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Martin TomlinsonMartin Tomlinson
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traveled in 27 countries Read more Dublin, Ireland
  • TravelerAsia cycle
    Day 13

    Day 7 cycling, one left!

    February 12 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Quite a demanding day I guess, as it seemed hotter as we cycled a lot of tarmac. One feature of this trip is when we're on dirt tracks and it's hard for the guide to determine exactly where we were. Consequently we end up retracing our 'steps'! Today we had a lovely lunch in a great location, on banks of a huge lake about 90 mins below Udon Thani. But what he didn't tell us was that to get back on track we had to retrace about 5km up a slight hill with a steep section at the end. Gruelling!
    Not many photos at all today, but as I get good ones from the group I'll post the better ones.    Read more

  • TravelerAsia cycle
    Day 12

    Day 6 of 8 cycling days

    February 11 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Whoops, nearly forgot to post this as zonked after 72kms, a message before dinner, and a couple of beers! Hard to crash as 6 floors down a live duo playing to the outside restaurant! So tonight we're in Kohn Kean in a modern hotel.
    Again, set off from hotel at 0730, so very cool and we had lunch around 52km I think. Most of day was either on local roads or gravel tracks in country, and beautiful green paddy fields. They seem to have a very neat network of fields here, with extensive irrigation and water pools and waterways to manage through the dry season.
    At one point we had to dismount in a village due to a procession and street party for two young men who were becoming monks. The villagers were so incredibly friendly, shaking hands and taking photos of us! The due to a longish drive to hotel the cycle was capped at 72km. Tmw the route is less at 60, due to a 90 mins drive to reach next hotel.    Read more

  • TravelerAsia cycle
    Day 11

    Day 5 of 8 cycling days

    February 10 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Good day, 71.5km covered today (256km this week). Helped by early start, cycled out of town straight from hotel, cooler weather as we head northwards, shorter lunch stop, and fact we saved time by skipping the afternoon visit to an elephant village which turned out to be a touristy show that none of us wanted to witness. Simple rural countryside and villages mostly today, and mostly on main roads. Very modern hotel tonight, in Roi Et, but food here was a bit of a let down. Very few photos. One video was of me to granddaughter Etta which is a bit mad.....Read more

  • TravelerAsia cycle
    Day 10

    Day off cycling, visiting projects

    February 9 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    So today was a mostly welcome rest day, with a whole day of visiting Lendwithcare's local Thai partner who vets the entrepreneurs and their projects before disbursing microfinance loans to them. None of the 'clients' would likely be funded by me as I tend to focus on female, Cambodian, farmers, and we are in Thailand now, but the model would be similar. After a presentation from the development partner we visited 5 projects, covering farming cows, weaving and growing crickets for food, chicken and mushroom farming, another cow farm, and a sewing business. Massive amount of enthusiasm from all, through translators, to talk and show us what they do.
    The local community cooked us this excellent lunch, quite unlike Thai food we normally experience, even in Thai holiday resorts. Very authentic rural I guess. Later that evening the development partner hosted a dinner in a restaurant in Surin, where are staying, which again was so different from what we expect and very tasty, with a few familiar spicy favourites like mango salad and Tom Yung.
    Still, not everybody with dodgy tummies is 100%, and one or two almost shake it off then regress.
    I'm ok!
    "...….Briefing for tomorrow: pay hotel extras, check out and be ready to depart on our bikes at 7.30. Tomorrow we cycle from the hotel. We leave at 07:30am.
    First stop 19km (we will decide whether to break after each 10k or less)
    2nd stop at 35km
    Lunch at 50km
    The restaurant is near Elephant Village. After lunch we will discuss the planning for the afternoon.
    Terrain is relatively flat. End destination for our hotel is Roi Et....."
    So with a bit of luck I'll do 60km tomorrow. So far this week, in first four days, I've done a modest 185km.    Read more

