The old quarter of Hanoi is filled with narrow streets and many small vendors and stores selling everything from pots and pans to t-shirts to lots of red decorations for the upcoming New Year celebration. It’s difficult walking — easy to be accosted by a shop owner, or run over by a motor bike, who park and pull onto the…
January 23: Siem Reap to Hanoi
After our dinner at Square 24 we went to the Night Market in Siem Reap, which was all neon and people and bars and selling — seems like it’s like that all the time. We appreciated having a dedicated tuk tuk driver so we didn’t have to navigate that part of life. On Monday we had a leisurely morning and then…
January 22: Kompong Pluk (Floating Village) and Flooded Forest
We signed up for a small group tour to the Floating Village, about 45 minutes outside of Siem Reap, on the edge of Tonle Sap Lake. The lake is the largest freshwater body of water in all of SE Asia — 62 miles across at it’s widest and 160 miles long. It occupies a geographical depression and floodplain of the…
January 21: Another visit to the Angkor Temples
It’s been widely written in tour books that the best time to visit the Temples, especially Angkor Wat, is at sunrise or sunset. Our visit there a couple of days ago was at high noon, so we decided to visit again in the early morning. We met a tuk tuk driver yesterday who is now our personal go-to guy, so…
January 20: A day of rest (and news blackout)
After another goodbye at breakfast to our cycle buddies, Donna and I packed up and took a tuk tuk ride to another hotel — a lovely 5 star resort-ish place, from where we will base our further adventures in the part of Cambodia. We were lucky to get into a room early, and spent the day in the shade by…
Last day of cycling: the Temples of Angkor — 15 miles
We cycled out of the hotel, which was located in the middle of Siem Reap, out to the Temple areas. Where possible we were on back or side dirt roads, and even some narrow paths through some jungle to avoid the tuk tuks and large tourist buses. Once we got to the ticket center however it was clear that we…
Cycling Day 10: Preah Vihear to Siem Reap – 37 Miles
Another early start in an attempt to beat the heat — we biked out of the hotel at 7:30 and headed east, then south on a long route towards Siem Reap. It was very bright (we’ve been blessed with clouds for many days), and we cycled along paved blacktop with rolling hills. It got hot very fast and by our 10:30,…
Cycling Day 9: Steung Treng to Preah Vihear — 38 Miles (UPDATED)
We saddled up at 6:30 this morning, and headed to breakfast about a mile from the hotel. And by 7:30 we were on the road, hoping to get most of the miles in before it got too hot. The road was straight and paved, but with rolling hills, the first we’ve seen on this trip, and despite the early start…
Cycling Day 8: Kratie to Stung Treng— 48 Miles (UDPDATED)
My travel mate Donna has been ill, so opted not to ride today at all. And given the itinerary I had decided to not cycle after our lunch break at all. Although it was to be quite pretty and quiet, the last 15 miles were said to be on a gravel path, and I’m finding the bicycle that I have…
Cycling Day 7: Phnom Penh to Kratie — 32 Miles: UPDATED
We met at the hotel in Phnom Penh early to ensure that our “new” bikes were fitted properly; we had left the bikes we used in Vietnam there, and had the equivalent cycles lined up for us for our Cambodian riding days. We biked through the city on the early Sunday morning, with fairly empty streets, making it easier to…