Siem Reap to An Long Veng

Tues 06/02/14, 136km

After a large buffet breakfast at the hotel it was time to get on the road again (we know a song about that). Negotiated my way down the traffic nightmare that is highway six and after a slight navigational error (road is signposted Angkor Wat about 8km from town) I hit highway 67 which was going to take me the rest of the way. This does go through the Angkor park however I was assured I wouldn't need a ticket.

For the first twenty or thirty kilometres there was a lot of tourist traffic heading out to Bantreay Srei but once I'd passed it, it was like I was in a different world. At first it was rice paddies and palm trees and then the terrain got a bit wilder. Eventually there was a belt of jungle to be passed. Lot of ash in the air at the end due to fields and scrub being burnt off.

Did the day in one sitting despite a plan of stopping around the 80km mark. And no ankle problems!

An Long Veng is a small place but has a few guest houses that seem OK. I checked into the Monorom ($8 for a fan room) and grabbed a late lunch followed by a shower. Not many tourists here, just three who'd come down from Thailand and a group on dirt bikes. Positively barren after Siem Reap!

Passed a fair few trees like this, not sure what the cloth means... Something Buddhist?

DEET shower tonight I think

So this is where you find the Cambodian rules of the road. Stapled to a tree.