This was our last full day of the trip. We had a bit of a later start with breakfast at 6:45am. Breakfast was more western and I had a really nice omelette.

We started off on our bikes and cycled through the jungle along sandy and muddy paths to the ticket centre for the Angkor Thom complex. We all had to have our photo taken which was then printed onto the ticket, so this took a little while.

From here we cycled to the first temple of the day. It was a narrow path through the jungle and occasionally a vine would grab you was you cycled past. A few of the group had little tumbles, I just about managed to stay on.

The first temple we visited was Ta Prohm which is one of the most well known of the temples. It is overgrown by trees and looks like the temples in the Tomb Raider film.

This temple was mainly built in the late 12th and early 13th century and was originally called Rajavihara.

One of the carvings on the wall was of a dinasour. Its the third one up from the bottom.

After a walk around this temple we were back on the bikes for another cycle through the forest to Bayon temple. This was also built in the late 12th and early 13th century and is very highly decorated. It was the official state temple of the Mahayana Buddhist king Jayavarman VII. It is commonly known as the temple of many heads.

Just by the temple there was a large shrine to Buddha. I bought a braclet here which the women tied on and said a prayer as they did this.

It was then back on the bikes to cycle to Angkor Wat itself. Each time we got to a temple we had to cover our shoulders and knees so had to keep taking clothes on and off.

Once we got to Angkor Wat we took a group photo. It was quite emotional finally reaching our destination.

Angkor was the capital city of the Khmer Empire which flourished from the 9th to 15th century. Angkor was a legality which supported around 0.1% of the global population between 1010 and 1220.

This temple is huge and absolutely amazing. The details in the carvings are beautiful. We had about an hour to walk around the temple. We walked up the steep steps to the top so you could get a great view of the surrounding area.

We also had a blessing from one of the monks within the temple to reset our karma.

After the temple trip it was just a short 5km cycle back to the hotel and then say goodbye to our bikes. I felt really emotional arriving back at the hotel. It was hugs all round.

We had a little while at the hotel before we had to get ready for dinner. We had a little swim in the pool and then a quick shower. We went to a local restaurant in town for food, which, like always, was amazing and plentiful. There were a few heartfelt speeches and a round if awards – I won most glamerrous cycling outfits which was a bit of a surprise.

After our celebration meal we headed to pub street for a couple more drinks before heading home. I befriended a little street cat.

Another early start this morning which wasn’t ideal after a night on the beer. I am so looking forward to a lie in.

We went to have breakfast at the same place we ate last night – it was breakfast Cambodian style and it was delicious.

After breakfast we hopped back on the coach for what should have been a 20 minute journey to Tonle Sap but ended up being an hour and a half. This was because plans changed, the water in the lake wasn’t high enough for the boat to come in where we were originally going to get it from. The coach couldn’t actually get down the road to the boat as the road was flooded so we had to walk the last little bit with all the provisions.

The boat wasn’t quite as expected but we all got on and off we went. Tonle Sap is the largest lake in South East Asia and has UNESCO biosphere status.

These were some of the views as we headed out into the lake.

The journey across the lake took around 5 hours and we weren’t travelling particularly slowly! I managed to sleep a couple of times for around half an hour each time.

Shortly after we started out on the lake we stopped to pick up some ice.

The guys had ordered some beers for the boat trip (around 96) but I couldn’t really face it. About two thirds into the journey the beer ran out – so further supplies miraculously appeared, organised by Heng, our local guide. It was wierd, we were right in the middle of the lake and suddenly a boat pulls up alongside us and offloads some crates of beer. I think between the group we drank 146 beers.

The lake was huge but we all had a good time sailing across it and occasionally you would pass other boats or small bunches of houses.

We were due to dock at Kampong Khlaeng but as the route had changed we docked at Kampong Dhong instead.

When we got out of the boat it was a little walk to pick up the bikes, in the heat though it felt really long. Some of the group managed to get a lift in a truck.

We cycled then from the lake to Siem Reap- only around 30km. For a lot of the group it felt longer as beer consumption had been quite high. As we cycled down the roads we had to avoid cows, water buffalo, chickens, digs, people, mopeds and other cyclists!

The hotel in Siem Reap was really nice again. This time we had 3 people to a room so Sherrien joined Ali and I.

