Update- Day Six

Day six started with the call of the rooster which by all accounts started at 0230. It's neck had been rung by 3.30. It had been shot by 5 and was on the breakfast table with noodles by 5.30. We wished. Not a popular cockerel in the Team Marmite camp!

We left by bus to pick up our bikes about 1 hour out of Kampong Thom for a day of cycling along straight tarmaced roads for the last full day of cycling that would see us arrive at our destination, all being well, by the afternoon.

We enjoyed the crys of 'hello' from the houses along the road, as ever, and watched some remarkable cargo whizz past us. Dead pigs, plastic tubing, mattresses, live pigs, children and entire families, the ironmonger's mobile workshop, hay......and all on the back of scooters.

JJ managed to lose a pedal at one point, ending up on Hai's bike.Hai is c. 5ft 4. Jonathan is 6ft 3. It wasn't the most comfortable rides he had and added to a few other technical failures like Clive's saddle snapping in two.

Then lunch at a posh restaurant, connected to some water aid charity apparently. It may have just been me but the bussed in tourists were a bit of a shock. For them this is perhaps an authentic Cambodian experience. For us it's nothing to what we have seen, smelt and heard as we cycled.

We then lay in a very welcome long house with hammocks for 30 mins before the final offence to the heart of the Khmer civilisation.

And boy, was it hot. Really hot. 38 degrees according to our cycle guide Nak who admitted later to going faster to keep cool in temperatures even he found unbearable. And tough going through sand and forest tracks.

And then, 65 km later we made it and cycled past Angkor Wat with its large moat filled with cool looking water.

A left turn into the car park, and there was the finishing line...and we were greeted with a cold beer, hugs all round and lots of photos.

Wow, what an achievement. A bit more pedalling tomorrow before we can tot up the final mileage, but we'd done it!!

And the sophistication of Siem Reap and our hotel complete with a cool and luxurious swimming pool were very welcome.

We met for dinner in the lobby and headed off by tuktuk to the Red Piano restaurant, reputedly frequented by Angelina Jolie while she was filming Tomb Raider up the road.


Crispin said a few words and Stef gave us our hard earned medals. What a proud and happy crowd we were as we spilled back onto the infamous Pub Street.

And then a few beers, a bit of dancing, more beers, more dancing, more dancing...... I was taken back 15 years to the hot sweaty nightclubs of Hong Kong. Remember Joe Bananas, any one?

And I'm sorry to report a few hard core team members only got back to the hotel at 3am. They shall remain nameless!

Let's see how we all cope with the cycle in....err.... 4 hours time?! Yoiks!