Vietnam and Cambodia both have very difficult and complicated histories, but they are well worth considering for an adventure holiday vacation where you not only get to enjoy the great views but interact with the people and understand things from their perspective as well. Karen Campbell and Norm Sealing share their experience on this cycling holiday adventure with Art of Bicycle Trips. Starting in Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh, Karen and Norm spent fourteen days towards Siem Reap, Cambodia, following canals and rivers up on a boat ride on the Mekong Delta. They talk about what they did, how they planned the trip, what it feels like being with the locals, and how they got through cycling the intricacies along the way.

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Listen to the podcast here:

Cycling across Vietnam and Cambodia

Arguably the best way to see Vietnam and Cambodia in southeast Asia! Taking a guided cycling tour through these two charming countries allows you to explore these fascinating cultures up close and personal! You’ll have far more interactions with the locals, get to cover a lot of ground and arrive at each day’s destination energetic enough to explore.

Our guests today, Karen Campbell and Norm Sealing, tell us about their Vietnam and Cambodia cycling holiday with Art of Bicycle Trips. This couple has traveled A LOT and consider this cycling vacation in their Top Two!  I’ve become an affiliate with Art of Bicycle Trips, which means at no additional cost to you, you can help support the show by using KITPARKS at checkout if you decide to use them.  It’s a great free way to help keep the program going – thanks!  PLUS, you’ll get 5% OFF!!!

When you take a cycling (or long distance walking holiday), you are not just exploring new cultures like staring through a fishbowl, YOU are actually PART of the landscape and become part of the local’s day as well!

This tour starts in Saigon/ho Chi Mihn City in Vietnam and ends fourteen days later in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Travel like a local through an amazing array of agricultural fields:  banana, coffee, rubber, an array of fruits, past lotus and rice patties and more!  Stop in small villages.  Pick up a snack or beverage from locals selling their wares on the roadsides.

Norm and Karen traveled with Art of Bicycle Trips (their second trip with them) and gave them their highest rating!

Vietnam Culture and Angkor Wat Cambodia

The above video has some great shots taken in Vietnam sure to whet your appetite for visiting the country! Below is drone footage of Angkor Wat.

Here is Art of Bicycle Trips South Vietnam and Grand Cambodia Bicycle Tour Adventure Itinerary:

The topography that will be forever etched in your mind is that of a sprawling countryside of fields, palm trees and lotus farms. Ta Keo is a small town situated amidst beautiful lakes.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Distance cycled: ~ 70km / 42mi*

Day 8: Phnom Penh

Get ready for a ride towards Phnom Penh past some amazing lake scenery surrounded with paddy fields and lotus farms. We stop by along the way at Phnom Chiso Temple, situated on the top of a hill with 400 steps to climb up. Later ride to Killing Fields. An essential on the itinerary due to the historic hook and for understanding the country better, we walk through the killing fields. Experience the painful story of country that lead to death of 2 million Cambodian people between 1974-1979.

We take a shuttle and arrive at the capital city of Cambodia via boat, Phnom Penh, at the edge of the Mekong River. Historical splendours are spread in every corner whether it’s the local palace or the horrific remnants of the Khmer atrocities.

In the evening, taste some local khmer cuisine at one of Phnom Penh’s finest dining place Romdeng. End day with a walk or tuk-tuk ride back to hotel.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Distance cycled: ~ 70km / 42mi*

Day 9: Phnom Penh – Walking Tour

Today get ready to be immersed in the Cambodian culture and history of the city as we kick off our walking tour from Independence Monument. Enjoy walking along the Tonle Sap river, considered as lifeline of the region. Continue towards National Museum, houses several national treasures from three different eras: Pre-Angkorian, Angkorian and Post-Angkorian, giving the flavour of diverse culture and architecture. The last leg of our walk takes us to gilded Royal Palace, shimmering with silver tiles and sculptures of Buddha, that gives an insight about Cambodian Royal Life. After the museum, hike up the steps of a small hill to see Wat Phnom Temple, the birthplace of Phnom Penh.

Get ready to taste some local khmer cuisine at one of Phnom Penh’s finest dining place ‘Romdeng’. End day with a walk or tuk-tuk ride back to hotel. Enjoy some leisure evening time walking around the beautiful river-front.

We insist that you step outside for dinner after a short break, to enjoy the local nightlife and enjoy the street food. Traditional dishes like amok (coconut fish curry served in a banana leaf), bobor (rice porridge) and lok lak (stir-fried beef) are easy to find by the streets.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Day 10: Kampong Cham – Mekong trail

After a short transfer to the outskirts of Phnom Penh, ride along the Mekong river for a good part, and through tropical plantation landscape consisting of rubber, cashew and cotton. Today’s ride takes us through remote bucolic villages, and past beautiful wats and riverside towns. Kampong Cham is a less visited place yet have a charm of beautiful riverside town.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Distance cycled: ~ 60km / 36mi*

Day 11: Kampong Thom – Hinterland trail

A short ride along Mekong river bring us to Wat Hanchey, an 8th century hilltop pagoda offering best views of Mekong in Cambodia. Continue riding along tropical farmlands dotted with cashew and rubber plantations and bucolic villages. Later take a transfer and arrive at Kompong Thom.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Distance cycled: ~ 60km / 36mi*

Day 12: Siem Reap – Sambor Prei Kuk temple complex

In the morning, ride around Kampong Thom’s Sambor Prei Kuk temple complex, which predates Angkor Wat by at least 200 years.

