Day 5 – Chau Doc to Phnom Penh

Another early start, this time we had to be out of the hotel by 6:45am as we have a boat to catch. Today is a non-cycling day as we are travelling up river to Phnom Penh in Cambodia. It’s a long boat ride (about 5 1/2 hours) but luckily there is just our group on the boat.

The journey is long and hot but the views along the river were worth it, plus it gave us all a day of much needed rest, some more than others.

On the Mekong river

They stopped about halfway at a floating coffee shop, then a little while later we stopped at the boarder to get our visa’s and be allowed to cross into Cambodia.

At the boarder to Cambodia – time to pick up our visa

We then got back on the boat and about 2 hours later we arrived in Phnom Penh. Upon arrival we had lunch at a lovely restaurant overlooking the dock, then we met our Cambodian guides on the bus ride into town.

View at lunch

From lunch we headed to Tuol Sleng Genocide museum. This place was originally a school that was converted into the security prison 21, also known as S-21 by the Khmer Rouge regime from 1975 – 1979. This was quite a somber experience and seeing and hearing about the conditions the prisoners were kept in and how they were treated was really awful. we all came away feeling quite subdued. We were not allowed to take any photos inside the museum so felt this was the best image I could use here.

Having got back to the hotel and checked in, we then had to get anything we needed to be fitted to the bike out and head over the road to get our bikes set up.

My bike for the next 3 days

Dinner at hotel was supposed to be on the roof top of the hotel, however, we had a massive thunderstorm so they had to move everything back indoors. Food was lovely. Everyone was tired from the travelling today so an early night for most of us, as guess what? It’s another early start in the morning!

One Comment

  1. Hope you got another good nights sleep ready for an early start. Keep up the good work. We’re so proud of you.