recent posts
- Day Of Food – Cambodia
- Cycling Flat Out
- Quiet Times At Angkor Wat
- On The Temple Trail
- 22,000 Kilometre Photo
- Laos By Numbers
- Lizard Days
- Cycling In Coffee Country
- Merry Christmas From Laos
- Adventures On ‘The Loop’
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- January 2012 (7)
- December 2011 (6)
- November 2011 (7)
- October 2011 (8)
- September 2011 (7)
- August 2011 (7)
- July 2011 (8)
- June 2011 (8)
- May 2011 (11)
- April 2011 (11)
- March 2011 (6)
- February 2011 (6)
- January 2011 (6)
- December 2010 (5)
- November 2010 (6)
- October 2010 (4)
- September 2010 (9)
donations
Cycling Flat Out
We were eager to arrive in Phnom Penh, which was the biggest city we have visited since China. Flat roads devoid of anything to divert us from cycling gave us reason to speed south, and besides, closing in on the end of our trip, we both wanted to see how far we could cycle in one day. Phnom Penh holds dark poignant memories of Cambodia’s past and as we rode into the city that saw a forced exodus of its population into the surrounding countryside, the thought of these events swirled around my mind. – Posted by Justin
On The Temple Trail
Watching yet another slow sunset over the Mekong while sipping a cool fruit shake and gently rocking in a hammock we felt a twinge of guilt at having so easily succumbed to the charms of Don Det island leaving our sense of adventure behind on the mainland. Amongst days of doing nothing much, we planned our onward route through Cambodia with an eye for adventure including another off-road fling and visits to remote temple ruins. – Posted by Justin
22,000 Kilometre Photo
The 22,000 kilometre photo was taken on the way to Dam Dek, Cambodia on 7th January 2012. After a drink stop we managed to convince one of the local guys to pose for a photo with us and contribute the two fingers we needed for our total. Its possible his initial hesitancy at being photographed was due to the strange footwear combo we are wearing. Our excuse was we were cycling due west for most of the day and only one foot was in the sun. – Posted by Justin
Cycling In Coffee Country
Emma loves coffee and the Bolaven Plateau in Southern Laos is a major coffee growing region. Could it be fate, luck or has the planning behind our entire cycle journey been leading towards Emma’s coffee Nirvana? As we head south from Thakhek the presence of coffee becomes impossible to ignore. Every small collection of shops we pass through requires a stop for mugs of thick black Laos coffee or cleverly tied and twisted takeaway bags full of ice, sweetened condensed milk and more of the black stuff. – Posted by Justin
21,000 Kilometre Photo
The 21,000 kilometre photo was taken on the way to Thakhek, Laos on 14th December 2011. This was almost exactly one month after our 20,000km photo was taken and must be one of our slowest thousand kilometres so far. Finding a way to show the 21 count was challenging but after experimenting with Justin using his toes we borrowed the fingers of a helpful but confused local man to make up the numbers. – Posted by Justin
Day Of Food – Laos
The food in Laos outside the more touristic towns consists of the staple noodles and rice prepared in a few different ways. In small villages the options are normally limited with us taking whatever is on offer supplemented with our own supply of biscuits and fresh fruit. The addition of sticky rice to the stir-fried and steamed variety has been great with us often carrying a plastic bag of this as snack food. – Posted by Justin
Heightened Anticipation
Finding ourselves cycling across unexpected mountain passes in snow storms and heading into deserts without sufficient water are examples of how our lack of in-depth planning does not always work in our favour. Upon entering a new country our route planning is mostly a brief survey of a map based on the knowledge that we must head in a certain compass direction to cross the border to our next destination. – Posted by Justin
Early Riding Ritual
Getting up early to start cycling has become a regular part of our daily routine since the south of China – with afternoon temperatures in the high 20s cycling becomes a sweaty exhausting chore. Its a routine that seems harsh when an alarm calls at 5am but that brings rewards when you cycle under the welcome cool of early morning mist watching from the saddle as empty roads slowly fill with life. Having the bulk of your cycling over and done with by early afternoon isn’t too bad either. – Posted by Justin
20,000 Kilometre Photo
The 20,000 kilometre photo was taken approximately 5km outside Luang Prabang, Laos on 15th November 2011. That day we had covered a fairly quick 110km alongside the Nam Ou river before it merged with the Mekong. In the evening when we were settled in our comfortable guest house we raised a few toasts to the distance cycled so far and promised ourselves celebratory cakes the next day. – Posted by Justin
Vietnam By Numbers
Only having five cycling days in Vietnam we had just a brief glimpse of what the country has to offer. Finding ourselves in Kunming, China with time to spare we found we could cycle a tiny corner of Vietnam to the Tay Trang border crossing to Laos, also increasing our country count to 15. Spending as much time in the tourist friendly town of Sa Pa as tiny rural villages meant we had little chance to learn much Vietnamese but we did take every opportunity to sample the new types of food on offer. Friendly children shouting hello and cute free roaming animals helped with the steep hill climbs as did the occasional thunder storm that drenched us in minutes. – Posted by Justin