Cycling Cambodia, 15 – 25 July 2023

Your driver will be eagerly awaiting your arrival at the airport to bring you to your comfortable hotel which will put you in good stead to relax by the pool or enjoy a stroll along the river where you can find a nice restaurant overlooking the Mighty Mekong to enjoy your first meal in Phnom Penh.

Accommodation: Palace Gate Hotel, or similar

Phnom Penh is a city which makes all your senses work in overdrive! The hustle and bustle is quite a sight for the uninitiated. Thousands of motor scooters, vie for space among larger vehicles with all manner of cargo and/or passengers hanging on.

It doesn’t take long to leave the city behind to be on flat, open plains with brilliant green rice fields as far as the eye can see. We are immediately out on small roads through villages and farmland. There are few vehicles other than scooters and bicycles. The most common sound that you will hear is that of excited children calling out to greet and encourage you. The warmth of the Cambodian people is immediately apparent.

As we approach the provincial capital of Kampong Cham, we cross onto an island in the middle of the Mekong riding over a bamboo bridge that is dismantled and re-erected every year to prevent it from washing away in the monsoon season.

We will have lunch in this town and then push on for some extra cycling before we load into the van for a short drive to our beautiful accommodation for the evening.

Accommodation: Le Relais de Chhlong or similar (2 nights)

After a relaxed breakfast, we venture along the Mekong River by bike to the town of Kratie. This modest town is the provincial capital and is home to a vibrant market with a dazzling array of weird and wonderful things for sale.

For lunch, we cross by ferry to an island in the middle of the Mekong River where cars do not exist and only bicycles are used. This gives you a good perspective of the river’s awesome size. On the island, you’ll enjoy lunch in a small family home and if we are lucky, we can sample the local produce; the Pomelo fruit. As well as being a tasty treat on its own, the fruit also makes a delicious salad when mixed with peanuts, shrimp and mint.

After lunch, there is time for a refreshing dip in the river, then we take the van back to the hotel for a relaxed afternoon. Your colonial-style mansion has a fully equipped bar and a wonderful outdoor pool that overlooks the Mekong, the perfect place to enjoy a book or simply unwind.

Our adventure for the day starts at the Kampi river pools just north of Kratie. After an instructional session on the kayaks, we push off into the river where we hope to be joined by some curious, endangered, yet playful creatures, the Irrawaddy Dolphins. We take this non-invasive approach by kayak so as not to stress the Dolphins.

There are only around 90 of these creatures in this stretch of the Mekong River. We are guided on our paddle route by a local who has been working with and around the dolphins most of his life and who can tell us a great deal about these intriguing creatures.

We continue to paddle downstream in the direction of Kratie for lunch, before moving on upstream to the town of Stung Treng. This slightly larger town sits on the confluence of the Sekong, Sesan and Mekong Rivers with glorious views out over the water. A more rustic, but comfortable, guesthouse in a prime position on the banks of the river awaits. From here we’ll enjoy a lovely loop ride down along the river and back.

Accommodation: Mekong Bird Resort, or similar (2 x nights)

Jump into the van as we begin the day with a drive up to the Laos border to start our adventure, this is a magical part of the country. The Mekong River has made its epic journey flowing from the Tibetan Plateau, through

China and Myanmar, along the Thai border and through Laos, to wind up here in northern Cambodia where it will continue its journey south to Vietnam and the Mekong Delta.

It is in this unique location that the river is reoxygenated by a series of rapids and falls, resulting in a stunning area known as the flooded forests. Hundreds of small, silt islands, held together by trees with gnarled roots dot the waterway, and it is through these that we will kayak. The trees offer shade and the islands provide little channels that accelerate the current for us at times, making for a really fun paddle.

After a couple of hours kayaking downstream and lunch on a river island, spotting birds as we go, we will travel back upstream by a small motor boat. This area feels different from others in Cambodia, more relaxed, less urgent, and lots of time spent in hammocks!

After doing a bit of unwinding ourselves, we will return to our guesthouse in Stung Treng by vehicle.

We say goodbye to the Mekong today and head northwest to the Thai border, arriving in the mid-morning. This area is home to Preah Vihear, a temple complex constructed in the 11th century and remarkably intact.