Later, ride through bucolic countryside with spectacular view of paddy fields and lotus farms all around.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Distance cycled: ~ 60km / 36mi*

Day 13: Siem Reap – Angkor Loop

The Angkor temple complex is synonymous to Cambodia, so a ride around the temple is essential. We start riding directly from hotel and reach the moat of Angkor Wat. Exquisite sculptures, tall towers and maze like trails flanked by large banyan roots, you might want to spend ample time photographing as you would have seen nothing like this before. We will loop back to Angkor Wat for a detailed tour at the end of our ride.

Continue riding towards Angkor Thom and enter the city from South gate. Beat the crowd and climb the surrounding wall of city and ride on top of it. Take a break here for a rich fascinating account of the city from our guide. A further ride through East gate takes us to Bayon, a richly decorated face temple within the Angkor complex is one of the highlights here. Exit from second East gate of city and ride towards jungle clad TA Prohm. Our guide shares historical anecdotes and walks you through temples along the way.

The Angkor Wat requires more than a morning, so we loop back for a more detailed guided tour. The UNESCO World Heritage Site is considered one of the largest religious complexes in the world and its bound to enthrall you. If time permits, climb Phnom Bakheng for a classic view of Angkor during sunset.

In the evening, explore some of the local food in the cafes that flank the narrow roads.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Distance cycled: ~ 30km / 18mi

Day 14: Siem Reap – onward travel

Please make plans as per your onward journey.

Meals: Breakfast

*with shuttle – short transfers

This itinerary accurate as of April 2019.  Please visit the Art of Bicycle Trips website to make sure you have the most up-to-date info.

Cycling across Vietnam and Cambodia

Take a supported bicycle tour across Vietnam and Cambodia – a van carries your gear and at the end of the day, you are transported in a comfy air conditioned van along with a cold beverage to your plush accommodations.

Having the van support is also handy in case you just don’t want to peddle anymore or you find yourself in a monsoon!

Having local guides also allows you to be able to converse with the locals even if you can’t speak Vietnamese or Khmer (although I do recommend learning a few polite phrases – download the FREE Bike Vietnam and Cambodia Travel Planner.

What if I’d rather trek Vietnam instead?

If cycling Vietnam is not your thing, then perhaps hiking might be! In that case, I recommend Wildland Trekking.

Wildland Trekking Hiking Vietnam Tour Description:

HIGHLIGHTS

Exploration of mountainous Vietnam

Discover village cultures of Vietnam    

Big rivers and beautiful views    

Remote villages and rice paddies

Wonderful home-stay lodging and meals

Ha Long Bay cruise

Fantastic Vietnamese cuisine

DESCRIPTION

“Xin Chao” from Vietnam! We start this epic Vietnam trekking adventure off in the ancient capital city, Hanoi, where we pick you up from the airport and transfer you to our hotel. We acclimatize in Hanoi and subsequently travel via train to Sapa, which lies on the Northwest border of Vietnam and China. Sapa sets our scene for the hiking portion of this trip as we trek through beautiful rice paddy terraces to remote ‘hill tribe’ villages. The trails we walk on connect village to village and are backdropped by rolling hills, pristine rivers and terraced mountainsides. We experience the lives of the Black H’mong, Red Dzao, Green Dzai and White Tay hill tribes by sleeping in luxurious homestays, making personal connections and trekking from village to village. After the trekking portion of this trip, we head east to the South China Sea for a luxury cruise of Ha Long Bay. The World renown limestone archipelago is a must for any travelers who visit Vietnam and no better place to end our adventure tour of Vietnam. The cultures, mountains, trekking, food and Ha-long bay make this trip one of the best trips in the world!

This trip is operated by Wildland International, a partner company of Wildland Trekking with shared ownership, management teams, guides, and other resources.

This tour description accurate as of April 2019.  Please visit the Wildland Trekking website for the most up-to-date information.

Links Mentioned in this episode:

Episode 027 Bike Puglia : Italy’s Stiletto Heel
Episode 011 Bike the Danube from Passau to Vienna
Episode 031 The Cotswold Way in England Part I (long distance walk)
Episode 0-32 The Cotswold Way in England Part II (long distance walk)
Art of Bicycles

Markets in Vietnam and Cambodia

 One of the most fun things to do in Vietnam and Cambodia is to visit the markets, whether on the streets or floating markets where the boats glide up to you to show you today’s wares!  It’s a cacophony of sights, sounds and smells!

And the food:  did I tell you the food is delicious???  Super fresh and local.  And if you are squeamish about eating some of the unknown squiggly things, remember that there is a heavy French influence from the colonial period, so you can find comfort in fabulous coffee, a traditional breakfast and other recognizable foods throughout the day if you want.  But I encourage you to be like Norm, our guest today and try some of the more unusual dishes.  He said they were all delicious, included the stuffed frog and the river snails.  

Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is one of the world’s largest religious sites, measuring over 400 acres/160 hectares!

Originally built for Hindus, in the 12th century it became a Buddhist temple and is Cambodia’s most recognized symbol (appearing even on it’s flag).

Angkor Wat is surrounded by a 3 mile/5km moat and then a 2mile/3km wall.

Touring by bike is preferable as it is VERY crowded and you get almost secret access when you go by bike because the temple area is so large and most people congregate at the main entrance.

The temple is noted for its many bas reliefs and devatas adorning the walls.  The HUMONGOUS roots overtaking the structures are pretty cool as well:)

Bike Tour Vietnam And Cambodia with Karen Campbell and Norm Sealing

“It is not a bike trip. It’s a cultural trip on a bike. It’s not just ride. The bike is a way to facilitate you seeing the country, the culture and interacting with the people.

I like to think of all of this like bike-facilitated exploring.”

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On this episode, we have an incredible adventure for you. We have a couple. It’s my first time doing a couple of interview that went on a bicycle tour to Vietnam and Cambodia. For such heavy travelers, this is in their top two. I often forget about the French influence in the region and I know both countries have a complicated history, but they are well-worth considering for an adventure holiday vacation. Both are real up-and-coming destinations. The food is great. The people are warm and friendly. Both countries offer a fascinating culture to explore and I’m convinced after talking to Karen and Norm that the way to see it is by bike. Could you start by introducing yourselves and perhaps telling us your age?

My name is Norm and I am 50 years old.

I am Karen and I am 45.

We’re going to be talking about a cycling tour that you did in Vietnam and Cambodia. Have you gotten into adventure travel before this or was this the first time you ever did anything like this? Can you give us a little backstory of where you are so folks can understand what your level of expertise is? What have you done in adventure travel in the past? Was this a big leap for you?

We’ve being doing adventure travels for quite some time. I started a long time ago when I was in the military. I got interested and was outside of the country a bunch. When I was in college, I was a whitewater kayak instructor and a raft guide in North Carolina. That allowed me to go to Central South America, do some raft guidance and kayak instruction. I caught the bug from there traveling. When I met Karen and married her, we started getting into doing some traveling. We’ve done some backpacking and Machu Picchu, Inca Trail and Costa Rica, backpacking and sea kayaking in New Zealand. We got into these bike trips with some friends from Bend, Oregon. Our first bike trip was Thailand and Laos, 450 miles over two weeks. That was a wonderful trip. We enjoyed seeing a country by bicycles. Our second bike trip was to India from Delhi to Rajasthan. That was a special trip and we knew we had caught the bike bug at that point. We signed up again with the same company, Art of Bicycle Trips and we did South Vietnam to Cambodia. We’ve done quite a bit of traveling together.

Karen, did Norm get you into this? Were you already adventuresome? How did all that play out?

We had different past experiences. He was definitely a whitewater person. I had worked in a wilderness therapy program and I love spending time outside. Our first trip, anything like this was that some of our best friends here in town had planned to go to this cycle trip in Thailand and Laos a few years ago. They kept inviting us to go and eventually we said, “Why would we possibly not go?” That was the first time we’d ever done any of the bigger bike tours.

How do you compare hiking trips to biking tours? What are the pros and cons?

We love bicycles. Maybe before we had made that other trip, my sister had introduced me into self-supported bike touring. We still don’t exactly even know what we’re supposed to call it. We have rigid mountain bikes and take all our own stuff along. I like being on a bike because I have more stuff that is getting supported by something other than my back.

We’re both big mountain bikers here. Oregon’s a great mountain biking community. We naturally ride our bikes practically year-round. Vacationing on a bike seems like a natural thing to do.

You guys sound incredibly fit. How about somebody like me who’s reasonably fit, if I did some training on both my body and my fanny getting used to being on a bike for longer periods of time, is this something we can do or do you have to be hardcore?

This was an easy riding, a casual rider tour. Our trip to Thailand and Laos was a little bit more difficult. We were looking for something that was easy, casual riding. You can enjoy it a little bit more, enjoy the countryside. This Vietnam to Cambodia, anybody who’s reasonably fit, put a little time in on your bike, bring some good bike shorts, comfortable shoes and good helmet. I wore a Camelbak to have access to my water and personal items, but you don’t have to wear a Camelbak. This was an easy rider, casual rider, maybe anywhere from 18 to 30-plus miles a day.

How many hours would you say you were on the bike each day roughly?

I would say an average of maybe four to five hours. Some days were a little bit longer, some days were a little shorter where you might visit a temple, do a short ride. It was flexible. It was a small group. Guides were quite flexible.

That’s one of the things we love about this Art of Bicycle Trips in the way they do things is that the groups are small. One time, we went on a trip with them. It was the two of us and this time it was us and one other couple that we didn’t know before. They’re flexible in modifying the trip for how you want it to be.

