Flying Our Tandem by Air to HCMC

We started planning early how to get the bike out to Asia. It had to be a direct flight to reduce any chance of it getting lost in transit and we had to find an airline with a clear policy on taking bikes.

Vietnam Airlines was our choice, their website stipulated that the bike be in a box less than 203cm in length and weigh less than 32kg. We got in touch and they explained that once we booked a ticket they would be able to enter the package on their system and confirm it – but that it should be ok. Not taking any chances we only purchased Paddy’s ticket in case there was a problem and we needed Annie to try with another airline.

In the end they did confirm, and issued a new ticket which included the agreed dimensions. No extra baggage cost – Great!

Target:
200 x 50 x 120 cm
30KG

Now the fun part: building the box.

You can pick up old bike boxes in shops or buy expensive ones online, but not for a tandem. So a plan was formed to build a box:

1. Measure up – by taking the wheels and racks off, and breaking the bike down it would just fit in the length and other dimensions.

The bike laid out ready for packing. Just under 2m lenght

2. Purchase a stack of Styrofoam insulation boards from Wickes. I used a selection of 25mm and 50mm. I would only use 50mm if doing it again.

3. Wait for Annie to go to Berlin for a girls holiday, then clear the living room and get out the jigsaw, stanley blade, Hoover. (I was meant to do it outside but it was November…).

4. Then put the first 2 board down, lay out the bike, in parts, on top and ‘trace’ around it onto the second board. Then cut out that layer.

5. Be amazed at the volume of Styrofoam floating around your living room in tiny fluff and balls. Then attack it with the Hoover.

6. Eventually you get a bike sandwich which gets taped up with a lot of duct tape.

7. Try to get rid of all Styrofoam balls before Annie returns, alternatively, make best efforts to achieve this and pick balls out of couch for weeks.

8. Purchase a few rolls of commercial clingfilm and wrap it all up.

Ready to go at Heathrow - before having to re-open

Matt very kindly drove us to the airport at 6am with the package and at check in they knew we were coming. We were 3 hours before the flight but needed it!

Next up we tried to get the box through oversize baggage – too big. This means that the box can’t be x-rayed and has to go down stairs to be checked manually; That means opening it up and swabbing for Semtex. Luckily we had bought along more tape and cling film just in case.

The Heathrow staff were great and very interested in our plans. We said goodbye to the box and headed for the gate absolutely exhausted by the packing up, moving out of our flat, Christmas festivities and associated travel all over the place… We were off!

Ho Chi Minh city airport is a much swisher affair than Hanoi, the city really is a modern metropolis compared to the Vietnam we visited last year. We had decided in advance that we’d figure out how to get the bike to our Warm Showers host when we arrived and sure enough it was fine. The box was stuffed in the top of a modern minivan and we were away.

No hassle. Even the ‘use only once’ nature of the box was improved – the security guys at our host’s house took it away to re-use, probably as fishing floats.

All up in cost about £100 to make the box. About £70 for the insulation sheets and the rest on tape, cling film and new Hoover filters!

VeloVixen – Urbanist Brigitte – Savvy on PR, terrible shorts for cycle touring

My first gear review had to be my Velovixen (company based in Oxford, UK) padded shorts because I can’t let another day go by without telling other female cycle tourists TO NEVER BUY THIS PRODUCT.

Cycle tourers really should have at least 2 pairs of padded shorts with them and as space was limited I wanted to find a compact, comfy and hard wearing pair to complement my longer B-Twin shorts.

After reading a comparison review which led me to the VeloVixen site I decided that this was a garment which deserved some investment, so I duly dished out the cash (£45!!!!!!).

All I can say is, whoever wrote that comparison review, had either been paid a nice ‘Christmas bonus’ or had done no more than sat on their sofa for 10 minutes wearing these shorts drinking a cup of tea. Because as far as I’m concerned, no cyclist in their right mind would wear these things on a bike!

The only way to wear your Velovixen shorts is with another pair of shorts underneath…

I should have been weary from the start – never buy a product which has ‘urban’ in the title.

VeloVixen describe their product as the following however:

The Holy Grail!, for medium/long rides, with exceptional quality

That ‘high quality’ they mention; stitching which is already coming loose (and the shorts have spent most of their time stuffed at the bottom of my ortlieb), padding which pokes out into your groin and material which doesn’t breath.

