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01/06/2007: "Day 5-Battambang to Pursat"

Hi all, Maryann here. Yesterday was our first LONG day, 111 Kilometers to be exact. After a fabulous breakfast of chocolate banana pancakes we set off around 6:30, passing the usual trucks full of laughing men and women and smiling kids. Recreating high school jam sessions kept Daniela, Tom, Dave and I in good spirits throughout the morning despite a biting and strong wind that made every pedal twice the effort. The best motivation is always the kids. They run out of every house, field, building, and school we pass....screaming goodbye and hello (which I believe they think means the same thing) and cheering us on like we're riding in the Tour de France. I've been so grateful to know the little Khmer that I do. Everywhere we stop the women stare and talk about us....they're so surprised and excited that a few of us can communicate back to them and they go around the table and ask about each one of us, our age, whether we're married, etc. They compare our skin and who's prettier and its hysterical how much of an event we are everywhere we go. For a brief moment yesterday we were searching for a missing team member who went to the wrong hotel on accident. Our stellar guide Mr. Lucky went to ask around for her and found that pretty much everyone in any town we go to knows where we all are.

Most of the team stopped at a school visit in Prey Svey about halfway into the ride. My favorite activity to do at the schools is our trash pick up game. In Cambodia there's just a different standard of cleanliness...the rule of the day is pretty much to throw anything and everything anywhere. The schools are littered with plastic bags, straws, and paper and no one has ever taught kids the value of keeping communities clean. We put the kids in teams and have a race to collect the most garbage around the school. Besides LOVING the competition, the schools look amazing when things are done and hopefully we've gotten across some kind of point about the health and environmental benefits of keeping trash in its place. The principal at the school yesterday was so impressed he said they would practice many times and show us how clean they could keep the school when we come back next year.

The highlight of the day for me though was the most interesting bathroom I've ever visited. After a lunch break, Christina and I asked around our restaurant to see if there was any kind of toilet available nearby. The wrinkled man at the restaurant sent over a young boy with funky black hair who led us across the street and down a dirt path to his house. He passed the house, went through a small field where hogs and piglets were feeding and then climbed over a fence into a pig sty where a huge 2 ton hog was oinking louder than anything I've ever heard. He walks past the hog and points to a shack with a short metal door. I mean, I guess it makes some sense to put the toilet IN the pig pen, but still.....The whole time I was inside the noises from the pig were so loud I was sure CHristina was getting eaten. Besides hysterically laughing for about an hour afterwards, it definitely makes me realize the value of what I have.

For the last half of the day I rode with the speed demons Christina and Anna....who pushed me like crazy, and made the best riding team in the nasty wind. With Christina rocking out to Madonna and teamwork drafting we finally made it the last 30K into Pursat around 2:30, celebrating with a few Angkors and cold showers. Everyday I walk into a guesthouse so tired, so dirty, and so battered. Its amazing how quickly those dissapear and turn into that elated feeling of "wow'" what an amazing day. I can't wait to do it again tomorrow.