As long as we’re on the topic of guides, Vietnam and Cambodia have a complicated history. How knowledgeable and helpful were they in helping you to understand and interpret some of the things that you were seeing and doing?

The guides were fantastic. There was some difficult history, a complicated history to talk about. We started off walking towards Saigon. Things are changed during the ‘60s and the Vietnam War. We visited the tunnels of Cu Chi, a big area that was quite hotly contested between the Americans and Vietnam soldiers. They were wonderful with explaining the history, especially in Cambodia when we visited the killing fields. That was a difficult area and a powerful memorial to see. They were wonderful. We were impressed by how they focused on the history of both countries.

From what I hear, they’re frank about their history and open about it and not trying to hide it. Is that correct?

They’re open. There’s no getting around the fact that is super complicated history and everything about being over there was positive in terms of being able to talk about the history and understand things from a perspective that wasn’t ours. We have no complaints about that. They handled everything well. We learned a lot.

Did they like Westerners?

We were in Southern Vietnam and we can’t speak to anything other than the experience that we had. It was across the board positive. We met lots of people. Another benefit of the small groups is that we were riding through small communities and either directly with people who spoke English or through the guide. We talked to a lot of people and lots of folks were excited to tell us about kids that they had that had moved to the States and it was positive.

The largest community of Vietnamese is in Los Angeles. We met quite a few people who had sons, daughters living in this Vietnamese community in Los Angeles. They were excited to meet Americans.

I’d heard that they were warm towards Americans, but I wanted to hear from you because you’ve been there. I’ve read about it.

The people were wonderful.

Before we go into the nitty-gritty details, can you give us a general overview of the whole trip so people know what we’re going to be talking about?

We started in Saigon, which is Southern Vietnam and spent some time in the city. We spent the next few days riding through the Mekong Delta, which was a wonderful experience. It’s a rural area with lots of waterways. There’s no vehicle traffic and you ride along these wonderful motorbike pass following canals and rivers. For a few days, you don’t see any cars. It makes it for pleasant riding. It’s fairly flat riding. It can be a little technical with broken pavement or roots. We’re on mountain bikes at this point. We spent a few days on the Mekong Delta. We got on a boat road up Mekong River to Cambodia, Phnom Penh. We spent some in the capital, which was wonderful. Good food, good hotel, museums, temples and then rode southwest out of Phnom Penh to the countryside down to the coast of Cambodia, which is beautiful. We visited the National Park then got on at a plane in Sihanoukville and flew to Siem Reap for the culmination of the tour, which was Angkor Wat, the famous temples. That took fourteen days to negotiate that itinerary.

Tell us about the quality of the bikes.

Can I add something that I realized we should have said when you asked about the fitness level required for the trip? I was fired up about this trip. I wouldn’t want anyone reading who thought they were possibly thinking about it to go. The other couple that we were with were both active, but the other gal on the trip, she had never mountain biked before. She had been on a bike, but this was the first time she rode on a mountain bike. It was exciting for her but she did great. For someone with the baseline level of fitness that it seems like your audience has, the biking part was totally doable.

Had you done any training at all prior to going?

She had a little bit, but it’s interesting because they were from Canada and we’re in the Northern United States and it was November that we took the trip. Definitely everybody had already started getting into some winter weather. She had for sure done some but it was not excessive. They found the trip within striking distance.

Let’s talk about mountain bikes.

The reason for the mountain bikes is because of some of the broken pavement. You’re on the dirt a little bit and you have a front shock and a good geometry to make it comfortable. It was definitely not mountain biking.

Touring by bike allows you the opportunity to have lots of interactions with the local people. Click To Tweet

It’s pretty flat down the area you’re going to as I understand. Are eBikes an option or it’s full pedal on?

I don’t think eBikes were offered on this one.

It was pedal bikes. We started off in Vietnam on 26-inch mountain bikes. When we transitioned to Cambodia, Phnom Penh, we were on 29er mountain bikes, which were nice and comfortable. When we got to Siem Reap, we transitioned the 27.5-inch mountain bikes again. Be prepared to switch mountain bikes. The guides are great to help you. Karen brought her own seat so they would put her seat on. We brought our own pedals. We prefer pedals and shoes to clip in and they will put your pedals on and they’ll make the appropriate adjustments for you. The guys were helpful and the bikes were comfortable and in good condition.

Can you tell us what that 27 inches and 29 inches are all about?

It’s different wheel sizes in mountain bikes. The standard size wheel that we all grew up riding is a 26-inch wheel. Over the past few years, technology has changed and they’ve made bigger wheel sizes. People call them 29ers, 27.5s and they’re a bigger wheel and allows you to roll better and maintain momentum. They’re quite nice for rolling along and going over obstacles. It’s been a change in mountain bikes in the past few years.

I am more of a hiker and I’m going to ease myself into a biking tour. I want to bike in Ireland.

Don’t be intimidated by the bigger wheel sizes. The Canadian lady on our trip, she’d never been on anything but a 26 and she jumped on that 29-inch bike and she said, “I can go much faster.” It’s much more efficient, rolls better and she loved it.

