Blogs from Preah Vihear, North, Cambodia, Asia

Our next day trip promised to be a long one, and we were ready and waiting when the mini bus pulled up outside Horizons around 8.00am. Today we're visiting Prasat Preah Vihear, a temple further north from Siem Reap, on the Thai border. But first, a history lesson..... Preah Vihear, a Hindu inspired 11th century temple, is located in the Dongrek Mountains, which hug the border between Cambodia and Thailand. It is perched on the edge of a giant cliff, about 625 metres above sea level in Preah Vihear Province, Northern Cambodia, 625klm from the capital city of Phnom Penh and 270klm from Siem Reap. The magnificent ruins of this ancient Hindu temple have been the cause of serious border skirmishes between Thai and Cambodian soldiers at recent as 2011, when 17 people were killed during ... read more

Banlung (Cambodia) to Aranyaprathet (Cambodia-Thai Border): 29th Jan - 6th Feb 2013 Distance covered so far (since 20 Dec): 3281 km Mel's Aunty Dawn showed concern (in an email to us) that Mel had resorted to washing her hair with a bar of soap, and Andy had denied her any make-up in place of a spare bike chain. However, despite losing these luxuries, it is still of paramount importance that we look good. It isn't just about the journey, the cycling, the experience... it is also about a flawless complexion and good skin. How is this achieved? We considered Estée Lauder skin treatments... we investigated plastic surgery. We settled on the Cambodian Complexion regime. This regime gives you the full range of spa treatments, without ever getting off the bike, you then arrive in at your ... read more

February 2 We had agreed that we would have an early start - 530 am to try and get some mileage in before the military convoys started and that essentially today was about upping the pace and pushing through to the finish. We left in the dark, playing dodge the dogs and marveling at the sunrise, hearing the birds and observing the country awakening. The surge of energy brought on by the realization that we would actually be able to finish today was getting us back to a reasonable pace and we soon, we saw ourselves running through active military camps complete with hundreds of soldiers doing drills, tanks and more stuff to make big booms.. In retrospect maybe that had more to do with our increased pace than the finish lol. We had agreed not ... read more

January 31 We were awake well before dawn, think 3 a.m., thanks to dogs playing ode to the Moon (which was full) in a symphony of howls and barks, one at a time and then all together for the chorus. Roosters eventually joined in for the great finale. Jeff attempted to quiet the noise with his ear plugs but no joy on these enabling a few more hours of sleep. We eventually crawled out of the white heaven, unraveled the mosquito netting and began assembling our gear, tip toeing in the dark. Breakfast was at a local roadside stand, fried rice with egg was the standard when we could. The day not getting any cooler, we set out for what would eventually turn into a couple hours of walking. As we got further into Preah Vihear ... read more