Shortly after the purchase of bicycle I started having troubles with leaking rear tire valve. I was excited to have my own ride but the excitement only lasted a day. I went for a ride the following day and found the rear tire completely flat. Unable to ride, I took the bicycle back to the shop where it was purchased and insisted that they replace the leaking valve. Dealing with Cambodians, there was a lot of customer mistreatment when they would say something to each other in a language I clearly did not understand and had a good laugh at it while I was standing there puzzled. This type of behaviour is very common in Cambodia as is zero after-sale support.

I knew I stood a very little chance of having the issue with leaking valve resolved, but I was determined to get results. After a good while of obvious abuse when I was being ignored and had jokes made on my behalf, I made a firm requirement again that they fix the problem with rear tire valve. Eventually, after seeing that I meant business, one of the boys working in the shop inflated the tire with a hand pump. I knew this was not gonna resolve the problem as if tire held air, it wouldn’t have gone flat within one day in the first place.

Seeing that none of the shop people were willing to spend any more time with me, I left. Not surprisingly, the tire was solid flat within a day again. There was an obvious issue with the valve that could not be solved by re-inflating. I headed back to the shop and stayed very adamant demanding a solution to this and re-inflating was not it. They were not willing to take care of it as in Cambodia, after money is spent, the deal is closed and if you bought a piece of junk, it’s just tough luck.

I stood behind my rights and showed I was not going anywhere unless the valve is fixed so one of the boys eventually took the bike and started working on the leaking valve. New valve solved my problem and there were no more flat tires every day. It wasn’t easy, but standing up for myself and my rights as a customer even in a country like Cambodia where no one has any rights did eventually deliver results. It was tight, but it worked.

After my failed attempt to buy a bicycle with help from a Tuk Tuk driver, I knew I was gonna have to take some risk and rely more upon myself in dealing with shops where English is not spoken. The question of “where to buy a mountain bike in Siem Reap” became more pressing as did the question of how to buy it without excessive overpaying (aka getting ripped off) just because I’m a foreigner in Cambodia. In all this melee, I’ve managed to get help from people on Couch Surfing.

It became apparent that National Road 6 is the place to go shopping for bicycles. That’s exactly the place where I was taken by a Tuk Tuk driver the day prior and had been over quoted. The hints I have received clearly suggested that there are more bicycle selling shops on National Road #6, they are just further down east. And that’s where I went.

I strolled down National Road 6 in Siem Reap, passed by the bicycle shop I went to day prior and just a bit further there was another. As it goes with National Road 6 – the shops are primarily geared towards locals so nobody, absolutely nobody speaks English and if a tourist shows up, everyone starts the smell big cash-in as that’s what Cambodians see tourists as (walking bag of money, or walking ATM machine if you will).

Realizing my options were limited, I popped in next bicycle shop and started looking at available mountain bikes and attempted to use sign language to ask about price. Everything was far more reasonable that the day prior and even though I knew I was gonna pay way more than a local would for the same piece of bike wreck, I was OK with it as prices quoted seemed to be in a more reasonable level than yesterday.

The bikes were obviously second hand (aka stolen), no names, all made in China. One way or another, I was gonna end up with a piece of junk, but this was Cambodia, I could go with the junkyard items or pay Tuk Tuks to drive me everywhere. The latter didn’t seem like a good option so bike it was gonna have to be regardless of how awful a piece of scrap metal I would get.

I tried a couple, each seemed as though it was gonna break apart upon third use but I eventually settled with imitated mountain bike that was probably stolen from a guy in Japan as it had a Japanese name painted on it. It had gears and looked a bit like a mountain bike which was a step up from most other bikes which look like they belonged in the 70′s. Pedals seemed to click in an awful way, making unpleasant rattling noise and trembled as used, but it was the best I could get for $38. Yeah, that’s what I paid for my primary means of transportation in Cambodia. Mighty $38.

Picture of My Bad-Ass Mountain Bike I Took in Angkor Wat Area

It was all worth it. I noticed the difference right upon my first ride from the bike shop back to the guesthouse. I rode past several Tuk Tuk drivers who all just stared at me. Bike eliminate a lot of annoyance from Tuk Tuk drivers and other touts who are everywhere, never leaving you alone from the day you set foot in Cambodia till the time to leave. It was awesome not being harassed by them just because I was on a bike, the only tricky part was extreme heat which made bike riding a bid challenging, but that (nature) I could deal with. Vastly encouraged, I drove my bike everywhere.

The last possession I had to store was my mountain bike. I loved my Specialized Hard Rock Pro. I paid top dollars for it, but it was my main means of transportation for two years and the only means for almost a year. Very reliable bike and a pleasure to ride.

Photo: Specialized Hard Rock Pro Mountain Bike

I phoned Dave on Sunday to see if he was at home so I can ride the bike to his place. I got a message back that he’d be around till about 5pm as he had to go see his cousin afterwards. I sent him a text back that I was jumping on the bike ride away to head to his place.