We had time to have a shower and get changed before we headed downstairs for dinner. Dinner was more delicious Cambodian food, although the pudding was a little strange.

Most of us had an earlyish night but Adam and Jeremy decided to go out and hit the town, something they probably regretted the next morning!

After another early breakfast, served on the rooftop of the hotel, we set off by bus to Tuol Sleung, otherwise known as S21.

This used to be a school but during the Pol Pot regime it became an interrogation camp. Prisoners were bought to the camp, measured and photographed before being put in a cell. As you were being photographed the interrogation would start and there was a drill at the back of the chair that moved towards your head, so as it came closer you would answer the questions.

If you were an important person, a person of power, you would be placed in block A. Prisoners would be chained to the metal bed and interrogated and tortured for around 10 hours every day; 4 hours in the morning, 4 in the afternoon and 2 in the evening. The Khmer Rouge soldiers used various methods of torture. You could be electrocuted, lashed and then salt rubbed into the wounds, have your fingernails pulled out with pliers and alcohol poured over the wounds or waterboarding. If at any point you lost consciousness, water would be poured over you to wake you up. The prisoners would be tortured for 6-7 months before being sent off to be killed at the killing fields

The photos on the walls are pictures of the bodies that were found in the cells when the interrogation camp was liberated in 1979.

One method of torture was to tie the prisoners hands behind their back, pull them up with a rope over wooden gallows and then dunk them head first in barrels of water and other substances.

We then moved onto block B which had photos of the soilders and the prisoners and some other pictures of the conditions at the time.

When the Khmer Rouge soldiers (Kampuchea Democratic) first came back into Cambodia from the jungle the people welcomed them as they thought they were the king’s soldiers. But things didn’t turn out the way they expected and Pol Pot started the red revolution, arrested intellectuals and people of power, tortured and killed them. Other people were forced to work in the fields as farmers.

We then moved to block C which was for ordinary people and Dharim told us it was mainly students who were kept here. These single cells had no doors but prisoners were chained by their ankles so couldn’t move and they were not allowed to talk to each other. Like other prisoners they were also tortured daily to get information about other members of their family who would then be captured and killed.

As you walked past the cells you could still see patches of blood on the floor.

We asked what happened to the children. Apparently any babies would be thrown up in the air and soldiers would catch them on their bayonets. Children would be taken to the killing fields and killed. The children were blinfmdfolded and put in a truck and some of the skills on display still have the blindfold on them.

The last section had some stories of survivors. At any one time the prison held 300- 600 prisoners and over the 3 – 4 years around 200,000 people passed through the doors. Of these 7 adults and 4 children survived.

You just can’t imagine this happening, bit it’s still going on in the world today.

Pol Pot was in power until 7 January 1979 when Cambodia was ‘liberated’. Basically the Khmer Rouge split into two factions, one who stayed with Pol Pot and one who went to Vietnam and joined up with the Viet Com. It was the Vietnamese who invaded Cambodia in 1979 and took over control. They continued to occupy Cambodia until 1989. Pol Pot fled to the jungle by the Thai / Cambodia border and set up a guerrilla group that continued fighting until he died in 1988. The current government, the Cambodia People Party are still the Khmer Rouge regime, but the faction that went to Vietnam. However, they don’t want to bring their fellow party colleagues to justice for the war crimes they committed which is why many of them continue to live freely in the country.

It was an emotional morning.

After the prison we got back on the bus for a short distance and then picked up our bikes. The cycle ride was lovely, over gravel, tarmac and clay roads.

I am really liking Cambodia, it seems somehow nicer than Vietnam.

For lunch we stopped and ate at a temple, it was really calm and peaceful. We had a delicious packed lunch and we chatted to the children as a couple of them could speak quite good English.

After lunch we continued cycling along similar terrain to Kampong Chhang. It was a really good cycle ride and didn’t seem like 75km.

The last couple of km in the town were a bit hairy, especially as my bike lights had lost their charge.

The hotel was perhaps not as good as the others we stayed in. Ali and I found some bed bugs so we were given a new room.

In the evening we went to a local restaurant and ended up singing karaoke and dancing until around 11pm. We then continued the party, initially in the hotel lobby but then outside in front of the hotel. The beer certainly was flowing tonight. We also tried some local wine / spirit type mix which tasted a bit like Jagermeister / cough mixture.

