Countryside in the city

I've started biking to school this semester.  It's only a few miles from my house.  But before, I was always nervous about the sweat, the potholes, the danger of being the little guy cringing at every speeding Lexus and towering truck.  Logos is on the edge of Phnom Penh, and the road it's on connects to a highway out to the province.  So the route to school is busy, particularly at rush hour.  Bikes get shoved to the edge of the road, where it floods, where it's not quite paved, where motos that just turned left are driving on the wrong side straight toward you.  It didn't seem worth it when I already had a moto (AKA scooter).

Several friends had bikes, though, and said it wasn't as bad as it seemed.  I wanted the exercise and the freedom to travel alone when Sarah (housemate and moto co-owner) needed the moto to go elsewhere.  And I have no desire to augment Phnom Penh's pollution.  So I finally bought a bike over Christmas break, with the caveat that I'd still use the moto several days a week if biking took too much mental effort. 

Little did I know they were cementing the back roads!  These roads were barely passable several months back.  Their gigantic potholes every dozen yards, bricks and fist-sized stones jutting out left and right, and broken glass have now been transformed into a smooth, silent ride. 

Now, I can go 3/4 of the way on nearly deserted roads, with only a couple minutes of more chaotic traffic.  Rather than a stress factor, riding my bike to and from school has become a sanctuary of peace and beauty.  Traffic is rare, and almost none of it is cars.  So I can observe locals, soak in nature, and fantasize that I'm hours away from Phnom Penh.  Taking the moto isn't even tempting, at least for now while hot season holds off.  Here are some of the treats I look out for each day.

 

The little boy is in front of my house; the girl is across the street.  A bunch of kids live in the house across from me, and often play in the street or on the sidewalk.  One day, I arrived at my gate to find these two chatting away on their "phones."  How cute are they?