It took me almost an hour to get there – Dave lives that far. It was a nice ride for the most part, except from Fort Road which had construction on it with traffic lights not working and car traffic restricted to one lane. It gave me no chance to cross the road. I was stuck there for good 15 minutes before there was a gap big enough between cars to quickly squeeze through.

Dave gave me lift in his car back home, I filled up his tank with gas. I had been meaning to do that all along as small thanks for storing my items while I was abroad. I was glad I got the opportunity to take care of it while I was still in Canada. It was my last day there, so it worked out last minute, but I did it, which is all that counts.

The picture of Specialized Hard Rock Pro mountain bike taken from Specialized.com

I had most of my possessions taken care of – majority went to the garbage bin while the rest was donated as a merchandise donation to One Child’s Village. However there were still some items I had left that I couldn’t get rid of. They were either legally important, or personally inseparable with. I had to find the way to store these while I was on the road so I started looking into self storage solutions in Edmonton. The items I could not get rid of included the following:

• Bookkeeping – Revenue Canada can audit your books from up to 7 years back
• Software – instead of just sticking with downloads, I used to buy boxed versions of each software… bad idea!
• DVD Collection – it’s quite vast. I had some precious, hard to find titles there, especially the ones from Asian Extreme Cinema or old Italian horror movies
• Photo Albums – I have a small collection of photos from the past, many irreplaceable, taken long before the age of digital cameras
• Medieval Weaponry – I’m into all things medieval big time and my collection of swords and armor grew overtime. Could not find the strength to part with it
• Photography Studio Equipment – I closed down the shop long time ago, but I still did a lot of studio photography as a hobbyist
• Mountain Bike – my precious Specialized bike, the sole means of transport for over two years
• Desktop Computer – I still had a whole pile of data on the 1TB hard drive on my desktop
• Guitar – I have a custom made Ibanez JS Model – it’s a copy of Joe Satriani’s electric guitar in beautiful read made to fit in my hands. So awesome…

The only feasible solution to the storage problem I was facing seemed to be the self storage facilities located throughout the city. So I started my hunt for the best priced and best located one. I’ve done thorough web search for self storage solutions in Edmonton and also proceeded to search through the Yellow Pages and contacted the rest by phone. I’ve then personally paid the ones that were close to me a visit to see what was going on, yet none made me feel confident that this was the right path to take. The biggest deterrent was the price.

Self storage solutions are extremely expensive. Given the size of the room you get, the price per square meter is almost as high, or higher as for the room where you people live. This was simply way too much. There were rooms priced at under $100 a month, but these were so small I wouldn’t fit my mountain bike in there. The rest of the stuff I needed to store wasn’t that much. It was compacted in boxes so I could easily fit it in a miniature room, however my mountain bike required a room that’s at least 2 meters long or wide. Rooms like that typically run at more than $100 a month – crazy. You could get whole apartment for $500 with living room, kitchen, and bathroom.

Trouble with on line research was that you couldn’t get a sense of the price from their websites. They treat it like it’s a top secret. You have to go through painful process of enquiring via email or phone. I went though Sentinel Self Storage Edmonton, Instant Storage Edmonton, Storage King Edmonton, U Store It Edmonton, Affordable Storage Edmonton, Minerva Mini Storage Edmonton, etc – but they were all either very inconveniently located or way overpriced.

I went to the most conveniently located one in person. It was the Sentinel Self Storage one in NW Edmonton, but was strongly discouraged the moment I stepped my foot in. The woman who owns it smokes non stop so the office is full of cigarette smoke to the point that it’s beyond disgusting. When she starts talking to you, she sounds like the witch with burnt out vocal cords which is without doubt the result of her heavy smoking. She’s not very friendly either and just beat me off by saying that summer is a busy season for them and she doesn’t have time to talk to me unless I’m already ready to buy my self storage with them. The most conveniently located or not, this was no longer an option.

So I went to the second most conveniently located facility with which I made an appointment via phone, because they were not open during convenient hours. Someone was supposed to meet me there on a weekend day. Their facility is in one of the hangars at Edmonton City Airport not far from Kingsway Mall. I sat on my bike and rode all the way there. It was very tricky to find as those hangars are at oddly placed, unmarked streets, but I have eventually found it only to learn that their office was closed and there was nobody there. I waited around for 20 minutes but nobody showed up which was my cue to get the hell out of there and forget this facility.

Given high prices of self storage solutions in Edmonton, I didn’t see the point in checking out the facilities located at the opposite end of the city. It would take me an hour to drive there so what’s the point? Taking a few turns with a small car I’d be renting would end up being a pain. I was stuck with one last option I really didn’t want to consider, but as my last resort, I had to give it a try.