Heading out of Siem Reap was hard as it was a cool little city but being back on the road and cycling again felt great as the roads were heaps better and I was starting out early to beat the worst of the heat. To add to the experience the scenery was fantastic with rice paddy fields and local farmers ploughing them in the century old ways using water buffalo. Again the locals were friendly and if they weren't laughing at me they were waving and cheering which kept me going each day as it got hotter and hotter. After three days of riding I rolled in the the chaotic capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. After finding a hostel and getting cleaned up I was off checking out the local sights and some of the sad history which this country has been through. During the 1970's the Khmer Rouge took over the country and for a number of years inflicted some horrific atrocities on the Cambodian people. The genocide museum which was old school converted into a prison for interrogation and torture plus the mass graves of the killing fields were interesting but truly saddening sights to take in. To lift my spirits headed out for a few beers and had a great night hitting a few of the local bars with a bunch of other travellers. It was lucky my Vietnam visa took an extra day to come through as the next day I was more than happy to chill out glad I wasn't on the bike in the heat with a hangover! The following day I was back on the bike heading for the Cambodian/Vietnam border which was another two long days in the saddle. My new Khmer head scarf was proving a winner in the heat as well so I was happy to be back on the road. As I rolled into another little Cambodian village I saw a foreigner at a house so decided to stop and ask for directions. He happened to be a kiwi as well and after giving me water and shade showed me around the town where I was going to spend the night. Another crazy little encounter showing me yet again that there are Kiwi's all over the world doing good things as he was there with his family helping out all the local families affected by war and poverty. Anyways, the next day I headed over the border and into Vietnam where I met a local cyclist out on his Sunday ride. We rode together for a number of km's and then had some lunch before we hit the city of Saigon. With some local knowledge and directions I continued on to find a hostel and was introduced to the scooter madness of Saigon, 5.5 million people and over 3 million scooters! Well, I've got a couple of days here before heading to the coast and north up Vietnam. It has already proved interesting so hopefully the next month of riding in this narrow but long country lives up to it's reputation as a great country to travel in.
Riding Stats
> 17th August - 151km
> 18th August - 93km
> 19th August - 81km
> 23th August - 129km
> 24th August - 119km
Total - 1048km
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