You start off in Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon and that was an easing into it and a little bit of a cultural day. You’ve got a walking tour too. Do you want to tell us a little bit about the city?

It’s a beautiful city. We got to explore on our own when we first checked into the hotel. We were glad that we had learned how to cross streets in Asia on our own because sometimes people see YouTube videos and things of that sea of traffic and how to negotiate through that. We had been taught that you don’t want to dart around too much. You have to proceed at a steady pace. There’s a lot going on there. There are lots of people on motorbikes, traffic and stuff coming through but it was fun. We went to a market that Norm knows the name of and that was pretty fun too.

We visited the Benton market, which is a famous market in Saigon. It was a fun site, colors, smells, haggling, people and it was a lot of fun. We had a walking tour of the city with the guide that afternoon and a lot of French influence obviously. The city is beautiful. We got to visit the Royal Palace and the post office and the Notre Dame Cathedral. There’s a strong Catholic influence in Vietnam. It was a wonderful day of sights and smells and sounds. We enjoyed Saigon. The people were wonderful.

The next day, you’re starting the bicycle tour itself. What’s it like to go on a bicycle tour? Tell us a little bit about what’s going on.

I will tell you that starting this particular bicycle tour, it’s hot over there. I didn’t know it could be that hot. I had lived in Florida for a couple of years. It’s hot and humid. If folks are thinking about this one, I rode in a long sleeve top and long bike pants. I got the sunscreen SPF pants because it is hot and intense weather. I’ll let Norm talk more about what the actual biking was like. I remember being hot.

The biking that first day was to warm up and assessed everybody’s abilities. Some pavement, some dirt, little forest paths, the scenery was lowland jungle area. We rode to the Củ Chi tunnels, which were a famous series of tunnels during the Vietnam War that the Vietnamese people resisted the Americans in these tunnels. It was interesting to see that from their perspective. They don’t call it the Vietnam War as we do. It was the American war. There were some powerful moments there. Karen’s dad was a Vietnam veteran. It was a particularly powerful day for her to see that.

My dad was a Vietnam vet as well. It’s a tough history. I know why I want to go to Vietnam, but how come you chose to go to Vietnam and Cambodia?

We loved Asia from our last trip to Thailand and Laos, the people, the food, the culture, the experience and also time of year. I’m a wildland firefighter for the United States Forest Service. I can’t take off in the summertime. A lot of our travel has to happen from November to February. Asia is a good destination to visit during those months.

The other thing is we’d had our eye on that trip for a while because we had such an amazing time with Art of Bicycle Trips in India. Both of us had the thought that we would prioritize being able to go on a trip with them again because it had been such an over the top good time in India.

Folks may never have heard this company. I know they haven’t heard of it because I discovered them. I had been asked by Peg to find an adventure trip in Vietnam. I was having a difficulty finding a tour company that I could recommend because most of them either try to cram Asia in such a short period of time that you don’t have chance to catch your breath or it’s too low. You’re almost hosteling and the kids are too young. I wanted something that was more appropriate for the types of trips that we’re talking about. When I found Art of Bicycle I checked them on Trustpilot and TripAdvisor and I was like, “I’ve found my company.”

They’re wonderful. We’ll do another trip with them probably 2020, 2021 and go back to India with them.

I’m pleased to be able to offer a recommendation for Asia and India. Let’s talk about the landscape a little bit.

Riding through the Mekong Delta, its palm trees, lowland jungle, lots of water and then everything you can imagine being grown there. Bananas, coconuts, durian fruit, breadfruit, all these amazing vegetables and fruits are growing everywhere. It was neat to see that and see some of the rural villages. It was neat to pass lots of markets, all squiggly things for sale at the markets, snakes, eels, fish and seafood. There was a lot to see and smell.

Did the markets have aquariums? When I went to Beijing, I went to a fish market that I will never forget as long as I live. There were aquariums and you picked out all these things that I would never even thought were edible and you pick out your turtle, you pick out your fish, you pick out your eel, you pick out your other unknown squiggly thing. Picture a lobster tank and now put dozens of them lined up next to each other down an aisle and now have a whole market full of these aquariums. That’s what I saw in Beijing.

This was rural. They had things in buckets and pails with a little bucket that might have four or five eels squiggling around inside.

The food is good. Let’s talk about food.

The food was fantastic. Every morning, breakfast was available at your hotel. They can make a Western style omelet. Being French influenced, the coffee was fantastic. They had baguettes every morning and fresh fruit. Karen’s a vegetarian so she has wonderful vegetarian dishes, a lot of pho, which is a noodle broth-based soup with fresh mint and cilantro. I’m a meat eater so I appreciate all the seafood available.

If people want to get adventurous with their eating norm, a frog stuffed with something. He ate river snails that our guide bought right out of the river. He ate things that were being sold by folks going by on little boats. There’s some room for non-biking adventure. I am thinking of this coconut coffee that we had too. There’s a frozen iced coffee. You definitely should plan to eat a lot on that trip because the food is good. The food was so good that we both came home heavier than we left because it was that good.

Those rivers snails were a bit odd. The little stuffed frog was a little bit odd too.