The main problem with these ‘briefs’ though is that they are fundamentally flawed in terms of their design. Cycling shorts should aim to reduce chafing but the seams on these just dig into your groin creating angry red lines and chaffing on your behind area. The back of the shorts also pulls down to show more than you’d like while on the bike. And yes, I did follow the size guidelines correctly.

In the interest of being fair, I have approved Velovixen’s response to this blog below but, having tested this product for five weeks, I’m afraid I will continue to tell other cycle tourers to spend their precious travel savings on another product.

Phnom Penh to Siem Riep: 5 days. 400km

We were all set for an early start from the hostel in Phnom Penh, that is until we met Jo from Clapton the night before leaving and one thing led to another…so we had a 10am rather than 7am start. The benefit was that we met an expat cyclist at breakfast who pointed us to the Giant shop in town.

Our main purchases there being dry lube and a bike computer which has turned Annie into a hard taskmaster – regularly calling out average speeds, distances covered and time on bike as we zip along. It turns out we travel quite a bit faster than we guessed – around 22km/hr over the ~400km since we left PP.

Our first stop out of town was at the NGO school which our Warm Showers host Raphael runs. It was interesting seeing the kids running around doing English lessons and sharing lunch with the volunteers. A small way up the road we found two Wats – one didn’t let us camp, but the second did – providing a very, very welcome bath (big tub of water and a bucket).

Annie and the friendly English speaking monk at our overnight Wat

The next morning we did set out early and racked up miles fast, that is until we hit an unpaved section of the main highway. It was tough, very tough. We bought some surgical masks (standard local attire) and dug deep for an hour or so waiting for the end of it…it didn’t end for at least 20km, truck after truck engulfing us in dirt. Eventually we couldn’t bear it and had to stop – checking the map it was only 3km to Kampong Thmar, so we climbed back on and the paved road did thankfully return in the town.

The other side of town on a pleasant paved road we crossed paths with a Belgian couple cycling the other way – they were 8 months into a basically identical, but reverse tour as ourselves. Over the course of 10mins we soaked up some great advice on routes and countries. It’s very reassuring to meet kindred spirits, we are not insane! We reached our stop in Kampong Thom with 105km on the clock, a tough day.

That night we realised we had an extra day to burn before our host could accommodate us in Siem Riep so we decided a 60km run out and back to the Sombor Prei Kuh temples would be worthwhile. They were the capital of the Angkorian empire before (7th Century) the famous Angkor Wat and they felt like a nice little warm up for the many temples still to come. It was very peaceful strolling through the woods seeing crumbling ruins in competition with nature.

At the virtually empty site we could really appreciate the temples properly…

Day 4 was a good day as we turned west and the NE wind came slightly behind us, could we fashion a sail to harness this on the bike – hmmm. George Dadd, get thinking!

95km was gobbled up easily and we stopped at the Spean Praptos bridge which is an 85m long arched bridge dating back to Angkor and is still in use. A perfect place to camp beside; or so we thought!

Half way through cooking our pasta some torches wandered down to meet us, Perun introduced himself and warned that in this town the gangsters drunk in the bar close by. He also mentioned the words ‘murderers’ and snakes. SNAKES – Judas! (incidentally we’d run one down that day accidentally and didn’t fancy any playback). Perun very kindly led us up the bank to the front of his sister’s shop where we re-pitched the tent. Then two local police arrived to check what we were up to. These local visits were made complete with the police chief arriving to double check we were ok and to offer the use of his station to camp instead.

The lesson – don’t pitch the tent in a big town – but it was nice to feel the warmth of Perun’s family and the police towards the crazy westerners. I guess the same would happen if two Cambodians pitched a tent in Hyde Park. Would it? I’d like to think so anyway.

It was the first cold night we’ve had in our tent and we got to use ‘Big Agnes’, our double sleeping bag for the first time. We fell sound asleep to the howling of dogs and shouting of drunk gangstars and their women close by.

Day 5 and we only had 60km to cover to Siem Riep. It went quick and by midday we arrived at The Roluos Group of temples east of the city. This is where the temples of Angkor start and a wonderful spot for lunch. We took a tour of the Bakong temple and it really was impressive – no stupid shots riding a lion here – this was a spectacular sight.