Jeremy we found out is an amazing singer and made up a song about the trip on the spot! Jim and our guide Heng, also sung a song and then we just all sang along to whatever was playing.

I think we went to bed around 1230am which wasn’t good as we needed to be up by 5:454am.

After another early breakfast we headed to the Vietnam / Cambodia border by bus. The guides had taken all our passports there earlier that morning and got them all stamped. It still took a while though as we each had to fill in an immigration form and have our fingerprints and iris’ scanned.

Straight after the border we picked up our new bikes and spent a bit of time sorting them out.

The ride to lunch was 50km and it was all along a proper road which actually made it a little bit boring. I think we were all really tired too so not feeling that energetic.

As we passed through the small towns by the side of the road the kids still came running out to shout hello and wave. Some of the waving progressed to high fives- and a couple of the kids were slapping your hands really hard. I think I’m going to stick to waving from now on as my hand was stinging!

Lunch was delicious with more of a Thai influence, and we also had a beer.

After lunch there was no more cycling and we got the bus to the killing fields. There we met our guide, Dharim, who told us a harrowing story about his family which I’ll get to a bit later.

The killing fields we visited were just one of many across Cambodia, I think they said there were 194,000 of them around the country and over the Khmer Rouge time around 3 million Cambodian people were killed in them – and that was from 1975 to 1979.

Dharim told us a bit of the history. The Cambodian king at the time tried to keep the country neutral and he visited both America and China. He was treated better in China so started to align with them and with communism. There ended up being a north/south split in the country with the USA governing the south and the king still governing the north although he was living in Russia at the time. The king called out to the people of Cambodia, asking them to leave their homes and go into the jungle. Here they became Khmer Rouge soldiers. As many of the people still loved their king they fled to the jungle, despite the Americans telling them it was not a good idea. The problem was though that the king by now was a prisoner of the communists and they put their leader, Pol Pot in charge. Over a period of time, after the Vietnam war, Pol Pot decided to start a revolution based on what had happened in China previously. The chinese tried to dissuafe hom from.dpung this but he didn’t listen. He took over Phnom Penh and basically killed all the intellectuals as he wanted everyone to work the land and be farmers and not question the regime. Families were separated, intellectuals were sent to prison, tortured and then killed.

At the killing fields they killed people in various ways, using bayonets, bashing the backs of their heads with an axe or pulling their heads back and slitting their throats. They used to play music so the people working and living nearby didn’t hear the screams of the people being killed. The bodies were then thrown into mass graves, around 300 – 600 per grave. As in the Vietnamese killing fields some of the bones and skulls have been put in the memorial.

Dharim lived through this and 5 of his close family were killed by the Khmer Rouge. He has met the man who killed his mother. He told us she was raped repeatedly, her flesh cut with a knife before she was given an injection to kill her. She was buried in one of the mass graves. 3 of his siblings were also killed as was his father- only he and his sister survived.

He was forced to work on the land where people were not given breakfast and lunch and dinner was basically rice porridge, made with water, and with very little rice actually in it. You were forced to work from sunrise to sunset and if you became ill there was no medical help so you were left to die. So starvation and sickness killed many people too.

Dharim told us that when he was still a child, around 9 years old, he was riding a cart with oxen to take the corn back from the field and in the field he saw Khmer Rouge soldiers raping some girls, then cutting them open and taking the livers from the bodies. They would later cook and eat the livers. This apparently made their eyes red so these were the soldiers to avoid.

If one member of the family was caught, they were tortured to get the details of the rest of the family members, who were then also captured and killed.

It was really hard to listen to all of this, especially from someone who had experienced it first hand.

After this we went to the hotel via bus and this hotel was really lovely.

In the evening we went to the Foreign Correspondence Club (FCC) and this has a lot of photos on the wall taken from the killing fields and the prisons once they had been uncovered by the journalist.

The food was probably the best to date. A little cat came and joined us and I couldn’t resist feeding him some bits and pieces. After dinner we went up to the rooftop bar where there was a band playing. The views were lovely too.

It was then back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep.

Another early start to the day, I’m getting used to these early starts, might have to try and keep them up once I get home. Breakfast, as usual was a mix of Asian and western food and was served on the rooftop of the hotel. The views were pretty good.