The most impressive way to reach the temple is to hike the ancient staircase. Thankfully, a wooden staircase, complete with handrails has been constructed parallel to the original stone staircase, with a more moderate gradient. Let’s face it, we all know the option you guys will take! The walk itself is quite pleasant as we pass strangler figs, silk cotton trees and deciduous dipterocarp, with the birds providing an immersive soundtrack to your upward journey of about 1 hour walking.

After exploring the ruins and hearing some of the ancient and more recent histories of the temple (Cambodia and Thailand have exchanged gunfire over ownership of it and there is still a military presence, albeit not a very active one), we make our way by bike to tonight’s hotel in the tiny nearby town of Sra Em.

Accommodation: Preah Vihear Boutique Hotel, or similar

We leave the hotel by van and travel through the former Khmer Rouge stronghold of Anlong Ven on our way south to the pink temple, Banteay Srei. This temple is uniquely built from red sandstone, which allowed for some absolutely stunning artwork in the intricate carvings that remain to this day.

You will frequently see replicas of these sandstone carvings used in restaurants and hotels throughout nearby Siem Reap. The temple is smaller than many of the others and thus a short visit still allows us to fully appreciate it.

After lunch, we ride towards Siem Reap on tree-lined, minor roads, with rarely a vehicle in sight. Farmers will be out, tending to their cattle or rice fields, and will be happily surprised to see a group of two-wheeled visitors rolling through their quiet corner of the world.

We enter Siem Reap through the Angkor Archaeological Park and what a way to make an entrance! If timing allows we may enjoy riding on some of the Angkor Park trails and paths. While we won’t be stopping at any of the temples today, they and the mature trees that are protected in this area, provide a magical backdrop in the fading temperatures of the late afternoon.

Accommodation: Shinta Mani or similar (4 x nights)

Today we drive to the Kulen Plateau. This is the nearest mountain range to Siem Reap and was the source of most of the stone used in the construction of the temples and ancient city.

We walk a trail known as the Langur trail, named for the Dusky Langur Monkey colony that was discovered here in recent years, although they are hard to spot. The walk takes us through dry rainforest then we descend the escarpment to a modern-day Pagoda where the monks maintain a swimming pool. A tiled pool, fed by the mountain spring, has been built into the side of the escarpment and colder, fresher water you will not find elsewhere in Cambodia. We meet the monks and are treated to a traditional water blessing. After a very refreshing dip and a picnic, we return to Siem Reap by bike (or vehicle if you’d prefer.)

Total walking time today is around 2.5km

Siem Reap and the Angkor Temples definitely deserve a number of days of your time, but first you need an overview, so that is what you can expect from this morning’s ride. We make an early start to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat, an experience bordering on spirituality, exploring this most important architectural masterpiece in the soft morning light in the absence of crowds.

We take to our bikes for the final time, and this is one to remember! You’ll ride the secret trails and dedicated bike paths to visit some of the other highlight ruins such as the Elephant Terrace and Ta Prohm, as well as a couple of hidden gems along the way. We conclude our ride with lunch and transfer back to the hotel.

This evening enjoy the Phare Circus performance. This is one of the most highly acclaimed shows in Cambodia where performance artists tell one of a collection of stories that draw on Cambodian culture and history. These artists are all students from the Phare Ponleu Selpak Training School and will take your Cambodian experience to new heights with their incredible talents.

This morning, you will learn how to prepare a few of the signature dishes of the unique and tasty Cambodian cuisine that you might like to cook after you return home.

The class begins with a walk through the markets to source the fresh ingredients required for the lesson. This is a very interesting experience and you will see an unfamiliar range of produce on sale here. Your cooking instructor will explain what it all is and will probably be recruited by the vendors to help translate their chatter to you.

Now it’s time to prepare lunch with guidance from the chef; we’ll prepare three dishes from scratch. Being a private class, you can ask all the questions you wish and have a degree of flexibility in the dishes prepared. Of course, the best part comes when you get to tuck into your own cooking for lunch.

Afternoon at leisure.

Depart any time after breakfast we’ll get you to the airport in time to catch your departing flight. Bid farewell to your Cambodia adventure with the comfort in knowing that the memories will last a lifetime!