After looking at some great scale models of the major Angkor temples which locals had carved close by we left for Siem Riep ready for Temple mania.

Floating Potential – ‘The Boat’ Project

Written by Annie Sheen – @AnnieMusicEd

We make our way through the maze of empty rooms and long hallways, poking our heads behind solid teak doors and ascending grand colonial style staircases, clouds of dust created with every step. This place is wonderfully eerie and we feel we could be in some sort of adventure video game.

At first you might ask why Paddy and I are visiting a collection of rubble filled rooms connected by dark corridors and step ladders instead of strolling around Phnom Penh’s Russian Market or relaxing in the shade of The Royal Palace. But this isn’t any old building on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, it is in fact the chosen space for Cambodia’s first major arts centre. And its no building, it’s an abandonned boat.

With its total of six floors and earthy facade which, from afar looks like rust but is in fact red paint, the structure certainly commands your attention.

Originally built to be a luxury floating hotel, but left half complete, the boat now sits on the west bank of the Tonle Sap River, north of the city. There is no doubt it’s an amazing space, brewing with unlocked potential – even the harshest cynic couldn’t help getting a little excited.

Naturally, the project sparked both our interests, me having worked in the arts for 8 years and Paddy being a chartered Marine Engineer. In fact, I don’t think we’ll ever find another project which marries our two interests quite like this one – indeed, if the project takes off, as far as I know, it will be the first floating arts centre in the world (at least on this scale).

Three international ex-pats, who together bring representation and expertise from the hospitality, business and artistic sectors, are the brains behind the project. I came across their plans while doing some research about Cambodia in Vietnam and instantly made contact with Dana who has lived and worked in the Cambodian arts scene for 17 years and leading on the creative side. We were lucky that her schedule allowed us time to visit the space.

While Paddy donned his headtorch and climbed down inside the hull to examine the engines, watertanks and quality of the welding, Dana and I headed skywards (via a rickety ladder) her explaining the overall vision for each floor as we go.

As we move up she takes me through where the education and library/archive spaces would be housed, where she’d ideally like to knock down walls to create group workshop spaces and where there would be office space for a number of in-resident arts organisations. A whole floor would be dedicated to offering a range of artists affordable studios and the deep bow has the potential to be turned into a tiered garden.

As we continue to move up, the spaces become more and more ‘finished’ and you begin to really see the potential for where impromptu performances and installations could take place. The upper floors would be dedicated to what we call in the arts ‘commercial activity’ – an essential lifeline for any arts space, and an important ingredient when mixing leisure with cultural activity. Most people are unlikely to visit any building unless there are some great places to socialise and be merry with friends, and I’ve visited some arts centres where the designers have forgotten that food and drink can also be counted as important cultural capital.

Cafe balcony looking down to foyer performance space

The top floor which houses some of the three largest spaces, would be used as an open performance space/cinema, dance studio and huge gallery. There is also an open top pool already installed which would offer a paradise like retreat for sun worshippers, offering spectacular views across the city.

The project has a huge number of hurdles to jump before it can really start to take shape however. Currently, these mainly consist of construction questions – Paddy is trying to help with this. Surveys to determine any issues require a certain amount of seed funding, and as one might expect, sponsorship and/or central funding are hard to drum up for an arts project which is still in it’s infancy… ‘harbour trials’ is hardly a sexy phrase when talking to philanthopists…

After the little I’ve learnt about Cambodia’s arts sector during my short stay in Phnom Penh, I’m genuinely excited about this project. The artistic community has been desperately recovering from the effects of the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s when 90% of all Cambodian artist and arts academics were rounded up and executed. Entire art forms were very nearly wiped out (many of them ancient traditions) and the past 40 years have naturally focussed on rediscovery and consolidation, with an emphasis on passing these art forms on to the next generation. From the looks of things, organisations such as Cambodian Living Arts have played their part well in ensuring the survival of this cultural heritage.