  • TravelerAsia cycle
    1
    Day 9

    Day 4/8 cycling

    February 8 in Cambodia ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Hit a personal record in one day, 55.27km. Again I'd be happy to shoot for 60km deffo, but those in charge felt as it was a longish drive to hotel we should knock it on head and finish. Btw, the photos of just me are mainly for Etta!
    About 8-10 of the 25 didn't complete the last 10km as sun was out again and they'd rather overheated I think. Quite a nice hotel tonight, in Surin, and tomorrow, as tmw is a non cycling day when we get bussed to visit a few projects and the locals which use the microfinance from us. The video below at the Cambodia - Thai border describes the cock up which held us up and used valuable cooler riding time. In addition before we got to the border, we were driven to what they said was Pol Pot's grave , altho who really wants to visit the grave of a genocidal maniac, and it was a double waste of time as those who got out of the bus found out the grave was a 2km walk away, so never saw it anyway... all wasting cooler riding time...! Unfortunately, when we had the lunch stop the food had been put out sometime before we got there and Tony from the charity, and Dr Lisa insisted on getting new food as it had flies around it. So the table you see has all food which will either go to waste or feed local people I guess. Generally there has been too much food at lunch stops, and most people want an energy boost but not a big meal before cycling again! Several people had dodgy tummies after last night's meal, which looked like very authentic Khmer cuisine indeed!    Read more

  • TravelerAsia cycle
    3
    Day 8

    Well deserved beeeeeer

    February 7 in Cambodia ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Downtown Anlong Vegn, with a beer and nuts by a well lit roundabout! Then back to the hotel, to catch the bus as I don't think the guest house can cater for all of us!

  • TravelerAsia cycle
    Day 8

    Day 3/8 cycling days

    February 7 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Well, I guess a success in as much as 1) I didn't need the support bus, and 2) at 52km that's the most I ridden, just, since starting training. But..... There were several things that meant the target of 80km was reduced, including the conditions, the fact that we'd a longer lunch to let the sun go past it's peak, and apparently (I've no idea why) the cycling tour company didn't want to be too late to the hotel in Along Vegn. Most of us (although some chose the bus) were still going at 52, and I definitely wanted to go to the next water stop in 5km, or the or better still hit 60km which I could have done, but we were all told to get on the bus. Dirt tracks better surface today, but more tarmac than before, but whilst it's hot it's easier to manage a steady pace and rhythm. It was 90min on bus from where we stopped riding to this quaint guest house, but it has got a basic split a/c which kind of works! One feature of the rides is lots of small kids shouting out 'hello', and us replying in Khmer. Not too many photos of interest again - we did visit the landmine museum but I sat outside and chilled having been there in 2011. We passed a lot of cashew tree farms, but mysteriously I cannot see the video! The mapmyrun screenshot is a bit misleading wet time as it includes water stops, waiting for people, museum visit, lunch etc. I believe the average speed was about 15-16km/HR for the middle group, the front pack would be faster.Read more

  • TravelerAsia cycle
    Day 7

    Day 2 of 8 cycling days

    February 6 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Today we cycled out of town, and 25 people weaving in and out of traffic worked surprisingly well! Then along series of mainly hard packed dirt roads to a river connected to Tonle Sap Lake. At one point we cycled over hot tarmac radiating heat to add to the hardship. The young doctor cycling with us said that it was 36C with a 'feel like' of 41C. To give us more of a chance we may start cycling at 0700 in morning, not 730, to be covered in the briefing. More people got in the support bus than yesterday, including some who normally could have finished, but who found heat too much, but I finished the 50km. Plenty of strength left in legs, but beginning to burn in a couple of places. Normally I never burn with SF50, so I'm pretty puzzled. The back roads are quite rutted, but also have a layer of red dust that sticks to sun lotion, hence photo of my leg to give an idea of how much there is around!Read more

  • TravelerAsia cycle
    Day 6

    First day cycling, to Angkor Wat

    February 5 in Cambodia ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    A good first day, not very demanding really, probably intentionally. Some people found the ruts on the forest trails a little unnerving, and we had to stop several times as the same people got freaked out by the loose sand on certain stretches. I'm well able for sand, so no problem! The distance of just over 28 km also included some walking around temples, including the 'Tomb Raider' one. Really well fed at a snack stop with fresh fruit and a kind of sugary, salty rice cracker, then a full on lunch in a cafe. Drank truckloads of water, with and without, electrolyte tablets, but hardly we'ed, so must have sweated buckets.Read more

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