Cambodia Day 4, The Finish Line

The final day has come, 70K of cycling planned, on road, off road, through the jungle, deep puddles and sand!
Today was always going to be a special day because it would be the last time we, as a team, get to cycle together on the awesome trip, that has seen, so many ups and downs, but has always been brilliant, we had no idea what to expect and as always, it was a day to remember.
The usual strict 6am breakfast (shouldn't have stayed up late last night!!!!!!), the coach, took us to the edge of of the Jungle and we got to cycle through it, to get us to the famous Jungle Temple, as seen in Tomb Raider and Indiana Jones

After a quick water break and when I say water, i mean one or two fell in a massive puddle, trying to get through, that gave everyone some fantastic photos or video, we then got to the official water stop, parked our bikes and headed off, with our guides to the temple

And to say the temple is breathtaking, would be an understatement

Once we left the Jungle Temple, it was all about the cycling, much of which was on single track sand, something many people were not used to and we had quite a few falls and no one got hurt, they were more of tips than falls, we were heading for the finish line, something we only dreamed about when we got here on our first day, back in Ho Chi Minh City, before we became 'Team Extreme'

This was the first day, my camera battery seemed to drain really fast and the first day i forgot to bring a spare, so i decided the important thing now was the finish photos.
During the previous evening some of the team had come up with a brilliant way of raising extra money for Alzheimers by staging a 'filmed' race between a selected number of people from all levels of cycling and two places were left unfilled, so that you could bid money for a place, it was decided between a few of us that we would also 'pool' our bids to get Andy (group leaded) in the race, so when the announcement was made, one very generous bid of $100 was made, plus another $250 for Andy to race (he kindly added another $25), but this was to be no ordinary race (why would we ever think otherwise), this was to be a handicap 400 metre sprint, between some very, very good cyclist and a load of us, one of the cyclists was Mr Lucky, one of the crew and one of the best cyclists in Cambodia, but 400 meters in 1st gear, makes it a very funny race, it was like extreme spinning in 40 degrees! But Mr Lucky spun to victory.
After that it was, 14K to the finish, I set off with one of the leaders (Cambodia's number 2 cyclist) and 3 of the others and boy did we push it hard for the full 13K.
With only 1K to go we all got together whilst the leaders went on to put up the banner, girls in the front, boys at the back so we could all cycle in together for one last time and with the exception of one crash between a number of the girls, we all crossed the line as the team we had become.
And the tears flowed, the hugs started and we were the happiest bunch in Cambodia, we had just completed a epic journey, through two beautiful countries and between us, raised over £100,000 for Alzheimers

So that was that, some of us headed back to the hotel to chill, some went to another temple and we all met up later for a party and boy did we party!

But that wasn't the end of the night, we were up, it was late, sunrise would be in a couple of hours and where best to see it other than at the Angkor Wat Temples, so we hired tut tut's and headed off to sit with hundreds of people and just watch

Cambodia Day 3, Angkor Wat

Yesterday was a day which tested each and everyone of us, both mentally and physically, but it was also a day that made us stronger as a team and gave us the believe, that we could get through this, but the challenge would not be over until, the last person crossed that line in Siem Reap.
Breakfast was slighty later, as we would be jumping on the coach to take us up the road to a road side cafe where we ate last night, not a great place, which also went for the hotel we slept in last night, but we all decided, it was the kind of place we thought we would be in every night, basically we had been spoiled!
Today would be a chance to rest our legs, catch some rays and as always, see some amazing sights.
One we left breakfast we headed for the harbour to catch a boat that would take us over the largest expance of fresh water in south asia for 4hrs, we got there early enough to wander about, look at the local food market and meet some more of this countries wonderful kids and little did we know the wonders that would await us the other side (the 8th wonder to be precise) Angkor Wat!!!

The boat trip, was fast, hot, cramped, but you could walk about the outside of the boat and sunbathe up on top!

On our arrival we headed to the coach that took us to our bikes, we were only cycling 10K maximum today, but wow, what a 10K it would be, once we got to Angkor Wat we had to get photo passes, which would allow us access to Angkor and all its temples. We started out cycling through the beautiful tree lined roads, along with the cars, cycles and of course tuc tuc's which buzz about everywhere in asia, as always we kept stopping wherever and whenever we wanted for photos, but for the first time we were asked not to, as there would be plenty of chances to take photos and we were on a tight deadline to get in to the 2 temples, but when i saw my first elephant carrying people, i had to take my chances although i did ride straight past the monkeys

We finished the day off by watching the sun set from within the temple grounds, before being transfered to our hotel, which will be our home for 2 nights

We finished the day by going out to eat at what i can only describe as a tree house, then on to Pub Street for a well earned drink

