Thursday, January 14, 2010

On the Road: Sen Monoram, Suong

After a second night in Kratie, we were ready to get back on the road all the way to Sen Monoram in the mountains of Mondulkiri province.

[caption id="attachment_1456" align="alignnone" width="463" caption="Ready to Ride"]Ready to Ride[/caption]

It was a long ride, and featured some more off-road than we'd experienced until that point. Though the conditions were really dry, our guide, Daniel, managed to find a deep patch of stealthy mud:

[caption id="attachment_1454" align="alignnone" width="466" caption="Quick Mud - Daniel Goes Down!"]Quick Mud - Daniel Goes Down![/caption]

Once far away from any real cities, we had to rely on small road-side stands for our gas needs:
[caption id="attachment_1455" align="alignnone" width="430" caption="Gassing Up"][/caption]

We made it to Sen Monoram without incident, and got lucky when this Guest House, which was more like bungalows, had some 'rooms' available for only $5 a night ($6 if you wanted hot water showers).
[caption id="attachment_1457" align="alignnone" width="430" caption="Cute Phnom Meas Guest House in Sen Monoram"][/caption]

We spent two nights in Sen Monoram exploring the area, before getting back on the road and heading toward Prey Vang.

The scenery on the journey was, for the most part, quite beautiful, and we got to see a lot of ox-carts (pulled by water buffalo), and other interesting modes of transportation. I can't imagine the balance involved below:
[caption id="attachment_1458" align="alignnone" width="430" caption="Delivering the Goods?"][/caption]

Unfortunately, we couldn't make it all the way to Prey Vang before dark, so we decided to stay the night in the very small town of Suong (main street pictured here):
[caption id="attachment_1459" align="alignnone" width="430" caption="Town of Suong"][/caption]

We would be spending just one more night on the road before finishing our bike tour.

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