How did the stuffed frog taste?

It was wonderful. It tasted great. It had stuffing inside of it. It’s interesting but it tastes like chicken. Vietnam’s big on the coffee culture. The coffee was fantastic and we appreciated it.

Are you biking also through coffee plantations as well?

We stopped and visited a pepper plantation and coffee plantations. It was quite weird. I was amazed at how much agriculture was there.

They have coconut, they have rubber and you got the rice and the Lotus paddies. When you’re biking, is everything beautiful?

There’s a lot of green. It is pretty. Now, where we live, being able to ride by and our guide would stop and buy fruit from folks that were selling it right along the paths that we were on so that we had bananas that someone had taken right out of the trees and a coconut with the top got hacked off with a little ax as people were taking that stuff to market. A lot of the snacks on the trip in Vietnam were fruit that was purchased right from the area along the road which is an experience we don’t often get to have out here.

Art of Bicycle Trips is not just a bike trip. It's a cultural trip on a bike. Click To Tweet

We were talking a little bit briefly about the weather and it is hot but you’re in a tropical climate. You have the drier season which starts in November and goes through February and then the wet season. It stays pretty much 30 degrees Centigrade to 80 degrees Fahrenheit most of the year, but it’s humid. People have to be aware that it’s going to be sticky.

It is sticky and humid. You have to pay attention to your bike gear. Once you get to the hotel, if you need to wash something out, we brought some Defunkify soap with us. You could do a little laundry in the sink, get that stuff dried out. You do have to manage your cycle gear a little bit because it is hot and humid.

Let’s talk about bike gear. What do we need to know and do?

I would recommend wearing a pair of bike shorts and the Art of Bicycle trips recommends you bring at least two pair. Karen brought three. They’re padded bike shorts that help your butt when you’re on that bike for so long. You’re getting quite sweaty. You bring a couple of pair of socks that you cycle in, a couple of cycling jerseys or shirts. At the end of the day, you’re a little sweaty and then maybe a little smelly. Those are the clothes that you’re going to be cycling in over that two-week period. Stay on top of laundry and keeping that gear clean and trying to get it dried out as best you can.

The hotels that we stayed at had nice accommodation for this trip and every place we stayed except one night had air conditioning and the stuff all dried out easily in the room. I think in terms of what you’d want to bring is to definitely protect from the sun because there’s wasn’t a lot of shade.

I learned when I had the nursery business and I was out in the sun all the time that I preferred the well-breathing long sleeve shirt and long sleeve pants like you wore, Karen, because it keeps the sun off.

I’m a big fan. I’m not designed for the sun.

I’m blond. I fry. I would have a big hat. I’d have to figure out some way to protect my face too because I’d wear the helmet. It’s important. You’re going to be out in the sun all day. Are you being supported by a van or are you carrying all of your stuff every day on the sides of your bike with veneers? Tell us about that.

No veneers or anything. It was all supported, a nice support rig. When we were in Vietnam, we had a Mercedes-like sprinter van with the bikes. We had a driver available to meet us with cold drinks and snacks. At the end of the cycling, they loaded up your bikes for you and you might change out a couple of things and jump into this wonderful air-conditioned van with a cold beverage and a nice a ride to the hotel. In Cambodia, it’s the same. We had a different type of van. We had a wonderful air condition. Nice support van. Your luggage and everything got taken to the next hotel for you.

I’m assuming too then if somebody had an off-day, they could ride in the van rather than riding the bike if they chose.

Definitely and that’s a good point because it made me want to go back. You’re right that we were there in the not rainy season, but we definitely had some rain while we were there. You would want to for sure take a raincoat and then know that you might be riding in some rain. In one of those days, one of the people on the trip was finished with being in the rain and hopped in the rig with the driver. It was completely fine.

Sometimes too, in the rain might help cool things off a little bit as well.

It was fun to ride it because it was some heavy rain. I can’t remember if that was Vietnam. We may have been in Cambodia at that point and we were riding through the roads with red dirt. There was some good fun with dodging mud puddles and part of what we like about doing the bike tours is that you are going right through the villages. We had lots of riding those bikes and having kids walking and riding to school on their bikes. We were dripping mud messes and the folks who interact with that whether on a regular basis we’re still making their way to school with their white buttoned-down school shirts on and their skirts or trousers. They were clean and dry and handling that in a way that we do not know how to.

It sounds too that touring by bike allowed you the opportunity to have lots of interactions with the local people.

That’s the whole thing about being out on the bikes. I can’t even think of any way I would rather see those countries because you do get to ride through and hop off the bikes and go into businesses. It was interesting there. There were no tourist services in some of those areas. When we needed a restroom break, the guide was talking to a shop owner where we were. People live in homes attached to those businesses and they were letting us go into their homes and then we got to talk with people. It’s much more direct interactions than for sure that if we had been there by ourselves because lots of folks don’t speak English and we don’t speak the languages of the countries where we were. Being on the bikes and there’s a lot more direct interaction than we would have had on our own. That’s for sure the highlights of the trip.

