Geoff Jones

Biking SE Asia – Borkeo to Stung Treng

I managed an early start leaving the hotel at 6.38 taking the bike next door to get the kickstand fixed as a bolt had come out. Imagine getting your bike fixed on a Sunday at that hour in the UK 🙂

After last nights culinary experience I had a few bananas and rode on. After 20 miles I hit Banlung which is a large town with banks, lots of hotels & restaurants! So I had breakfast and ploughed on.

The destruction of the forest is almost complete to be replaced by huge tracts of rubber trees etc Truly amazing all that diversity being replaced by monoculture. after crossing a river there was then a grueling straight stretch of 25 miles or so with no signs of habitation & even worse no coconut sellers, plus the back tyre has a puncture again, so I had to keep stopping to put some wind into it. 🙁 On the outskirts of Sangkom Andet a shack loomed into view that sold drinks I downed over a litre of juice drinks immediately plus another half litre at the garage. It is just so hot in the afternoon!

The village had no hotel and with over 80 miles on the clock I couldn’t face another 25 miles to civilisation in Stung Treng. Pondering what to do my eyes alighted on a modern pickup truck with two official guys nearby, the rear was mainly empty, so I began a very animated conversation with them (No English of course) eventually I struck gold as they lowered the tailgate and let me sit in the back holding the bike as we roared down to Stung Trenk, after first saving the biking data!

They dropped me of at the bridge so I could bike into town. First place was Gold River Hotel where for $20 they gave me a lovely river view room. In town I found The Riverside Cafe that served excellent food!

Interestingly I met Colin who is working to save Cambodian vulture,s apparently vultures have just about been wiped out in India in a few years due to cows been given Diclofenac (active ingredient of Voltaro). Thus leading to a huge increase in rabies due to wild dogs taking over eating the dead cows. All amazing and there is an article here. If like me you are curious to know more. Plus he told me of the new road to Angor Wat 🙂

The Strava for the cycling bit of the day is here:

and the pictures here

SE Asia cycle tour – Pleiku SE Asia cycle tour – Pleiku to Borkeo

After a hearty breakfast I left the luxury of the Hoang Anh Gia Lai Hotel at 8am and set of for Cambodia. Much to my surprise I had another 100m to ascend from the hotel! The road has just been remade so was in perfect condition making for rapid descents. Although once again it was a continual up & down ride which made it very tiring.

Not so much traffic today but still pretty busy. Interesting to see all the pepper drying out in the fronts of all the houses

I eventually reached the border at midday where the chain jumped off meaning I arrived with black greasy hands. The border guy walked me to the water butt to wash them. He was curious why I was leaving before my 28 days expired 🙂 I changed my dongs to Riel and headed down the very rough track to Cambodia. Once again all very friendly I filled in my forms fortunate I had a passport photo and $20USD to complete the visa.

What a change is Cambodia! the roads are deserted and you can hear birds sing 🙂 the forest is being bulldozed & burnt down to make way for vast plantations some reminding me of the Spanish Estacia. In between these are houses build on stilts. I also saw a magnificient Buddhist building.

The afternoon heat was getting to me so when I saw a hotel I immediately stopped and called it a day at the Ratanak in Borkeo for £4.24 a night! Lovely cold shower and no internet!

Going out I managed to pick up a SIM for $4 that immediately translated to $15 as a Metfone bonus deal. Apparently the internet is 0.2 cents per 100Kb which I make is $£13 per GB so more expensive than Vietnam but still way way below what 3 wanted to charge me £6000 per GB. All very efficiently done with no need for passports, credit cards etc.

The real shock was trying to find cooked food to eat, no restaurants here & the market vegetables looked good although the meat & fish were covered in flies. I eventually found a street vendor selling bread rolls I pointed to the eggs in boiling water. Cutting the egg open I discovered it contained fluid & a chick 🙁 bit to free range for my liking. So I ended up with just a bread roll and cabbage.

The village just seems so much poorer than Vietnam its certain Cambodia is going to be interesting, especially with the heat!

The Strava is below:

and the pictures are here

SE Asia bike ride – Phu Phong to Pleiku

This promised to be the toughest day of the tour and t didn’t disappoint! With 77 miles and 6609 feet of elevation gain but only 1400 feet of descent it was hard work, especially with dodgy pedals & seemingly no shops that sell quality ones.

The traffic was particularly horrendous with huge overloaded trucks squealing down the hills carrying sugar cane & cassava (I think) added to them the endless buses screaming past and overtaking the trucks and I’m amazed that there aren’t a LOT more accidents. As it was a lorry had overturned and if the driver survived it would have been a miracle.

I also kept thinking how in the hell did PeteL drag big guns up & down this road in the war, especially in the monsoon…

I eventually resorted to plugging in the headphones and listened to Matt Darey thus blocking out the racket 🙂 whilst grinding my way up the hills. The left pedal sounds as it it has lost a bearing and makes a clicking noise, the new right pedal has all but seized up. Otherwise the bike & gears performed well with the endless changes from the lowest gear and straight into the highest gear on the descents.

I eventually sailed down into Pleiku and saw the huge Hoang Anh Gialal Hotel where I managed to get a room on the 9th floor overlooking the town for $50. A bit of luxury 🙂

Here is the never to be beaten Strava:

and a few pictures here.

Geoff’s SE Asia bike trip – Tan Phong to Phu Phong

Woke up for an early start to find out, after loading the bike up, that the rear tyre was nearly flat 🙁 While the lady cooked my fried eggs in bread I pumped it up, hoping for the best. It helped to swing the decision for the route. I had a choice to Pleiku either 210km and 2660 metres of climbing via Kontum on Route 24 or to pound down Highway 1 to Phu Cat and then the 19 up to Pleiku which is longer at 278km but ‘only’ 1530 metres of climb.

After the first 25 miles it had visibly deflated so I found a little shop to fix it, the problem was a thin wire from a truck tyre had gone all the way through, so it was soon expertly fixed. Interestingly this village also seems to be a centre for green and red rush matting.

The road proved to be undulating although i made good time as it was cooler & still a tail wind. Rather than by passing Hoal Nhon I went through it, finding a couple cleaning bikes for 50p 🙂 and a good job they made too. Loved that he greased the chain with Molybdenum Disulphide, bringing back memories of melting it in a tin on mum’s stove, dipping the chain in & hanging it from the grill 🙂

At Phu Cat I waved goodbye to Highway 1 and the East coast, the big Golden Buddha waved back to 🙂 I turned West towards Pleiku, Cambodia & Thailand. Arriving in Phu Phong the first two hotels were full!, so a waitress in a local restaurant helped me to find Khach San by leading the way on her moped.

A long day with over 90 miles on Strava.

All the photos are here