We set off from the hotel by bus as it was a bit chaotic on the roads going out but around 30 mins later we were reunited with our trusty steeds.

We cycled along quite a pleasant road with paddy fields on either side. They looked really green. I know that sounds stupid but the colour was really bright and intense.

It was a pretty hot and humid day so we had several water stops along the way.

Not too long after we started we faced a very challenging path which was extremely muddy and pretty much waterlogged in some places. It was really tough cycling over this bit and several of us slipped and slid. In some parts you did have to get off and walk. It was pretty scary and needed a lot of concentration. It was also very humbling to see how the people lived. I can’t imagine what it must be like to live in these conditions.

We found out later that one of the guys had literally destroyed one of the small shacks because as he fell over he grabbed onto a bamboo stick which was the support to a roof and the whole thing fell over!

It was also a bit of Russian roulette with chickens, puppies and children running out in front of your bike as you went along.

At the end of the muddy bit there was a big wooden bridge and it was a relief to be on solid ground again.

We then cycled onto lunch which was at a cafe.

Lunch was more delicious Asian food. I’m getting much better at eating with chopsticks!

After lunch we set off and for the first time we saw mountains. We also cycled past more paddy fields.

We cycled to the killing fields at Ba Chuc. These have nothing to do with the Vietnamese war but are to do with Pol Pot’s regime and the communist party. Basically around 3000 Vietnamese people were killed here in just 12 days in April 1975. Only two women from the village where the killing fields are actually survived. It is a really harrowing experience, and it really makes you think as it only happened a few years ago.

Some people tried to hide in the temple as a place of sanctuary but they were killed anyway. There are bloody landmarks on the walls. The lotus flowers memorial is filled with the skills and bones of the people who were killed here.

As we started to approach Chau Doc the roads became more undulating. I could really feel this on my legs as for the previous days we had mainly been cycling on the flats.

The last 2km of the ride were tough as they were all uphill. I did struggle but I did make it to the top thanks to Sherrien and Jane who helped me through it.

At the top was parrot mountain, so called because the stone looks like a parrot.

We then jumped in the bus to get to our Hotel. I must admit I felt really proud of getting up the hill, it was allegedly a 10% incline! I could feel.it in my legs though as we cycled another 99.6km today.

At the evening meal we had to say goodbye to our Vietnamese guides as tomorrow we cross the border into Cambodia. We have them all some tips and ideas sad to see them go, especially Trong as he was giving some of us some really good shoulder massages. They were all really sweet and lovely guys.

And then we had s couple of drinks before bedtime.

Today we were up at 530am and ready to set off at 7am. It was a different start to the day as we actually walked along the river down to the boats. As a group we boarded two of the boats and headed down the river (Mekong delta) to the floating markets.

The waterways are still used as one of the main ways of transportation in Vietnam, although obviously roads are now used too but it is only in recent years that they have built the bridges. One of the bridges was only built in the 1970s and unfortunately it collapsed when it was bring built and killed 50 people.

We travelled around 7km up river to the floating markets. These were still quite busy although the busiest time is much earlier when they open around 5am.

The sellers show what they are selling by tying the product to a bamboo stick and this sticks up from the boat so as a buyer you know where to go. As well as the floating market, other small boats come up to you and sell food and drink. Adam and Jeremy decided to have a beer!

Once back on dry land we then got a chance to look round one of the local street markets. It was really colourful, and in some places quite smelly.

The bowl of black things in the photo on the bottom.right were snails, and they were still alive and moving around. It was really interesting seeing all the different fruits, I couldn’t tell you what half of them were.

After the wander round the market it was back on the bikes and off to Sa Dec. Most of the morning we were on fairly decent terrain. I took this photo at one of our morning water stops. All along the way the children were really excited to see us and they all wave and say hello. We obviously all wave back and shout hello too.

Lunch was at a cafe and as always the food was delicious.

The weather is hot and humid, around 32 degrees during the day and as soon as you start pedalling you sweat – in fact it’s actually nice being on a bike as you get a bit of a breeze. It does rain quite a bit too and it can be quite heavy.

After lunch we cycled upstream along the river to Long Xuyen. At one of the afternoon water stops it poured down.

Towards the end of the day we visited a bird sanctuary where the people have created a habitat for egrets. There were loads of them around, but only on the one side. There was a really ugly bird too, a bit like a stork, in a cage as you came down the stairs. He apparently is very vicious.

