Vietnam to Cambodia

[Duckfoot1606]

Mrs DF and I are departing next week to tackle a Vietnam to Cambodia cycling challenge, starting in Ho Chi Minh city and ending in Siem Reap via Phnom Penh.

Route details

Cycling Route on Strava

https://www.strava.com/routes/3036594532221722892

https://www.strava.com/routes/3036634606920081760

https://www.strava.com/routes/3036635399776642024

https://www.strava.com/routes/3036644706867237132

https://www.strava.com/routes/3036649063397712224


There’s a day six of cycling around the various Siem Reap temples, I will try to post a daily diary of how we get on

A

[TimC]

I rode from Phnom Penh to Angkor Wat in 2019, probably rather slower than you will as we did it over 5 days - on single-speed shopping bikes. It was a wonderful ride!

[Afasoas]

Enjoy your selves.
I hope that there's no visitations and good tailwinds.

[Pickled Onion]

Sounds amazing, looking forward to the RRs!

[morbihan]

I assume that the roads have improved in recent years. My memory of an otherwise fabulous trip through Cambodia in 2002 was the worst motion sickness of my life, and that includes a rough crossing of the gulf stream on a pretty small boat. If not, take wide tires!

[Duckfoot1606]

After 20 hours of travel (3 hours coach to Heathrow, 13 hours to Singapore and 2 hours back to Ho Chi Minh City, which the locals still call Saigon) we have arrived.

I don’t currently know what day it is but had a shower (it’s over 30 deg C and sticky humid) and off out for a couple of pints and some chow which should put me right. I’ve been given a rather nice Trek hard tail as my steed for the first half starting tomorrow 👍

[Karla]

Very nice! 

The roads were fine when I visited in 2019 so don't be too worried by moribhan's experience.  You'll love it 

Just don't forget to pack a wife, yes?

[morbihan]

Very nice! 

The roads were fine when I visited in 2019 so don't be too worried by moribhan's experience.  You'll love it 

Just don't forget to pack a wife, yes?

Good to hear. Fabulous country.

[Duckfoot1606]

Days 1 & 2

After a total of 20 hours of travel we finally arrived via Singapore in Ho Chi Minh city, which the locals still call Saigon. An hour later we were through passport control (no particular issue, just long queues), collected bags and transferred to the hotel via a bike fit session ( I have been allocated a rather nice Trek Marlin hard tail). About an hours break and it was off to dinner, then back for sleep. Stiflingly hot and humid.

After 4 hours of severely jet lagged sleep it was up and away for brekkers and a 2 hour coach transfer to the starting point for the first ride day. Stiflingly hot and sticky weather to tackle this;

https://www.strava.com/routes/3036594532221722892

I learned an important lesson on the first morning. Temperatures rapidly climbed to mid 30’s and yours truly was wearing his normal summer kit, base layer and shirt which ensured I was cooked medium well by early afternoon, whereupon the sun came out and cooked me some more. Taking off the base layer and my cycling cap was an inspired decision and allowed me to manage the temperatures a whole lot better. No real hills on the route, we were cycling across the lower Mekong river flood plain so flat, the area is dotted with coconut plantations and indeed this area is an agricultural hot spot for the region. The spikes on the Strava trace are really just the bridges that cross the many branches of the Mekong. Roads are mainly tarmac or cement, with a small quantity of gentle dirt track thrown in for variety. Traffic is manic, hordes of scooters everywhere (known as ‘Honda’s’, regardless of the actual make) but sharing the road all seems to work ok. Apparently car ownership is actively discouraged by a wealth tax, meaning even a modest car costs upwards of $50k and therefore beyond the reach of most. Local people are really friendly and seem very taken with our white skin and fair hair, they take great delight in calling out and waving to us as we pass. About 4:30pm we arrived at out hotel in Tran Vinh so it was a quick shower, into the (very) welcome pool, off to dinner and bed, correcting the inevitable dehydration along the way. Still stiflingly hot and humid now at 3am (yes, more jet lag affected sleep) and it’s another early start soon for day 2.

[Duckfoot1606]

Day 3 dawned and another silly o clock start beckoned, up at 4am, repack suitcases and downstairs for 5:30, snatch some breakfast and on the bikes for 6:15 to tackle this, the longest cycling day of our trip https://www.strava.com/routes/3036634606920081760

A baking hot start (over 30 deg C) and less cloud cover (but more breeze) than the previous day. An early visit to to a Buddhist temple and the “love lake” and we found ourselves traversing much the same kind of terrain as on the first cycling day, mostly flat accentuated by many bridges over the Mekong. More rice paddies evident today , split up by more coconut groves. With one exception, the cycling has been great , gentle terrain and a very friendly and approachable local population.

