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The Grand Adventure

A bike trip with no end Read more

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🇰🇭 Khan Prampir Makara, Cambodia
The Grand Adventure Helene Rimberg
On to Phnom Penh: Day 1 to Stoung
March 30 in Cambodia ⋅ ☀️ 37 °C
Pack up, head out, and sadly leave Siem Reap behind. We have enjoyed our time here; exploring temples and ruins and eating a wide array of food. Managed to use 6 days of our 7 day pass. Road is pretty busy at first but quiets down. It is flat and HOT! Make good time so decide to push passed our endpoint to knock off miles from the next day. Find a nice hotel where we cool off. Get decent, basic food from across the street.Read more
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A last tour of the temples
March 29 in Cambodia ⋅ ☀️ 36 °C
Opt to stay out of the baking sun for most of the day. Wake up late, pack, do laundry and have a nice brunch. Venture out around 2:30 to do a late afternoon tour to some of the temples we missed. Though it was hot, there was a lot of shade on the road which helped. Checked out: Srah Srang (kings swimming pool), Banteay Kdei Temple (for the Mings mother), Pre Rup temple (from the 10th century) & Ta Prohm Temple (used in a Laura Croft movie). Late afternoon sunlight really lit everything up. Looped back past Angkor Wat and raced back to try (unsuccessfully) to beat the dark. Nice chicken dinner and a last gelato.Read more
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Angkor Wat
March 28 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 35 °C
Apparently, seeing sunrise behind Angkor Wat is the thing to do so of course we set out to see it at its finest. Wake up very early and take a Tuktuk to be at the gates at 5:00 - when they open. Walk in the dark under a star filled sky. Cross the moat and enter the complex. Find a spot by one of the reflecting pools and wait, watching as the sky begins to lighten. Lots of people around but not crazy crowded. Very beautiful sight! Walk around the outside and out to the eastern gate. Return to the temple, first viewing the fabulous bas reliefs - mostly telling the stories of epic battles (usually involving gods and demons). Angkor Wat is unique among the temples in that it has never been left to deteriorate. Through time it has been repeatedly repaired and restored. So no boulders laying around - all very tidy. Climb to the top level for a great view. Return to town and ‘chill” in our hotel. Do a few errands before venturing out for indian dinner.Read more
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Grand Circuit
March 27 in Cambodia ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C
Opt to use our bikes even more as cycling at least creates a breeze. Return to Angkor Thom amd I head into Bayon. 216 faces stare down upon you as you wander through the convoluted passageways. Walls are covered in bas reliefs that depict stories. Able to explore two of the stories as the last one in being restored - that seems a never ending process around here. Head out the north gate and ride to Preah Khan, Preah Neak Poan, Ta Som and Eastern Mebon before deeming ourselves templed out. Return to the hotel for a swim. Greek food for dinner (loving the break from rice).Read more
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Angkor Thom
March 26 in Cambodia ⋅ ☀️ 36 °C
Head out on bikes to the temples. Stop first at a fabulous grocery store for lunch supplies. Continue on amd park our bikes by the south gate of Angkor Thom. Admire our first rendition of Churning of the Ocean of Milk - an epic tug of war. Walk along the outer perimeter; enjoying the quiet. Temperature is rising and we stop for a lovely lunch that is interrupted by an aggressive monkey. Doug hurts his toe so we got our separate ways. I explore Baphuon, the remains of the Royal palace, the a terrace of the Leper King and Terrace of Elephants. Arrive back at the main temple yet too hot to explore. Trudge back to the bikes. Return to our hotel and cool off in the pool. Have pinza for dinner - similar to pizza but with a more complex dough. And of course, gelato.Read more
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Siem Reap
March 25 in Cambodia ⋅ ☀️ 36 °C
Only a few hours of riding, including some great newly paved roads and some very busy roads. Make it to Siem Reap in good time but can’t check in. Do some laundry and eat to pass the time. Siem Reap is very Western; prices are even in dollars. Finally check in and cool down in the pool. Take a tuktuk to Phenom Bakheng to watch the sunset. Out for nice Western style meal.Read more
Traveler Hi!
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TravelerYou made it to Cambodia! Can’t wait to hear all about it.