As we left the bird sanctuary we talked to a couple of the children – I say talked but it was a lot of using hands and smiles!

It was then a short cycle to the coach which took us to our hotel for the night.

We had dinner in the hotel, and a couple of drinks too! More Vietnamese red wine.

Today we cycled 75km.

We had a weeny bit of a lie in this morning, with breakfast at 630am to be ready for 730am start. I slept so well last night and only woke up just before the alarm went off.

Our first stop was literally just down the road from the hotel. It was the Bah Om lake. There is a bit of a story behind this lake which Trong our guide told us. Basically, the women in Tra Vinh were the more powerful gender and they were the ones who proposed to the men. At some point there was a debate as to whether this should continue. To settle the matter the men and the women had to each dig a lake in one night. The men dug quicker but then the women distracted the men with their singing and dancing. And they also very cleverly hung a light from a tree so the men though the sun was coming up and they had to stop working. So basically the women won and this was their lake.

We then cycled around 3km to a Khmer temple, a form of Buddhism. Apparently there are two types of Buddhism in Vietnam and Khmer is practised in a small part of South Vietnam. The temple was amazing and very ornate.

The first water stop was by a place where they made rice wine. It was a quick stop, I didn’t bother using the toilet here as apparently it was over a slippery bridge and I didn’t want to risk falling in!

It rained quite a lot in the morning which made some of the paths quite treacherous. Sherrien came off her bike round one corner and just before we stopped for lunch I came off my bike. I was coming over a bridge, going downhill and turning left when I skidded and I went over on my left side. Luckily I just scrapped my shoulder and my knees and my chin – no permanent damage but it was quite scary as it happened so quickly. Ian, out guide made sure I was ok and Jane, the doc, put some iodine on the wounds which stung quite a lot. And then it was onwards to lunch.

The food here is amazing, so fresh and really tasty. And way too much of it.

After lunch we cycled over a mixture of road and tracks as well as three ferry crossings. The first one was a very short crossing, the second and third ones were slightly longer across to an island and then back off at the other end. The ferry looked quite rickety but they got us across safely.

The island itself was beautiful, full of vegetation but the tracks were quite narrow in places so it was single file only and lots of communication between the group – bike up, bike back, bridge! Despite that, a few of us missed a turning off to the ferry port so ended up cycling a bit further than we had to before one of the guides noticed and came to fetch us.

After the last ferry ride we then rode into the city of Can Tho and that was certainly an experience. It was a matter of standing your ground and just going for it because if you hesitated a moped or car would just pull in front of you. I really wish I could’ve filmed it because it was absolute chaos. But everyone is driving really slowly so althougb accidents do happen a lot but nobody gets hurt to badly.

In the evening we walked along the riverfront to a restaurant, past a statue of Ho Chi Minh.

The restaurant was right on the river so we could see the cruise ship go past.

The food, as always, was excellent and we tried some of the Vietnamese red wine. It was served cold but soon warmed up and actually tasted ok.

After dinner we walked back to the hotel and went up to the sky bar for a much needed g&t!

And then it was off to bed for a much needed sleep before another early start tomorrow.

Today we cycled around 98km.

So this morning we were up early with breakfast at 6am and departure at 7am. Breakfast was a mix of Vietnamese and English but really delicious.

We had a 2 hour bus journey to our first stop through rush hour – I’m really glad we weren’t cycling as it was chaos. 14 million people live in Ho Chi Minh City and there are around 8 million mopeds in the city.

Our first stop was the Cu Chi Tunnels. I wasn’t really sure what to expect but it was so interesting and pretty horrifying all at the same time. The first part of the tunnels were built during the French occupation in 1956-58 just as hiding places but once the American war started the Viet Com extended the tunnels and built 2 lower levels to ensure the bombs couldn’t get them and also agent orange didn’t affect them. The tunnels now extend over 250km.

The first thing we saw were the booby traps that the Viet Com set – they were horrendous and probably led to a very slow and painful death.

We then saw some of the tunnels. These were tiny and so narrow and to think that people lived in them for years is pretty unbelievable. We climbed down into one of the entrance tunnels and also walked through around 200m of one of the. It’s definitely an experience as you have to walk hunched over and it’s quite claustrophobic.