However, Cambodia (particularly Phnom Penh) now feels it’s on the crest of a new phase of cultural development; one which focusses on innovation, creativity and artistic exploration. Led by a new generation of artists who can drive Cambodia’s cultural sector forwards and who will mirror the Cambodia of today. But these young artists need a dedicated space, somewhere which will act as an incubator for ideas, skill development and artistic dialogue. A space which will support a diverse melting pot of current creative thinkers, audiences and businesses and which will help to support both the old and the new. A space which will support the social and environmental sustainability of Cambodia’s capital and which can attract swathes of foreign visitors as well as bring the local community together.

Apologies, perhaps getting a bit too ‘arty’ and utopian in that last paragraph, but I can’t help myself!! 🙂

I’m so pleased I was able to see this space and if you are interested to know more or wish, (perhaps?) to contribute to the crowd funding campaign to help get this project off the ground please click the link below. Please help to share with anyone who might also be interested.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/a-floating-art-centre-for-phnom-penh#

That’s it for Phnom Penh for now, time to get back on our tandem and head north towards Angkor Wat, Thailand and beyond!

Exploring the Arts and Cultural Scene in Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh really is a fantastic city buts lot of travellers will stop here for a few nights, only having time to hit the main tourist attractions such as The Silver Pegoda, The Palace and S-21 Museum before moving on.

As well as needing a stop to re-charge our batteries and stock up on a few essentials, I was particularly interested in exploring Phnom Penh as it is known to have an industrious and developing arts and cultural scene (my line of work). Cambodian arts have a particularly sad history as they were virtually eradicated by the Khmer Rouge. The city has a vey high percentage of people under 30.

I had already read about this project (The Boat) before arriving, which has big plans to turn a 6 storey floating boat into Cambodia’s first multi-disciplinary arts centre. We were lucky enough to meet one of the founders and have a tour of the space. Separate blog soon to follow!

We ended up having nearly a week in the city (waiting for Paddy’s Thai Visa) and we are so glad we did as those few extra days enabled us to escape the main tourist areas and explore the local ex-pat arts scene.

Phnom Penh has a large and very active ex-pat community (especially French). Many of them are here running or working for various NGO’s. Others have come to set up their own hotels and bars while others are artists, writers etc.

The best way to tap into this more local scene is to locate the monthly listings. You can pick up a copy of Asia Life or a Pocket Guide:

or alternatively visit the these websites:

http://www.cambodianlivingarts.org

http://www.lengpleng.com

http://www.kumnooh.com

http://www.amritaperformingarts.org

http://www.culturalcenter-cambodia.com

http://www.epicarts.org.uk

Alternatively here are a few places we visited during our time in the city:

Java Arts Cafe, near Independance monument

A great cafe/exhibition space – often filled with expats who go to catch up on email. Make sure you explore upstairs too. They have events running in the evenings.

META House, Sothearos Blvd.

Exhibition space downstairs with a covered but open cinema space, restaurant and bar upstairs. Food is good. They have DJs playing regularly (although it was pretty quiet when we were there) and screen some great independent films and documentaries earlier in the evening.

Cloud

We went to a live music night on a Friday night at cloud which is a converted house South of the city. Large bar downstairs with a small performance and balcony space on the second floor. We saw 3 local bands who were all at a pretty good amateur level. Got very busy with a mixed international ex-pat crowd from around 10.30pm

FCC

Directly on the river front and has a special mention in the Rough Guide so naturally attracts a strong tourist crowd but it has spectacular views from both balconies over the river. Exhibition spaces and an info desk. They often host live music, a good singer songwriter was playing when we went.

Traditional Dance Show at the Museum

Again, naturally a complete tourist trap, but this dance show is fully supported by Cambodian Living Arts and it’s a good thing to go and support. The show is an hour in length and showcases a mix of traditional court and folk Cambodian dances. It’s tastefully done and didn’t feel too chliched or pander too much to the tourist crowd.

Thai Visas in Phnom Penh

Because Paddy has an Irish passport and we would be crossing the Thai/Cambodia border by bike we knew we would need to apply for a 30 day visa for him at the embassy in Phnom Penh. (My British passport allows me a 30 day exemption visa, see our section on Visas under ‘Before We Go’ for more info).

A warning to other cyclists/border crossing travellers, do not listen to agents who say you need proof of either certain bank funds or flights into Thailand to get a visa. They are trying to swindle you. Guys hang outside/in the embassy and will try to convince you too. You can do it all yourself.