The exception? Well I’ve been struggling with sweat in my eyes (have I mentioned the hot weather? 😀) and on one of the narrower sections near a small village at about half distance the sweat ran into my eyes (again) just as I crested one of the small bridges. I was wiping the sweat away for the umpteenth time before I realised there was a sharp kink in the trail and I instinctively grabbed a handful of the left hand (rear) brake. Except it was the front brake. The front wheel locked and I high sided over the handlebars, landing in an undignified heap in the middle of the trail. Nobody behind ran into me fortunately but I’ve got grazed knees and as I write this I feel like I’ve done a few rounds with a gorilla. One of the locals arrived with  a large block of ice to apply to my knees, ( I am eternally grateful, madam) and we eventually got going again.

At the end of the days ride we transferred by coach to Can Tho, the capital of the Mekong region, during the transfer our guide related the story of a bridge collapse in 2007 in Can Tho, apparently the ground condition in the Can Tho area make foundation work really tricky. It was then into our hotel, out for an excellent dinner at a local riverside restaurant and an early night as there is another early start tomorrow.

[Lightning Phil]

Oof hope you don’t hurt too much today and can still cycle.

[Duckfoot1606]

Day 4 dawned and it was rinse and repeat, early start then this;

https://www.strava.com/routes/3036635399776642024

My off yesterday didn’t really affect todays ride which was completed without drama. Slightly cooler conditions today which helped enormously. Terrain slightly changed, still flat but more rice paddies in evidence today, punctuated by coconut groves and banana plantations which provided welcome shade, albeit that we had to run the gauntlet of dogs, chickens, geese and ducks running loose all along the trail. We then had a coach transfer to our overnight hotel near the border.

This concludes the Vietnam portion of the trip, tomorrow we have a non cycling day as we navigate the complexities of border control into Cambodia via boat, followed by a visit to the Killing fields memorial near Phnom Penh.

[Duckfoot1606]

Monday was an off bike day as we travelled up the Mekong to Cambodia. After a couple of hours border control formalities we carried on by boat for a further 4 hours to Phnom Penh and a visit to one of the notorious killing fields. There have been over 350 such sites identified in Cambodia and they are being preserved out of respect for the victims; over 3 million out of a total population of 8 million were brutally murdered over the period 1975-79, mostly by bludgeoning to death with farm implements. There was a tree known as the killing tree where young children were murdered by being swung by the legs and hurled against the trunk - awful.

And yet there is no call for retribution on the perpetrators, the locals feel the period of history is best left in the past

 Hearing about it is one thing, walking in the fields where it happened is something else.

[Duckfoot1606]

Day 5, rinse and repeat up early, brekkers at 5:30 and suitably fortified we tackled this

https://www.strava.com/routes/3036644706867237132.

Road surfaces are almost exclusively cement, with some fairly rough off-road sections. No climbs of any note, we are still largely following the Mekong upstream. Baking hot still, about 35 deg in the shade but the lessons of the first day are being well applied and the ride was completed without incident. And yet the scenery is completely different to Vietnam. Loads more private cars on the road,  little hamlets all along the route, filled with very welcoming locals and lots of animals running around. But big stuff, cows especially. A Cambodian cow is very different to a European equivalent with droopy ears and much less sturdily built particularly width wise. Houses are traditionally built on stilts to protect against the now non existent seasonal floods (apparent China built a dam way upstream and floods are no longer an issue). The stilts also protect against marauding tigers 😳. The Mekong itself is really muddy all of the time, so they add alum powder to it to knock out the silt and make it drinkable (allegedly, I didn’t try it)

[Duckfoot1606]

Day 6 and we are into a well established routine now, up at 4:15, pack bags ready for bus, downstairs for brekkie at 5:30 and offski for 6:15. The early starts are at least helping us to avoid cycling in the hottest part of the day, very welcome .

A two hour coach transfer this morning and then this

https://www.strava.com/routes/3036649063397712224

Much more dirt track and sand roads today and in the more remote areas buffalo have joined the list of fauna to watch out for. Lots of rice paddies to be seen and additional hazards of tarpaulins of harvested rice left on the trail to dry in the baking sun. I got caught out and ended up riding through somebodies dinner when I first encountered these. We rode through a village market at one point, some nauseating sights to behold 🤢.

Eventually we arrived at the Angkor Wat complex ticket office, bought tickets for the next day and then cruised the last stretch into Siem Reap and our hotel. Hooray, we are in this one for the next 3 nights, so no living out of a suitcase for the next couple of days.

It’s a ride back to the temple complex tomorrow, a free day on Friday and then the long slog home on Saturday.

A

[Duckfoot1606]

A short cycling day today so we had the luxury of a later than usual start 7am without the normal frantic bag packing.

We set out from our hotel at Siem Riep and cycled to the Angkor Wat complex, stopping at the Bayon temple, the Da Prom (used in the Lara Croft movie apparently) and the majestic Angkor Wat itself. Total was 28km. Very commercialised and touristy, inundated with youngsters try to set fridge magnets, fans, hats, tops, bottoms, you name it.

And then it was over, medals awarded, strip the bikes of saddles and pedals and back to the hotel for a shower, swim and dinner.

We raised over £600 for the fire fighters charity and have had the most wonderful adventure

But crikey, it’s HOT!

A