Vietnam to Cambodia Day 1 by PaulLund at Garmin Connect – Details.

This morning’s tunnels tour was very interesting and you got to go through some of the tunnels yourself and see how they were operated and built. Also on site was a live firing range where you could pay to fire an actual gun used during the war, this was fantastic! just wish I had know about it and had brought some money with me. but I was able to see some of the other guys shoot, but Christ these AK47’s are bloody loud! Someone fired whilst I didn’t have any ear protectors on, but it looked like a lot of fun they were having.

Once the tour was over we started our cycling in earnest with today’s distance being 44 miles but this would be starting at mid day in the hottest part of the day. We will be stopping every 10km for a water break and at every 25km for a fruit break, but it was still verrrry hot. This was the only time where I felt the heat affect me in that my heart rate was up in the high 180bpm but I was only doing 11 mph but by around 14:00 it was getting to be a bit more manageable. Near the end of the ride visited a temple where we stopped to take some pictures and go inside for a look around. We then rode the last couple of kilometers to the hotel just as it was getting dark and through some very busy streets. We had a good evening meal and a briefing for tomorrows ride before we went to the nearest pub after for a quick drink before bed.

The only bad part today was one of the guys crashing off his bike and breaking his collar bone. He was taken back to the hospital in Siagon for treatment.

Well after a horrendous 16 hour flight from Heathrow to Saigon I’ve arrived and I have a coach ride to the hotel still to do. It’s a nice hotel and I’ll be bunking with another guy called Sanjay for the rest of the ride. Since leaving London at 08:00 on Saturday and arriving in Vietnam at 12:00 Sunday I’ve had no sleep and I am very tired! But there is still stuff to do like the bike fitting, having lunch and our first bike briefing. After lunch and the bike fitting I chose to stay in the hotel and get a couple of hours of sleep before the dinner tonight. Some of the rest went out to do a bit of site seeing, I think I took the smarter option as it decided to pour it down that afternoon. Saw a lot of tired wet people later on

This evenings dinner was a bit of a surprise for Trix as it was her birthday and the Reps had got her a birthday cake to celebrate with. After dinner everyone went to bed as we would be getting up at 05:30 the next day for a tour of the tunnel complex built by the Vietnamese during the war with America. Once that was over we would start our bike ride to Cambodia.