Countries visited: Vietnam, Cambodia
Cycled mileage in February: 1,641.0km
Cycled mileage per country: 938.3km - Vietnam, 702.7km - Cambodia
Total cycled mileage incl. February: 13,823.4km
Days per country: 14d - Vietnam, 14d - Cambodia
Days cycling: 20d
Technical failures: 1 puncture, 1 worn-through leather handlebar grip
Link to this month's route
Back in January we entered Vietnam and cycled down the coast via Hue and Hoi An to Quy Nonh. In February we continued our way to Nha Trang that is widely considered Vietnam's Beach Capital. It started to rain once more the day we left Quy Nonh and continuous rain showers made the way to Nha Trang a rather unpleasant experience.
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| Still 700km to HCMC |
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| There were lots of nice beaches... |
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| ...but the rain just wouldn't stop! |
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| Wringing out the t-shirt after a rain shower |
Despite the adverse weather it happened to be peak season in Nha Trang with literally all hotels fully booked – mostly by Russian tourists. After checking dozens of hotels we eventually found an overpriced room in a small guest house. For the next 2 days we desperately waited for better weather. Unfortunately it kept raining. There was not much to explore in the city itself. Mostly everything was overpriced, the weather was too bad for the beach and the Russian basics we learned in Central Asia turned out to be more helpful than English.
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| Cyrillic signs everywhere in Nha Trang |
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| No chance for relaxing on the beach |
The rain only stopped when we continued our way to Phan Rang and from there on to Mui Ne. The ride there through the famous red sand dunes along the coast was amazing. Mui Ne was again full of Russian tourists but still much more relaxed than touristy Nha Trang.
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| Better weather in Mui Ne |
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| Mui Ne is famous for its red sand dunes... |
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| ...that can almost feel like desert |
While the weather remained good when we left Mui Ne an unrelenting headwind made cycling exhausting. We specifically took a route along the coastline hoping to get some nice views but there were no. It just meant narrower roads with the same amount of mad drivers like on highway 1. After a stop in lacklustre Bin Chao we made it to Ho-Chi-Minh-City (aka Saigon) the next day. Getting there was quite an adventure with bicycles banned from many of the roads leading into town. After some annoying detours we finally reached the city centre well after nightfall. Despite the lack of sights we stayed in HCMC for 3 nights as some of our gear needed fixing.
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| On a car ferry to HCMC |
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| HCMC skyline |
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| Central post office |
Leaving HCMC was almost as annoying as entering it. We kind of got used to the mad traffic in Vietnam with thousands of “lawless” scooters and motorbike drivers. But that day really turned out to be the worst of all. We witnessed 4 accidents, 2 of which were seemingly lethal.
We hoped to reach the Mekong Delta capital Can Tho within one day from HCMC but traffic was so bad we had to stop in Vinh Long around 40 kilometres short of Can Tho. Thus we arrived too late to Can Tho the next day to visit the famous floating market which takes place around dawn.
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| On the way to the Mekong Delta |
On day #2 we succeeded, got up at 4AM and rented a boat to the market. It was a great experience. There are dozens of medium-sized wooden boats on a relatively wide stretch of river. Each of these boats has a pole to display the produce that they would sell.
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| Cái Răng floating market |
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| Produce on poles |
From Can Tho we continued to Chau Doc at the Vietnamese-Cambodian border and crossed the border the next day. Once we entered Cambodia we got rid of the mad traffic and even though we cycled against unrelenting headwind and across bumpy roads, riding was much more relaxed than in Vietnam. It took us 2 days to get to Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh from the border.
Back in Vietnam we learned that Thai embassies would issue free 60-day visas up until the end of February so we applied for visas in Phnom Penh. There aren't too many sights in Phnom Penh apart from some gruesome remainders of the Khmer Rouge's reign. We actually visited the infamous S-21 prison but skipped the nearby Killing Fields. Despite the bloodstained history Phnom Penh is a surprisingly easy-going place.
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| Dinner on Phnom Penh's night market |
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| Psar Thmei bazaar |
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| Lunch at the Russian Market |
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| Phnom Penh's religious center Wat Phnom |
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| Torture room in Khmer Rouge's former S-21 prison |
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| Cell block of S-21 |
From Phnom Penh we went on to Kompong Thom that had some pre-Angkorian temples at nearby Sambor Prei Kuk – a good introduction to the real Angkor at Siem Reap where we rode one day later.
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| Temple at Sambor Prei Kuk |
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| Another of the temples |
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| The jungle strikes back! |
Annoyingly entrance fees for the Angkor archaeological park were almost doubled 3 weeks before we arrived which meant we had to pay $62 per person for a 3-day-pass. Yet, it's completely worth it! The Archaeological Park is massive in size and the bicycles were a good way to explore it. Even though we stuck to the more central and most famous temples we cycled around 150km in 3 these days. Angkor Wat and the Bayon were definitely among the top sight but there are some more authentic and less touristy places like Ta Prohm and Preah Khan that are still partly covered by jungle and give you some Indiana Jones-like thrills.
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| Angkor's central temple Angkor Wat |
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| Indiana Jones feeling at Ta Prohm |
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| One more view of Ta Prohm |
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| Taking a break |
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| Angkor Wat |
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| There are kilometres of these reliefs |
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| Ruins of Preah Khan temple |
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| Fascinating columns |
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| This smaller temple wasn't even on our map... |
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| ...neither was this one! |
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| Masses of tourists on the Bayon |
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| This is what it looks like without tourists |
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| View from the Royal Palace |
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| Elephant Terrace |
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| Another remote temple |
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| And one more ruin |
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| Relaxing with some green coconuts in the midday heat |
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| Evening sun over the Bayon |
After a 1-day break in Siem Reap we rode to Sisophon and finished the month in Battambang after an ehausting day on the bikes. Next month we'll check out the famous Bamboo Train in Battambang and ride on to the Thai border. Stay tuned!