The tunnels did have ventilation systems with bamboo. The outside ventilation was built to look like a termite or anthill with snake holes. It was very clever. The Americans did twig though and used dogs to sniff out the men in the tunnels so the Viet Com cut up American soilders clothes and put them.in the ventilation holes to confuse the dogs.

We saw some of the tanks and artillery, how some of it was made – the Viet Com soldiers sawing up unexploded bombs etc.

We also saw a Vietnamese lady making the rice wraps for spring rolls from the rice milk and also learnt how the rice wine was made.

The last thing we saw was some of the bunkers, some of these have now been opened up so you can see what they looked like.

We had a small cup of jasmine tea and some cassava before leaving the tunnels.

Then it was back in the bus for around 2 and a half hours, a little snooze, before our lunch stop. Here we also picked up our bikes which had miraculously appeared by van.

We then cycled for around 50km. The route was through some main roads, some concrete paths, some muddy paths and some gravel. The roads were crazy, moped driving towards you on the wrong side of the road, everyone just taking their chance at junctions and very few mopeds with lights on once it was dark.

It was hot and humid to start but we also had some torrential rain that lasted quite a while and some hailstones.

Around half way in Lou was hit by a moped head on – it was over our side of the road, it was going to fast and it was wet. I didn’t actually see it happen but luckily Lou is ok – just quite a deep cut on her knee.

The scenery was beautiful, very lush and green. Unfortunately it’s really hard to take photos whilst cycling, especially in the rain.

So an interesting first day.

Dinner was at the hotel and it was delicious. I’m really enjoying the food. We popped to the bar over the road for a drink. Ali and I ordered mojito but think we ended up with like juice!

We went out as a group for dinner at a lovely restaurant which had a swimming pool. If only I’d known I would’ve taken my bikini.

The roads were really busy even though it was night time.

A few of us spotted a roof top bar so went and paid it a visit. I must admit I was flagging but the views from the top were pretty impressive.

I managed to stay up for one drink but it was so nice to go back to the hotel and get into a lovely clean bed.

It was quite a reasonable time to get up for a change, 645am to be at Heathrow airport for 830am. Luckily I have some lovely friends (Jamie and Ticket) who came and picked me up and dropped me off at the airport. Unfortunately there was loads of traffic as a van had burnt out on the M4. But I still made it, even if around 20 minutes late. It was great to see Ali and Karen when I got there and meet Sherrien too – and the other 27 people I was travelling with.

After chreck-in, as per normal, we headed to the bar for a little tipple before the flight.

We got chatting to Mark and Jim (Shrek and Donkey) and Louise too. We were so busy chatting and shopping that we didn’t realise the time and ended up having to do a very fast walk to the gate.

Seats were all allocated randomly in the plane but I managed to swap with Ian, the Discover Adventure leader, and sat with Karen and Louise.

The flight was around 13 hours and Singapore airlines were brilliant. The good was really nice for airplane food, the alcohol was free and you got real cutlery!! I watched 3 films, ate loads and tried to sleep but probably only slept for around 30 mins or so.

As we flew into Singapore the sun was just rising.

We had a two hour stop over at Changi airport in Singapore so headed to the bar and had a couple of very expensive beers!

Once we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, otherwise known as Saigon we were picked up by the local guides Trong and his mate whose name I’ve forgotten. We headed through the city to pub street. It’s crazy, nobody gives way and the number of mopeds on the road is huge and some of them have four people on them! The electric wiring is interesting too.

We drove past the palace, which is the independence palace. Very impressive, shame we couldn’t stop and look around.

Lunch was delicious, but way too much of it.

After lunch we checked into the hotel where we will be staying tonight (tonight now being the day after we left as Vietnam is 6 hours ahead). The rooms are lovely and I can’t wait to get into it later!

Once everyone was checked in we then went to try out our bikes. The bikes are pretty good although as I was cycling round the car park on mine the gear cable popped out – they say they’ll fix it by tomorrow.

I made a lovely cute new friend too.

He was so pitiful I really did want to stick him in my rucksack and take him home.

So, we still had some time to kill before dinner and I know if I go to bed I’ll fall asleep and not wake up! So we had a look around the local market and surrounding area.

Then it was back to the hotel for a beer and a shower before we head out for dinner.