Fourteen.

Day 16

So we were happy to be leaving Kratie. It’s only a small place and we had done what we came for… The locals weren’t so smiley. Maybe they had heard about New Year’s Eve.

The transport was getting worse and worse. We were put on a local bus which was already filled with large sacks of rice and ginger. It was a climb to get to our seats. The bus held 18 but the back row was filled with crap so no one could use the four seats. The last I counted they had managed to squeeze in 35 people, two bikes, everyones luggage, so much food, chickens, ducks and an unknown wriggling sack. A four hour journey turned into 8 hours. The driver stopped every ten minutes to put more stuff on the bus. We had a pit stop. A grotty restaurant and an even more grotty toilet. It felt like we were re-enacting the toilet seen from Trainspotting. We finally arrived at Sen Monorom, the capital of the Mondulkiri Provence.

Chantha Sreypich Guesthouse. We walked through the market with our packs to the guesthouse. It was hot but we were happy to be out of the bus. The owner of the guesthouse introduced himself and had a very kind happy smile. I didn’t trust him. The room was fine. No windows. Bright blue walls and clashing pink mosquito net. Tacky boudoir vibes. Somewhere mystic meg would probably hang out.

The Hangout. We had a stroll around the market and up to a bar we had read about called The Hangout. It was cool. A young Australian guy runs it and it’s very chilled. Free pool table and foosball table. The best part was the western food on the menu. We had chicken, veggies and chips. It came out and there was gravy! It wasn’t aunt Bessie’s but it was good. The cocktails were also tastey. Plus there was a kitten.

Day 17

We were going to treat ourselves to a lay in but decided to get up early and go to a yoga class. So setting the alarm at 6:30am we had a healthy fruit breakfast and walked across town just to find the yoga studio was closed. Just our luck. It didn’t matter. Instead we went to the empty rooftop bar at the guesthouse and did a routine from YouTube. By the end of it the cleaners were taking it in turns to come and watch us.

We didn’t do much after that. Deciding to go back to The Hangout and spend most of the day drinking. We met a friendly Polish guy who had been mostly cycling around Southeast Asia. We regurgitated the usual conversations you have with fellow travellers ‘where have you been? Where are you going? How long are you travelling for?’ We drank some more cocktails and it was fun.

When we did decide to move it was to the bar next door. Run by a good looking Swedish couple who have an adorable baby and a dog.  They do a deliciously refreshing lemons grass majito and a ginger majito.

For dinner we had street food and I wasn’t sick.

Day 18

Another rest day. Why not. Plenty of time to kill. We woke up and did another work out. It was a pretty intense workout in front of our adoring cleaner lady fans.

There’s not much to say. We craved chocolate so we went and got some. We got purple sweet potato crisps and some gone off chocolate (didn’t notice this until after we ate it all). We stayed in and Netflix and chilled.