Kampong Cham

The trip to Kampong Cham was pretty subdued compared to the others we have taken so far in Cambodia. The roads were pretty decent and not too dusty. Louise, myself and Ian arrived at a little town in the middle of now where and usually used as backpackers as a gateway to better places. We checked in to the best hotel in town and headed of to explore the hustle and bustle of this little town. We were the eye saw of the place. Tourist!!! Or Barang as we are called. Heads turned and were astonished to see us. We were the talk of the town!
The following day we hire bike each and peddled off to see a Chedi on a hill one made by women and one made by men..Well as the legend has it.
Apparently the women and men competed to make a Chedi on opposing hills by dawn. The woman built a big fire and the men thought this was the rising sun so stopped work on the Chedi. So the woman won! This meant that the woman no longer had to ask the men for their hand in marriage.
On the way to the hill Ians bike was experiencing technical difficulties and the chain kept falling off. He didn't take my advice and ask a local mechanic to fix it and instead headed back to town. Louise and I headed of in to the distance to find the Chedi's on the Hill.
We finally came to what looked like a temple on a hill so decided to take this as the Chedi we were seeking. Yep...We were right!
What gave it away was in the guide book it said that the male hill had many monkey that watched you as you sat and had a drink in this spectacular place. Well thay were right and this meant that I was they were for all of two seconds. So I went and I saw!! And I got the hell out of there!
Ian meanwhile decided that perhaps I was right and seeked help from a mechanic who in about two seconds fixed the bike. So off he peddled in seek of Louise and I and the cheat on the Hill. He completely missed the hill and road off for about another hour heading toward Siem Reap. 3 hours later he reached us back at the hotel where we were waiting to start our adventure to the bamboo bridge.
Typical Male.!!!
The Bamboo bridge is exactly that. It's a bridge which is constructed at the start of the dry season completely out of bamboo. It connect a small island village in the middle of the Mekong with the mainland of Kampong Cham. It is a genius feat of engineering in itself.
We rode our bikes across it and I was having flash back of falling off my bike and braking my nose all over again!! But I survived sore ass and all!! And we paid for the privilege at the end. It's a toll bridge you see!! We peddled our way in to the village and were greeted by the kids and locals with great enthusiasm. I was definitely the main attraction as women grabbed the tops of my arms an were in awe at the size of me. I really am starting to feel like Jabba the hut I tell you. Or a big chunk of white blubber. This place does nothing for my complex.
Anyway it was all fun and we were exhausted after riding around in the heat all day..And the next day we had a long bus trip ahead.