6dReply
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The Grand Adventure Helene Rimberg
Prasat Beng Mealea
March 24 in Cambodia ⋅ ☀️ 36 °C
Another stop on our journey to Angkor Wat. These 30+ mile days are nice - get them done by noon or so before it gets the hottest. Cool off and relax before riding back to the temple complex of Beng Mealea. The jungle has really had its way with this one. Only a few other people so could enjoy the eerie passage of time.Read more
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Koh Ker
March 23 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 35 °C
Relatively short day of riding to get to the town of Phumi Moreal. Arrive at our hotel very hot and sweaty. Fortunately there is a pool so take a plunge to cool down. No one else around besides us. Bike towards the ancient city of Koh Ker- the Angkorian capital in the 10th century. Very few other people around as we explore the very large and dispersed grounds. A seven tiered pyramid affords a great view of the surrounding jungle. Head back down the red dirt road to our hotel where we take another dip before dinner.Read more
TravelerJust read that Ko Ker is a unesco world heritage site
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Preah Vihear-another small town
March 22 in Cambodia ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C
Shorter day. Our distances are determined primarily by where there is lodging. Do find a nice hotel and relax in the AC. Short walk to pretty good dinner. Not Avery scenic day - flat roads surrounded by a lot of brown.Read more
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Through the mango fields
March 21 in Cambodia ⋅ 🌙 28 °C
Day is toasty even at 7:00 am. Find breakfast, pack up and ride back over the Mekong and head west toward Angkor Wat. Not much around besides fruit trees and small shacks/houses. Seems a very poor area. Long day and it’s hot. Arrive at our destination - small town of Chhaeb. Find a guest house and crank up the AC. Cold showers help too. Get some fruit and find some dinner.Read more
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Into Cambodia
March 20 in Cambodia ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C
Short ride to the border crossing. Only issue being Kai’s wanted $5 each for some unknown reason. Pay it and continue on. Day is cloudy which helps keep the heat down. Have some difficulty finding food but make do with our emergency tuna. Arrive in Stung Treng in the Mekong. After checking in, wander a bit in search of some supplies. Nice market but not much in the way of basic (our definition) necessities. Out for a decent dinner.Read more
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Tour de Island & Khonephapheng waterfall
March 19 in Laos ⋅ ⛅ 34 °C
Quick bike ride around our island and the next one over. Pack up and catch ferry back across the river. Ride oybaree miles to our hotel (it’s closer to tomorrow’s border crossing). Short ride to Khonephapheng waterfalls, the largest in SE Asia. Quite impressive! Although not very tall thy are very wide. Return to our hotel and have last Lao dinner.Read more
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4000 Islands
March 18 in Laos ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C
Nice early start but encounter a few setbacks on our way to cross the Mekong. First the coffee shop is not open and then we somehow miss the ferry eventhough we are right there. Pay for our own little boat to take use across. Ride south to the next ferry port to take us back across the Mekong to the island of Don Det; one of presumably 4000 islands within the Mekong. Short ride to Mr Tho’s Guesthouse. Chill by the river. Although quite touristy, very scenic and peaceful. Out for Indian dinner.Read more
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Vat Phou
March 17 in Laos ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C
Opt to stay on the west side of the river so that we can visit Vat Phou, an ancient Khmer site from 12th century. Explore the ruins set up into the hillside. Day is becoming hazy but still have good views into the valley. Pedal on into the heat. Have a bit of a breeze which is helpful. Not much in the way of stores or services do put together a meager lunch. Our road abruptly turns into dirt, sand, and craters. Struggle along for 15 miles slowly. And amazingly it turns back to asphalt for the final 5 miles. Roll up to a hotel, check in and soak up some A/C. Luckily they also have a restaurant.Read more
TravelerRough day 😑
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Back to Laos and the Mekong river
March 16 in Laos ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C
Early start to get some miles done when it’s cooler. Seven miles down the road come to Thailand and Laos border. Get stamped out of Thailand and then need to procure our visas for Laos. Pass on through and out the other side. Immediately notice differences - road is much worst and lots of litter. Attempts of find an 🏧 that wants to give us money. No luck. Carry on. Head south at the Mekong river and make our way to Champasak - a historic town full of Wats and old building. Check in (no A/C) but manage to cool down walk to very good dinner by the river.Read more
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Towards the Laos border
March 15 in Thailand ⋅ 🌙 27 °C
Manage to get ok sleep though a bit bumpy. Roll out of our beds before our stop so they can put the cabin back in daytime mode. Arrive in Ubon Ratchathani nice and early. Stop for a nice cappuccino and breakfast and head east towards the border. Nice road with a wide shoulder most of the time. Day heats up and struggle a bit towards the end. Land at a hotel hot and tired. Get cleaned up, rest and walk to a meh dinner.Read more
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Wat Arun and a train journey
March 14 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C
Last day in Bangkok. Fortunately we are able to leave our loaded bikes at the hotel so we can spend a bit more time exploring. Wind our way to Wat Arun. We had walked by it last time but not made it in. Although we had planned to get there early this did not happen. The Wat was very busy; mostly with people dressed up in traditional clothes getting their instagram photos taken. Pretty annoying - though it is a very beautiful structure. Head back to our hotel and ride towards the train station. Once we got ourselves to the right side of the building had a very smooth process to roll out fully loaded bikes onto the train. Find our sleeper car and climb into our Murphy bed-like berths.Read more
TravelerWat Arun looked really interesting. One pro to revisit!