Simply go to the embassy with a passport photo and complete the form (before 4.00). Our visa cost $40 and because we are travelling by bike we needed to write a brief letter detailing our general travel plans – e.g what border crossing, wherel we plan to exit etc.

We found the Embassy very friendly and efficient. Visa pick up is currently (Jan 2016) between 3-4.30pm week days.

Good luck!

Takeo to Phnom Penh with some great stops inbetween

It’s possible to cycle from Takeo to Phnom Penh in a day (81km) but there were a number of reasons why we chose to spread the distance over three days ride:

The N2 road which offers the most direct route isn’t the best road for cycle tourers. There’s no hard shoulder, its incredibly dusty in the dry season and the road is busy with trucks and and other heavy traffic. (At the time of writing – Jan 2016 – there are also major road construction works between Tonle Bati and the capital which adds to the dust and general unpleasantness)

Most importantly though there are four major sites of interest on the way – Phnom Chisaur, Phnom Tamau Zoological Park and Rescue Centre, Tonle Bati, and finally the Killing Fields at Choeung Ek. We wanted to hit them all and decided that Phnom Chisaur and Tonle Bati would be the best bets for camping. (Don’t be tempted to camp near the zoo, you will be no match for the semi-tame monkeys).

Taking all this into consideration we stocked up at the big market in Takeo, let some air out the tyres and headed directly north out of town along the windy roads through the lakes and canal network which run parallel with the N2. It was a great ride – a flat, quiet dirt track lined with spectacular lily covered lakes, friendly villages and plenty of shelter from the headwind.

We stopped at this amazing setting for lunch along the way which gave us the opportunity to try out our Life Straw filter.

We reached Phnom Chisaur at 3.30 and headed straight for the 400+ steps which lead up to the temple at the top which boasts a sacred linga ($2 entry fee).

At the bottom of the steps there is a school surrounding a playing field and lake. We parked ourselves on the edge of the playing field and made some tea. Nobody took much notice so we agreed it would be ok to camp.

After more than a few days, Paddy’s back is still covered in red spots and I’ve had an erruption on my back and upper thighs now too. We have been super careful to cover up while stopped and have come to the conclusion that the problem isn’t ant or mozzie bites at all but rather an extreme case of heat rash. I’m contemplating throwing away my cycling top and stocking up on white baggy t-shirts instead but the padded lycra shorts pose more of a problem.

The next day we continued to head north towards the wildlife zoo. Some great more scenic tracks – this ‘road’ was barely more than a walking path between cropped rice fields.

The landscape continues to be dominated by canals and irrigation systems. It’s hard to imagine what it must look like at the end of the rainy season, the grazing cattle gone, it covered with lush green.

We get to the zoo at around 11am and climb the steady incline to the entrance (you pass quite a big wat on the way). It’s very quiet and we continue to cycle another km through beautiful countryside before we reach the start of the enclosures. It feels incredibly remote but as we park we instantly get bombarded by sellers offering bananas and potatoes to feed to the animals. Very different from London Zoo!

We instantly felt uneasy about leaving all our stuff – we just got a feeling it could be a bit dodge. In the end we agreed to leave it parked and tipped one of the boys to look after the stuff – although it is possible and maybe advised to cycle around what is quite a long tour of the enclosures.

Despite its slightly run down feeling we were generally impressed by the size and scale of the enclosures. Most of the animals, many of whom have been rescued from much worse fates, have a good amount of space even if they’re not particularly entertained. You are very much left to your own devises as you make your way around.

Tame monkeys rule over the whole site and follow you round expectantly. We enjoyed the crocs and had an exhilarating meeting with an agitated male tiger. Paddy also enjoyed the otters and spotted a very pregnant leopard.


We cooked up lunch on the lake near the entrance – a group of cheeky monkeys approached and managed to steal out bananas. They ended up getting farely agessive and we had to use the helinox chairs as shields to scare them away long enough to eat our noodles! There’s no end to how useful those chairs have been.

Back on the road we head to Tonle Bati arriving for 4pm – we instantly head to one of the stilted picnic huts on the lake. Its here we discovered we had lost (or had stolen) both our foldable knife and our leatherman set. Both items we use every day.

