bank was to get some Cambodian Riels and set off again. The differences from one side of border to the other were noticeable. Things looked less well kept and people looked less well off. People looked slightly different in that they were darker skinned, rounder faced, smiled more easily and of course spoke a different language. It always amazes me, how just going across a man-made border you can see so many differences. Not just here but in Europe and other parts of the world too. And in larger countries like India, you notice the same sort of differences going across state borders. Maybe that's why we have borders.

We got to Kampong Rou a few kilometres down the road and found the bank. Of course we were in another country now and our sim cards no longer worked. We should have thought about this and downloaded offline map of the area and the offline English-Khmer translator but we had not. We realised our mistake whilst having a drink in a cafe not far from the bank. Well, I say having a drink, but I wasn't really, because the drink I had chosen - Winter Melon drink - was disgusting! Anyway, we rode back to the bank where they had free wifi and downloaded the map but there was no offline Khmer so we just had to manage. 

We found that generally Cambodia was slightly more expensive than Vietnam. Petrol especially was twice the price at nearly $1 per litre whereas in Vietnam it was just 50 cents or less.

Looking at the map we knew we wanted to visit Phnom Penh but that was all. Angkor Wat was too far away for this trip as we wanted to head back into Vietnam in a day or two. We headed north-west towards Phnom Penh not knowing where else would be interesting to visit. As we arrived in Svay Rieng town we stopped to figure out where to go and young lad approached us and asked if we needed any help. He spoke good English and said that there was nothing to see in that town. He suggested we go to Neak Loeung as there was a big bridge across the Mekong there worth seeing as there was nothing like it anywhere else in Cambodia. It was some 60 kms away and we could get there in an hour on the highway. The bikes were great and easily cruised at 80 and had plenty more oomph left in them even though they were only 150cc engines.
With some money I got for Christmas, I had bought myself a "bumbag for bikers". It was essentially a bag filled with some kind of beads which claimed to help prevent the "numb bum" feeling you get when riding bikes over long distances. After using it for the first couple of days and thinking it didn't really do anything I had taken it off yesterday. My bum was numb. So I had put the bag back on the saddle and it was doing a great job!

We were a bit underwhelmed when we arrived at what looked like a smaller version of Dartford crossing! The Mekong is huge here. When we stopped to take some photos on the bridge a couple of guys who were in a van and had also stopped wanted their photos taken with us. We had arrived! We had made it!! In fact we found that this would happen quite a number of times over the next few weeks.

Stopped for a drink and lunch by the road side a bit further along. It was very hot but not unbearable at around 33° C. As there was nothing else to see/do here we moved on towards Prey Veng. The tarmac ended and dusty/sandy/gravel road started at the edge of Neak Loeung. It was horrible when trucks and cars passed us. We got covered in crap and couldn't see a thing for a little while. In villages we saw people hosing down the road in front of their properties to kill the dust. As we approached one such village there was a dip in the road and I slowed down and looked in the mirror to warn Ron who was behind me. At that moment, I saw a big cloud of dust in my mirror and Ron disappeared from my sight. Immediately I turned around and found Ron pinned face down by his bike in a ditch. I lifted the bike and freed him. He had a deep cut on the bridge of his nose where his glasses had dug into him but apart from that and a sore foot and bruised ribs he was OK. Thank God! He had hit a patch of soft sand and lost the front wheel and there was nothing he could've done to save it. He looked worse than he did with blood pouring out of his nose but when we cleaned him up he seemed OK. It could've been so much worse. Even his Rolex had survived to tell the time another day. There was a pond/lake just over the ditch and both he and the bike could've ended up in it.

What surprised us both was that despite it being a busy road, only one car driver and a passing motorcyclist stopped. The car driver did not ask how Ron was or anything as he was on his mobile phone the entire time. But he did help me to lift the bike out of the ditch and then got in his car and drove off. Local people saw what had happened but no one came to ask if we needed help. The clutch lever had broken on the bike and there were a few scratches to the plastic but otherwise the bike was OK too. We did a road-side repair with some gaffer tape and rode on to find a bike shop for a replacement lever. Prey Veng was still 22 kms away. When we arrived there and asked some locals if there was a hotel nearby, a lady got on her bike and rode with us to show where the hotel was. How nice is that!

We went out after getting cleaned up and had some soupy-rice for dinner by the road side. It was delicious. Then back at the hotel we met some local salesmen and after chatting for a while with the one of them asked if Ron and I spoke the same language? Apparently they could understand me when I spoke to them but they had no idea what Ron was saying to them. Go figure!

160 km covered / 9 hours riding