Cambodia Day 3, Angkor Wat

Yesterday was a day which tested each and everyone of us, both mentally and physically, but it was also a day that made us stronger as a team and gave us the believe, that we could get through this, but the challenge would not be over until, the last person crossed that line in Siem Reap.
Breakfast was slighty later, as we would be jumping on the coach to take us up the road to a road side cafe where we ate last night, not a great place, which also went for the hotel we slept in last night, but we all decided, it was the kind of place we thought we would be in every night, basically we had been spoiled!
Today would be a chance to rest our legs, catch some rays and as always, see some amazing sights.
One we left breakfast we headed for the harbour to catch a boat that would take us over the largest expance of fresh water in south asia for 4hrs, we got there early enough to wander about, look at the local food market and meet some more of this countries wonderful kids and little did we know the wonders that would await us the other side (the 8th wonder to be precise) Angkor Wat!!!

The boat trip, was fast, hot, cramped, but you could walk about the outside of the boat and sunbathe up on top!

On our arrival we headed to the coach that took us to our bikes, we were only cycling 10K maximum today, but wow, what a 10K it would be, once we got to Angkor Wat we had to get photo passes, which would allow us access to Angkor and all its temples. We started out cycling through the beautiful tree lined roads, along with the cars, cycles and of course tuc tuc's which buzz about everywhere in asia, as always we kept stopping wherever and whenever we wanted for photos, but for the first time we were asked not to, as there would be plenty of chances to take photos and we were on a tight deadline to get in to the 2 temples, but when i saw my first elephant carrying people, i had to take my chances although i did ride straight past the monkeys

We finished the day off by watching the sun set from within the temple grounds, before being transfered to our hotel, which will be our home for 2 nights

We finished the day by going out to eat at what i can only describe as a tree house, then on to Pub Street for a well earned drink

Cambodia, Day 1 - Getting in

I suppose for people of my age (44) Cambodia means the country that suffered terrible starvation when i was growing up and was all over the news for that reason alone, where Vietnam was the place the Americans fought, I am now begining to understand much more about both these wonderful countries.

We left the hotel at 6:30am sharp, travelled 15 mins on the coach and boarded a small (but very fast) boat, which would take us through the Vietnam boarder control and on to the Cambodia passport control and on to our first port of call in Cambodia.

The Vietnam passport control was a nice little place, money could be exchanged and food bought, Cambodia was what you might call poorer and full of military who were as corrupt as they come if your visa isn't perfect!!

Passport control shed

Our first beer in Cambodia thanks to Paul Briddon

Once we arrived in to the port of Phnom Penh, we were quickly transfered to our hotel, the Goldiana Hotel, which is very nice and my room mate and i have a great room, 30 mins for a quick freshen up, then it was down to sort the bikes out ready for tomorrow, before being wipped off in the coach to S21 Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, the prison used for torture 17000 people (only 7 known survivors) during the genocide and finally the killing fields where the tortured were taken to be murdered by the Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979, led by Pol Pot

I really can't put in to words how seeing what i'm about to show you made me feel, other than;

"How can one human being, do this to another human being"

So as a mark of respect to the thousands that were brutally tortured and murdered, this blog now becomes a silent blog, the pictures tell the story...................

Vietnam Day 5, emotional

www.justgiving.com/ian-golden-2012

Vietnam, Cambodia, Alzheimer's, Cycling, Challenge, Plumbase, ViessmannDay 5 of the cycling began in the same way every other day has................. Early!
But this time with the threat of a tropical rain storm

The TEAM, as always its early but everyone's in good spirits

Once again it was deemed to dangerous to cycle out of the city, so we boarded the coaches that would take us to a start point where we would start our 95K trek through southern Vietnam and would get us near the border of Cambodia.
Whilst we were on the coaches the storm started and boy when it rains here, it rains! so much so the our crew from Vietnam decided it would be best if we all wore ponchos and the support motor bike rider was sent off to buy 30

Getting covered up before cycling the first 20K

We cycled through the storm and actually loved every second of it, it was fun, it cooled the air a little and many people said it was like being a kid, being allowed to ride through huge puddles without being told off!!

By the time we got to our 20K water stop, the rains had eased back and the heat of the sun started to come through.

During this water stop, Catherine our Alzheimers events leader asked us all to stop and have a minutes silence to remember the reason we are taking on this huge challenge and to remember the person who you may know now or from the past that has suffered from Alzheimers, but not to remember the illness, remember the person.
This sparked a lot of emotion in the group and it was great to be there to not only be supported, but to be able to put an arm round others and support them

REMEMBER THE PERSON, NOT THE ILLNESS

At this point most people took off their rain gear and dried out cycling the next leg, which took us through some beautiful Vietnam country side, with kids running out of their homes to shout "hello" then giggle when you shouted hello back

Cycling through villages and boats carring tractors

Lunch as always was welcome and excellent, but today included frog and the best urinals i've ever seen, it was also a good chance for essential maintance on the bikes my gears were sliiping bad and we had the hill climbs to come.