At dusk we cycled into the modern temple complex opposite the Ta Prohm ruins and ask one of the monks if they would allow us to camp.

We pitched with the sun going down on these.

Our food bag got completely attacked AGAIN by black ants in the night. They bit through the black bin liner and proceeded to tear holes in the top of the Altura bag (we wonder if they’d get through our ortlieb bags?).

Ants have been our biggest problem so far so if anyone has any good solutions to tackle this ongoing problem please get in touch!

A quick stop at the Angkorian Ta Prohm ruins were well worth it – the carvings are amazing!

On to the mass grave site of Choeung Ek which is situated on the edge of the city. The site (1 of many) marks where thousands of Cambodians were systematically murdered and buried during the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s. There are no words to describe it; you must visit but be prepared.

The last 10km into the city were easy – we followed the same tuk tuk right into the centre.

Welcome to Phnom Penh!

Takeo

We reached Takeo at around 5pm. The 75km ride was pretty unaventful, good road from Kiri Sela with a couple of steady inclines but all in all pretty flat.

We headed to the north of the town which sits on the Rohkna Khnong Lake and after cycling around for a while we eventually found a guesthouse (Nita Gueshouse) on the canal which is pretty basic but was $6 a night, friendly and had a safe place for the bike.

Takeo is quite an important town, it acts as the major trade link with the border of Vietnam and it has a university, language school and plenty of government buildings, banks and a big market. The major draw however is the nearby 7th Century Funanese sites, (the only such sites in Cambodia) Phnom Da and Angkor Borei, which are both reached by boat via the extensive canal network which stretches across the entire province.

We met a nice German couple who were also staying in the gueshouse – Dirk and Karin – who were also aiming to head down river the next day so we agreed to charter a boat between 4, helping to bring the cost down significantly ($35 total).

Dirk and Karin were a pretty amazing couple. Both into their 60s, they have travelled all over Asia and this was there 4th trip to Cambodia alone. They were incredibly knowledable about Angok Wat and to top it off, over dinner, Dirk told us all about his love for speed road rollerskating – when he was in his 50s he completed a marathon in just under an hour and 10 minutes (that is an average speed of around 36km ph!!!!)

Anyway, we headed down river at 8am the next morning first stop being the two temple ruins at Phnom Da ($2 each). Theres not too much see of the main site but there wasa good view from the top.

Paddy made a friend on the way back down…

Onwards to Angkor Borei where there is even less actual ruins to see, although a small museum does document the Funannese era quite well.

All in all, considering how much the boat ride cost we’re still unsure whether the trip is actually worthwhile. I guess the boat ride is quite fun (take a jacket) but during the dry season the canal is pretty low which means you don’t get a great view of the surrounding countryside. I would encourage other travellers to head to the site at Tonle Bati instead, where there is a lot more to see with the added bonus of no entry fee.

We spent the afternoon blogging, picking up our washing and trying to sort a warm showers host forPhnom Penh (no such luck, we left it too late). To save on cash we set up the stove on a picnic table outside the guesthouse and cooked up our own noodles for dinner.

Our lovely hosts soon came out to see what we were up to and after a appreciative nod brought out a light and sticks of insense to keep the mozzies at bay. We ended up having a great evening with them all drinking beer and they even let us finish off their freshly caught lobster and shrimp. Dirk and Karin arrived in time for the viewing of the wedding album!

The next morning we had a long shopping list to get so we headed the main market in the south of town to stock up on kerosene, foodand toilet paper. We’ve got a great couple of days ahead as we head north towards Phnom Penh.

Kampot to Takeo via Kiri Sela Cave and Temple

Having conquered the almighty Bokor Mountain yesterday we took the morning off to rest our legs and sort and re-pack our gear at the hostel.

It has been great camping there by the river and after a huge breakfast with fresh rolls (and real butter!) we said our goodbyes and headed to the old market in Kampot to stock up on provisions for the next few days.

The bike was looking and feeling great after the good clean we gave it last night and despite it turning into a very hot day we felt confident about our 40km cycle to Kiri Sela in Kampong Trach.

The food market was incredible – a bustling hive of activity, with hundreds of makeshift stalls selling every sea food imaginable all packed in under a low, drooping corrregated iron roof.