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A return to the National Museum
March 13 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C
Spend a bit of time sorting out our train travel. Need to extend our time in Bangkok because of limited sleeping car availability. Need to switch hotels so pack up. I head back to National Museum to finish exploring as our visit last time was cut short by rain and closing time. Great collection of royal regalia. And as always, many Buddhas. Return to new hotel ad Doug had moved us over. Cool down and then off to dine by canal. Wander through night scene as we search for ice cream.Read more
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Back to Bangkok
March 12 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C
Finish our ride into Bangkok, most of it along the newly developed canal cycle way. It’s still a work in progress as at times it abruptly ends or goes up steep steps. Check into hotel, drop our bikes off for servicing and wander around Chinatown. Duck into malls a few times to escape heat. Pick bikes back up and return to the hotel. Nice dinner out. We are enjoying our return to Thai food.Read more
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Hello Thailand - again
March 11 in Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 34 °C
Very early wake up; but the Uber driver we scheduled the night before shows up on time. First hurdle completed. At the airport do a bit of reorganization to lower the weights of our boxes. Get them all checked in - check! Relax a bit before boarding the short flight to Bangkok. After that it all goes a bit awry. Security takes forever and our bikes need some extra love after being boxed for so long. Leave the airport at 4:00 with 24 miles to go. Do our best to hustle but it gets dark and we get tired. Find a nearby hotel and just pay for 2 hotels for the night. Do find a good Thai restaurant for dinner.Read more
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Transition day
March 10 in Sri Lanka ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C
After packing up, took a TukTuk to the bus towards Colombo, then an Uber to pick up our stuff and then a big van to get to a homestay near airport. When we arrived the power was out so quite toasty packing up our boxes. Fortunately it came back quickly and we finished up. Ate dinner at our garden homestay and went o bed early.Read more
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A long stroll along the beach
March 9 in Sri Lanka ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C
Take advantage of low tide and out south along the beach. Pass through empty beach’s on the way to Turtle Beach. And as promised, turtles everywhere! Do a bit of snorkeling amongst the rocks as well. Continue our walk, occasionally having to divert onto the road as the tide was coming in and eliminating what beach there was. Stop along the rock pools of Talpe beach and admire the incoming tide. TukTuk back.Read more
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Galle Fort
March 8 in Sri Lanka ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C
Take a TukTuk back to Galle to explore the historic Dutch/ British fort and town. Hasn’t been in a walked city for awhile! Quite nice architecture and a beautiful coastline. Quite hot though. Walk along the water, stopping to get food and fresh fish. TukTuk back and try a different area for snorkeling. Enjoy a tasty tuna dinner!Read more
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More planning and beach time
March 7 in Sri Lanka ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
Spent the morning going around in circles, considering and reconsidering our travel options. Finally gave it a rest and hit the beach. “Bought”
Sun chars by buying lunch and spent the rest of the day there. Did a bit of snorkeling; immediately seeing a turtle but only one small fish. Walk to the market to get dinner food and cook in the outdoor kitchen.Read more
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Packing and a train ride south
March 6 in Sri Lanka ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C
Need to vacate the apartment but the owner is allowing us to store our stuff making us more nimble. Catch a ride to Colombo and then a train to Galle. Quite crowded and we didn’t spring for first class; meaning we stood for 2 hours. Oh well. Tuk tuk to Unawatuna beach. Go for a beach walk and get another turtle release. Stop for dinner at beachfront restaurantRead more
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