Graham Fisher or Fish in a basket.

Urinals, or a window in to the river!

Dinner, or Frog (tried it, didn't like it)

After lunch we headed towards the mountains and the Vietnam Killing fields, the next emotional part of our day.

Heading for the hills

The Killing Fields of Vietnam in Ba Chuc, where thousands were slaughtered many of them whilst in the temple itself

Its horrible to think that one human can do this to another

When we left the temple, we were on the final leg of the days cycling and the final leg in Vietnam, which would have been emotional, but we had some big hill climbs and some fast downhills to come and any cyclist reading this knows, thats fun, thats why we do this.
A handful of us were keen to 'race' it and thats my weakness, challenge, competive and the need for adreniline rushes, so we headed off towards the mountain climbs and Mr Hun our guide picked up the pace for those of us who wanted it and before we knew it, we were dipping down low and powering through the villages and up the hills and it wasn't long before it became a race, i stayed low behind Mr Hun but could feel my thighs burning, but there was no chance i was giving up, Mr Hun asked me to take the lead which i did and had a quick look behind me, i could only see 2 others at this stage, we continued like this for 10 mins or so, then suddenly Mark came past me on the steep section and pulled away, I had nothing to attack him with and his lead was soon 200 metres and the downhill section was so fast and so dangerous with people, cattle, mopeds and pot holes, catching him was a no no!!!!

Mark Seal, King of the mountains

Ian Golden, 2nd

Gary Foord, 3rd

The finish line

And that was that, we had cycled 283k through the beautiful country of Vietnam, we had seen things you can only see on a bike or treking and we have met some wonderful people, so it was time for beer, hugs and laughter................ and emotions, which continued in to the evening

The final part of today's emotional rollercoaster was saying goodbye to most of our Vietnam team, drivers, guides, water stop guys and of course the guys that keep our bikes on the road

The TEAM

Tomorrow we start at 6am for breakfast then its a short coach ride to get a 5hr boat to Cambodia......................

Vietnam, Day 4, floating village, river village, banana plantation

Todays route on Garmin http://connect.garmin.com/activity/239964414

Day 4 of the cycling was always going to be a hard one, fairly big distance, mainly off road, forecast was very hot!!
The Discover Adventure team, have a system that the 'star rider' of the previous day, has to ride with a smiley face flag on his or her bike, its a special award, for working hard, being a team player or just helping out! Well that didn't last long and quickly became 'COCK OF THE DAY' the award went to someone who witnessed a chain brake in the team and rather than stop to help and use his chain splitter that he had in his pack, he decided to ride to the front to say slow down we have a bike down, yes you guessed it.......... I was cock of the day and not only did I get the flag, they decided that my crime was so severe, i needed something else, which was connected to my cycle helmet all day! The local kids, who run out from their houses, loved it and i was shouting "hello" to kids all day (i named it Gary) /a>

But this wasn't the start of the day, we started by walking to the local dock to get on a boat which would take us to the floating market

From the market we walked back in to town to find and collect our bikes and fill up our hydration packs

We then cycled off in to the local villages for a days excellent cycling, which would take us through, villages, plantations, busy streets and quiet tracks

Time to sign off again, so i can get ready for dinner locally............. 95K tomorrow!

Vietnam Day 3, Tra Vinh, Cau Ke, Can Tho

Longest day of cycling so far 82K, hot but amazing.


http://connect.garmin.com/activity/239624669

As always its an early start, breakfast of water, omelete and rice at 6am, out by 7:30, with a team briefing /a>

Ready to go, Hydration pack full with 3ltrs of water with High5 Extreme tablets for energy

We set out from Tra Vinh this morning and headed out of town, through the paddy fields and headed towards the first water point, which was at a temple

The kids in Vietnam are fantastic, love having their photos taken, especially if you show them their picture and as you cycle past house's, they shout "hello"

From the temple, we contiued along the country roads and single track and ended up at the ferry, which took us over to the island

Farmers working the land

Getting to and from the islands is quite a experience, but we were lucky with this crossing as it was quiet

The Island itself was amazing, great riding, some of which was single track

And the ferry on the way back was busy!!

Athough today was simply amazing, the best bit by a county mile, was riding in to the busy city of Can Tho in rush hour, with cars and scooters coming from all directions, including going down the wrong side of the road and even the path!! to get to our next hotel, for another well earned shower, meal, beer and sleep

And on that note, its 23:17 here, i have to be up at 5:45 for breakfast, so good night Vietnam :)