We got what we needed (we’re generally living off green tea, nuts (peanuts not cashews as they are ridiculously expensive here!) noodles, rice, veg and eggs when we camp) and at around noon headed south along the same road we had come from the Vietnamese border 4 days ago.

Right from the off the first stretch was a real slog. Yesterday’s ‘victory climb’ was soon forgotten as a combination of the midday sun and a strong head wind resulted in us both feeling pretty grumpy. We didnt even have the distraction of cycling a new stretch of road to help pass the time. We agreed to stop for lunch early, taking solace in a little grove of trees down a side track.

Fuled with food we got going again and we managed to arrive in Kampong Trach at around 4.15pm. Having cycled through the town we took a left turn down towards the temple and came across this beauty of a camping spot. After some deliberation we decided it was safe to camp.

We made friends with a passing farmer who was collecting his grazing cattle from the spot and made him tea. He and his little boy seemed pretty chilled when we showed him our tent, he was more interested in our stove and blow up mattresses so we assumed we were ok.

We covered up from the midges and got cooking. We ate as the moon was coming up over the hill followed by an episode of The West Wing before we went to bed. Feeling pretty satisfied we turned over and it was then that I noticed Paddy’s back… Covered in bites… Yikes!

Not wanting to worry too much we took an antihistamine each and turned the light off.

We woke at first light, wanting to get going towards Takeo after a quick tour of the nearby caves. While I was packing down the tent I hear a loud exclamation from Paddy. Ants everywhere, in our shoes, in our food bag…. Everywhere! It transpires we had managed to camp directly on an ant highway.

It took a long time to shake the bags and tent free of the little buggers, but we celebrated with fried tatties and scrambled egg and finally cycled around the corner to Kiri Sela where we were immediately met by a chorus of kids wanting to be our guide. These two got the job:

and immediately treated us to what we later called a ‘guide off’ – interupting eachother with the same pre-learned tour script which mainly involved showing us rocks which vaguely resmbled different animals. They also showed Paddy how to make a red beak out of a plant. Needless to say we tipped them each a dollar for entertainment value.

The tunnels and caves were incredible with a reclining buddah shrine in the middle. We also saw some monkeys and a spooky colony of hanging bats.

Onwards to Takeo which is approx 75km ride away.

Bokor Hill Station

Bokor Maintain looms over Kampot and is the must see day trip on a moped out of the town. It rises up from sea level to 1048m, taller than anything in Ireland or England, but slightly less than Snowden, we’d heard from Ukrainian Kate that she cycled up there so we had to take on the challenge…

The main climb is for 20km with an average 5% gradient, we were interested to see how the tandem was on such a climb. We did unload and pack light for the round trip… In the future we might have to take on something like this loaded up… but not yet!

We climbed steadily through the jungle road which the French built in their hey day. It was spectacular. On stops we were surrounded by jungle sounds including Gibbons and saw a huge toucan like bird which Annie identified later as a great hornbill. We didnt get the right camera lens on in time to take a close up but think we saw the same bird later on the climb.

The French built this road through remote and pristine jungle so they could have a casino at the top and a little church beside it: you lose all your money, walk out and choose between the altar and the sheer cliff face. It cost 1000 lives to build the road at the time but then, they did put a church up there…

Near the top there is also a huge painted buddah. We soon wished we packed more clothes for the summit! It was pretty misty and cool!

Now the Chinese have moved in (the summit was sold to them for $10m) and built a new bigger casino and hotel which is going to be coupled with a cruise berth in Kampot that will ferry idiots up there to gamble. The Japanese also had a base there during the war and it was on the frontline when the Vietnamese invaded in the 70s… Basically the top of the mountain is a huge and unnessary clusterf##k.

We did enjoy the view and 3 plates of local noodles however. It took us about 3.5hours with stops to get to the summit. Annie had a little sleep before we took off back down the road…

40 mins back to the start of the climb another 20mins back to our tent, a swim, beer and relax by the river by 4pm.

We decided the bike needed some tlc in the evening so we got the rags and toothbrushes out and gave her a good scrub down (the stove kerosene cane in handy for soaking the chains), then a few more beers and bed after a satisfying day.

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