Julie & Sue update email
Day 1/2 – After 14 hr flights we landed at Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and went straight to a welcome dinner where we met the other tour members. The tour team are very knowledgeable and the charity organisers lovely - the charity's patron, Fern Britten is cycling too.
Day 3 – This was a 67 km ‘light’ cycle and started at 5am with a bus ride to Cu Chin tunnels - 250k of tunnels with various hideous traps devised to thwart American soldiers. We both took a peek at the tunnels themselves which were incredibly narrow. We then collected some well used bikes and set off through some amazing countryside - paddy fields with wallowing water buffalo - past ingenious locals recycling anything. We felt like royalty – they are very friendly people - always shouting 'hello' and waving. We have travelled on both major and smaller local roads; it was very hot and humid today and we have seen some amazing sights on motorbikes, from a wardrobe to a family of 5! There have been a few casualties with a number of minor accidents (knees scraped) and it was a relief to get to the end - everyone is still acclimatising to the heat, food and jet lag. We were rewarded with visit to temple (pictures to follow) and the local hotel which was very basic - we had 3 power cuts, ants in the bedroom and cockroaches in the dining room which were not on the menu!
Day 4 - 80km ride with a start of 5am. We went in bike convoy across the Vietnam/Cambodia border, had lunch in Cambodia and it was a blistering hot day, lots of rural roads and very long wide straight roads. Rules of road are that there are no rules and the white line in the middle means nothing! Slight change in scenery; houses on stilts, people friendly but we are getting a little tired of waving and saying hello but seems mean not to. The last 20km was very hard and we had to beat the darkness which falls at 5pm. The pit stops on today’s ride were mostly at people's houses and tonight's hotel is very rural with no hot water! This evening we were treated to a torrential thunderstorm so tomorrow's 107km ride will be fun!!!
We are both weary and saddle sore but will be up at 5am tomorrow (Tuesday) for a ride which takes us near the Mekong River.
Day 5 – 107km ride started off and we headed through the Cambodian paddy fields, we still feel like celebrities as all the villagers and schools came out to wave and say hello. It was very tough today, the heat was intense and it has hospitalised some riders. We have had more casualties resulting from falls - one with a fractured wrist and many scraped knees and chaffed rears ! To all those that gave us chaffing advice - THANKYOU ! The day finished with a sunset over the Mekong river and our hotel overlooks the river but we have no water for showers after such a long sweltering dusty day, nice ! Tomorrow's the big one - 110km - wish us luck :)
Thank you all again for your support
Day 6 – 110km and we survived!
It was a great ride today although another rider was knocked off by a wide load being carried on a tiny moped! We also had the joy of a 10km off road section just to provide a little more challenge to our poor battered bodies and boy was it tough in the saddle. We passed through very rural areas with families living by the roadside. We rode through a village where granite and marble Buddha are carved in all sizes for temples – fascinating; it also gave us a great opportunity to rest and take on more the fluids, a few protein bars and energy beans! The camaraderie is great and is helping us eat up the miles ... sorry km!
Finally, as you can imagine there are going to be lots of stories to tell but more importantly If there's a miracle cure out there for sore rears, please SOMEONE let us know!!!
Tomorrow is a mere 60km and we are really looking forward to arriving at the Boeng Mealeah Temple, one of the most beautiful of the outlying temples belonging to Angkor Wat, in what will be a fitting finish, to this incredible journey
Day 7 - Only 85km today and although geared up for 60km the additional 25km was a breeze!
Our overnight stay in a rural hotel was eventful and we had some more local wildlife for company. We started our final ride at the 800 year old bridge at Kampong Kdei. We met up with another group of British cyclists en route and whilst it was great to have some friendly banter it did make the water stops a bit confusing. We are saddle sore and suffering from fried eyeballs as it’s been very hot again today and although it was a shorter distance than yesterday it has been challenging. Knowing it was our last ride we were encouraged to race a few water buffalo carts and local children on bikes that saw us as a challenge.
Mopeds continue to be our main source of amusement; the latest sights included pigs and a cow riding pillion, double rows of ducks hanging by their feet although the prize goes to the three mattresses and an ice cabinet – how they manage to ride on these roads with such loads never cease to amaze us! As we got closer to the finish the route steadily became busier with buses overtaking lorries which were overtaking carts or mopeds – the last 10km on the outskirts of Angkor Wat was the most worrying part of the journey with so much random, seemingly uncontrolled traffic.
The whole group assembled at the Angkor Wat park entrance for a convoy finish at the temple and our injured or ill riders got on their bikes for the last 10km - there was well deserved champagne and photos at the finish.
Throughout the trip the locals have been so enthusiastic and their encouragement has helped us all get through the challenge; the accommodation has been interesting and we all have our own individual stories (and scars) that will remind us of such a great adventure; we have met some great people, made new friends and MAY put this in the diary for next year ----Bring on Costa Rica? :()
Finally, we will be sending out one final email with some photographs and a little more detail of our adventures but; we can’t sign off without taking the opportunity to thank you all once again for your sponsorship, support and cycling tips (Sudocream, Lanocane, to name but a few).
Anybody want to buy two second hand bikes?
Julie & Sue
Thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page.
Julie and Sue have committed to cycling 400km over 5 days, starting in Vietnam and finishing in Cambodia. They're doing this to raise vital funds for the Genesis Trust to improve prevention, diagnosis and treatment of distressing conditions such as premature birth, miscarriage, cancer, genetic diseases and brain damage.
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