That reminds me of what Kristin said in episode 27 on Puglia, which is cycling Italy stiletto heel, she said and she was quoting somebody else, “When you’re biking or doing the long-distance hike, you’re part of the movie.” You’re not watching a movie like you are when you’re on a tour bus, get out, take the pictures. You become part of the local people’s lives because of your daily interactions. It’s a cool way to travel and it allows for a more authentic and immersive experience.

That’s a good way to say it. It was neat some of the times we were hanging out, getting the bikes in and out of the van. Maybe we were parked next to the school or something. I had some neat times where kids were coming over and wanting to practice their English, talk and wondering what we were up to. It was sweet and also thinking one of the super muddy rainy days we rode through this village. The guy’s business, he was out pressure washing the motorcycles. I don’t know why we had stopped right there, but it ended up all five of us, the guide and the four people on the trip, not just our bikes but also us as humans all got pressure washed to get the mud off.

Let’s talk about some more of the experiences that you had. You weren’t just on the bike. Sometimes you were on a boat and you went to a floating market. Can you tell us what a floating market is?

It’s not like the local market where you might go and get food or supplies for a couple of days. It was more like a big wholesale market where there would be a big boat that was filled with melons and then people would come in and buy the melons from that person or buy the rice or whatever dairy and vegetables. They arranged for us to get a boat tour for the four of us and took us out onto the river so we could see this huge floating market. People come in and find the vegetables and the goods from it. It was neat to see them. It made for some nice pictures. It was interesting the waterway-based culture there in the Mekong Delta.

I remember in Bangkok that I went to a floating market and you have all these boats as you say, come up and they usually have one thing that they were often selling. Whether it was the melons or whatever they had harvested that day, that’s what they were pitching and it was cool.

They fly a little flag on their boat that identifies what they have for sale, which I thought was neat.

You’re by the water most of the time. Tell us a little bit about the villages of what you saw there.

There were a lot of celebrations. People are having fun. The Vietnamese like their music. You’d be riding along and also hear a bunch of music blaring. You come around the corner and there’s a bunch of speakers, somebody DJ-ing and people having a party. We went by several weddings. The other villages were full of life and people having fun. It was neat to see all the celebrations and small temples. Each one of the villages had their own little individual markets as well. Everybody’s on motorbikes which is neat as well.

The thing that stands out also about what Norm was saying that you might roll into a village and hear something, a level of music that we would associate with coming from a nightclub or something. It would be a private residence and it would also maybe be 10:00 in the morning on a Wednesday. There would be birthday parties and weddings happening at different times. We learned that there’s more. I don’t know if this was when the music was happening, but that there’s a commemoration of anniversaries of when a loved one has passed away. We never did go in, but when we were stopping and going by this there were invitations to join the party. We never did that and a lot of karaoke happening.

Did you get to see them in their wedding garb? What does that look like?

We did see several people in wedding garbs from a distance. It was formal. The man was in a formal suit and a wedding-like dress on the women.

You also went to a national reserve and a bird sanctuary. Can you tell us a little bit, some of the wildlife you might have seen there? What did that look like?

Part of that is we were in the mountains and we drove up to this amazing road and it was finally cool. It was the first time on the entire trip where we can say the weather was cold. It was a bird sanctuary. We visited a waterfall. We did a big ride that day. It was harder than I thought. I wasn’t feeling too well and I had to get in the van that afternoon. There were a ton of birds there. That was a wonderful day, peaceful and a lot of people come to this national park to escape the heat.

Now, you’re in Cambodia. Any other thoughts about Vietnam before we move on to Cambodia?

I would say in Vietnam, the people were wonderful. The food was wonderful. We enjoyed our time there. The lack of traffic, riding without cars on the road was fantastic.

That was one thing that made me nervous when I first saw this because I think of the motorbikes everywhere and the chaos. You’re on some serene paths. You’re not doing any of the road biking at all.

We were on paths. There definitely was some riding into towns where there weren’t pedestrian paths. It’s a different experience than riding like our portion of the United States at least because people are accustomed to having so much pedestrian traffic on the roads. I feel significantly safer on a bike when we’ve been in other countries because the level of awareness that there might be bikers, there could be animals walking along the road, people walking along the road that there’s a different experience of the traffic ebbing and flowing together that I haven’t felt here.

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You’ll definitely be on some roads with big trucks coming by, the bus coming by. Initially, people might be a little nervous about that, but as Karen says, they’re aware of bikers. Everybody’s on scooters and the flow happens. People don’t get an impatient or angry in Asia about traffic. It happens. People flow along. I wouldn’t be too intimidated by the traffic.

Were you able to bring any of that calm and patience back with you or at least for a little while?

We certainly aspired to. It’s a goal.

Usually, the little glow lasts for me for about two weeks.

If we could figure out how to make that glow last indefinitely, I would try and bottle that up and sell it. It would be good.

Let’s move into Cambodia now. Give us an overview of what you all did there.

