The KOMOOT ROUTE
around 850km and it’s goodbye to Cambodia for another year
West Baray– Before we left Siem Reap we revisited this fascinating spot which Chanthou and the crew.
This is the largest hand cut reservoir on earth, it is rectangular and 7.8 km long by 2.1km wide. As the landscape is totally flat would have involved digging and carting the earth from the centre to the perimeter walls, which are over 11m high. This was built in the 11th century and must have taken many thousands of people, generations to complete. Initially historians believed its primary purpose was as a water storage for irrigating the surrounding rice farming. Later evidence suggests it was for symbolic reasons, serving as a vast earthly depiction of the Hindu sea of creation.
Last time we were here we rode around the water filled Baray. This visit, we drove across the Eastern end where it’s currently “dry”. A world of contrast…
We’ll miss our lovely friends and the sights and sounds of Siem Reap…but maybe not all of the flavours…
29th July, Siem Reap to Beng Melea, 60km
A hearty omelette (thanks Socheata!) to send us off and we’re on our way again.
A lovely ride on the temple ring road, until we hit a long stretch of dirt road that progressively turned into mud. After a few km of persevering in the muddy slop we found a longer but much drier route to follow.
Decided to stay at the (posh-ish) Beng Meleah Lodge, and spent the afternoon exploring the jungle temple of Beng Meleah. Not our first visit here, but the first time on bikes! I think this has to be my favourite Cambodian temple (well, so far…). Mostly reclaimed by the foliage around it, but they’ve stabilised it all so that tourists can wander the precinct. There’s just something about it…
Back from exploring, a little bit of rain caused havoc with the electrics in our room so a room shift was needed- a little bit nicer room and not complaining!
July 30, Beng Melea to Koh Ker, 50km
A shortish ride today, arriving in time for lunch at the “I am Koh Ker” homestay.
Koh Ker is home to a complex of lesser known but quite fascinating temples. Despite Neil’s protestations that we should ride the 30km ish round trip to check them out, we booked a tuk tuk and did the circuit (small mercies…)
Lots of small and somewhat crumbling structures, but the grandest of them is the “Pyramid ” temple which also has steps (167 precisely) to a viewing platform at the top. Not another foreigner to be seen…a little surprising as it was quite a structure.
And that…is enough temples for a while! (Sorry Chanthou…)
We found a nearby local restaurant with lovely landscape views and delicious food with a price tag of under $10 to feed and hydrate us both 😀
July 31st, Koh Ker to Preah Vihear, 57km
Lovely scenery, jungle covered hills (thankfully we didn’t have to tackle them 🤣) and easy going.
Preah Vihear is a large town with plenty of accommodation options, in theory at least. We opted for the Sokha homestay at $15 for the night. Found some Cambodian Yellow pancakes for lunch and enjoyed a “cook it yourself BBQ ” for dinner. Umm, yes our lives do seem to revolve around the next meal…
August 1st, Preah Vihear to the middle of nowhere. Actually a little town called Chhaeb…not quite half way to Stung Treng. 56km and rain!
Sights along the way never cease to surprise us. The ingenuity and lack of regulations make the roads and highways of Cambodia fascinating, A 90cc moped towing a trailer fitted out as a mobile shop or garden centre or carrying 3 tonnes of rice. Trailers stacked up with furniture, logs or charcoal towed by little more than a garden implement.
Even 56 km seemed a long way today…so tomorrow will be worse. But we stopped at the village of Chhaeb because it was the only place we could see that had any accommodation.
And boy oh boy, what a treat this place is!
For $6US, we have a fan room with an awful lot of grime and walls splattered with God knows what, but a bed that does seem to have clean linen (although we didn’t take our chances…out come the trusty liners we brought with us…)
What it doesn’t have is any sort of connecting drain from the wash basin, or a flushing toilet…or even a toilet seat for that matter! Although there is a random unattached one that we really don’t want to touch…
August 2nd, 86km Chhaeb to Stung Treng
An earlyish start for a big day on the bikes- over 5 hours of riding today. And it’s getting hotter again!
Made it to the mighty Mekong- what a sight! It really is huge.
We chose better for our accommodation today- a lovely, clean room with air-con and still only $13 💁♀️
And a simple, delicious plate of fried noodles for dinner, cooked on the street while we wait….ahhhh
So this is our last night in Cambodia. In the morning we head for the Laos border for the next bit of our 2026 adventure. Until next time!!