Cycling the Countryside

Starting again on the bikes from the resort we rode a series of small sealed and unsealed roads that wind their way around villages and farmland. After a short section on the main road and a "bit of a climb" uphill we descend back towards the river and make a visit to the Angkor Kingdom ruins called Muang Sing.
This region marked around the furthest point west that the great Cambodian Empire once spread. After visiting the ruins it was a further 15km to the end of the ride, a late lunch, and the start of the drive back to our hotel in Bangkok.

My diary reads:
This morning we woke early for our final day's cycling. Riding out of the hotel we soon found ourselves carefully making our way along a series of back tracks. These had been turned into quagmires by the previous night's rain and we had lots of fun playing boats as we surged through the mud, concentrating hard to avoid falling into the slop on either side. These tracks were also undulating but I think we are starting to acclimatise better to the conditions as we all fared much better than we did in the heat on day one.
After a couple of hours on back tracks we emerged onto a beautiful smooth bitumen road This gave us a chance to form into a pace line and enjoy 20 km or so of fast team riding, sitting between 30 to 35 kph (not bad for a mouuntain bike). This is the type of riding we are most experienced at and all of us had a ball. I think our guide was a little surprised at how fast we rode.

The ride eventually ended at an ancient temple, and this is where our ride in Thailand officially ended. After a delightful lunch at a roadside restaurant, we climbed aboard the bus for the long bus ride back to Bangkok. Tomorrow most of our team will be returning to Australia. I will be staying here for a few more days.Read more