Cambodia was great. We took a boat off the Mekong River. It took about three or four hours. You do a customs checkpoint and they get to Phnom Penh, which is a big city and it’s had a lot of Chinese money influence in there. It was a nice city. There were a lot of Westerners running around and lots of great restaurants. We visited the Royal Palace, which was absolutely beautiful. We visited the National Museum. We had a knowledgeable young man as a tour guide and he would arrange tuk-tuk rides around for us. We spent about a day and a half in Phnom Penh. We visited the killing fields, which talked about the Pol Pot era. It’s a difficult part of their history. There’s some road riding. We had several days of wonderful rural Cambodia riding down to the beautiful coastline. We visited the beach in Kep and the Kep crab market and we got to eat crabs although Karen didn’t eat crabs. We visited a little city called Kampot on the water. It was very French-influenced. It almost looks like New Orleans in Cambodia. The riding was fantastic. We ended up on a plane from Sihanoukville to Siem Reap where we saw the Angkor Wat temples for a few days.

Tell us a little bit about Angkor Wat.

It’s wild to be there after seeing those pictures all our lives. It is absolutely mind-blowing. One of the things that we did was to extend the time that we stayed in Siem Reap at the end of the trip. It was nice. We had the day with the group and then we went back and spent some more time there. One of the nice parts about being on a bicycle trip is that they shuttled us to the tourist area where you buy the tickets to go, but you’re still maybe ten miles or so from Angkor Wat. We rode in there on the bicycles and could be on some paths and come in and miss some of the pretty heavy impact traffic on the tourist bus and people getting in there. The bikes gave back door access, which was neat.

That was the best part of being on the bike.

I understand too because Angkor Wat is basically this massive 400 acres, 160 hectares. It’s huge. It is one of the world’s largest religious sites and surrounded by a moat. Is that correct?

That is correct. It is massive. There were a lot of people there. Around 1.7 million people a year visit Angkor Wat. The beauty of the bike tour, as what Karen said, we got to come in the back way. We got to ride jungles, single track paths and get away from the buses. There’s a ton of bus traffic with big massive tour buses. We were able to bypass the tour buses, slide in the back door, set our bikes down, access the temple, get a wonderful tour of the temple and then hop back on that bike and get away from the people. We appreciated being on the bikes to the Angkor Wat. It’s powerful, beautiful and large. It would be difficult to see on the tour bus, but on the bikes we could cover all kinds of ground and it was wonderful.

That almost makes it worth it for that.

It was because there will be spots where you pull up and there are about fifteen tour buses and hundreds of people pouring out of these tour buses. You ride right by on your mountain bike.

It is a big complex. There lots of different places to stop and get out, not just the main complex. They took us through all of it on that day.

In addition to Angkor Wat, we saw some other temples the next day. That was maybe 30 to 40 kilometers outside of Siem Reap. That was wonderful to see as well, great rural riding. The temples in the area are vast. It takes a couple of days to see them and appreciate them. Our first day there, we went at about 2:00 in the afternoon on the bikes to the main temple complex. There were a lot of people and it was very hot. If there was a temple where there was a little bit of shade, every available shade was taken up by a person trying to cool down. We extended our trip at the end, got up early in the morning, hired our own tuk-tuk and went in and went back when it was a little cooler. There were fewer people and we got to see it in a different light and we appreciated that.

How many days would you recommend for people to add extra?

We had two days on our bike tour and then we added an extra day. The Art of Bicycle Trips arranged the extra day at the hotel. I would say three days at the minimum for Angkor Wat and the temple complex was outside of Angkor Wat. You’re going to have to hang out in Siem Reap too. We stayed downtown. It’s a fun city. There’s a lot going on. It’s almost a party atmosphere. There’s a big street called Pub Street. It’s popular with Westerners. We were there for the Cambodian Water Festival. There were lots of Cambodians there for a big national celebration. Siem Reap was fun. It’s a little crazy. It’s was almost like a Mardi Gras atmosphere at times, but it was fun to see and interact with the people. I think at least three days in Angkor Wat, maybe four.

Let’s talk about safety. Did you feel safe?

I felt safe. I’m sure that you could put yourself in a difficult situation if you were out late at night, maybe if you were a part of the party crowd or something. If you’re these boring 45, 50-year-old people like us who like to go out to dinner, maybe have a beverage or two and back to your hotel by 9:00 or 10:00 in bed for the next day, it’s very safe.

What about for solo women, does it still feel the same way?

We saw a lot of solo women traveling. I would say the same thing. Being out late at night is probably not a great idea in some spots. We saw a lot of solo and groups of women traveling together.

Especially if someone was looking at the particular trip that we were on, definitely. We had some dinners by ourselves but they put us into some good spots. It would be a great way to go. You could definitely do that as a solo woman traveler. I wouldn’t say that about everything that we’ve done.

The accommodations are top notch. They put you in wonderful hotels and good spots. The guides are always there for you. They’ll get you to the restaurant for dinner. They’ll get everything set up for you. You don’t have to take care of anything. You just have to pay for alcoholic beverages. At the end of your dinner, if you had some beers, that’s all you had to pay for. The guys take care of everything. They’re waiting for you outside if you need anything else. We were very well taken care of.

Is there anything that you wish you’d known before you’d gone that you would like to pass on as some advice?

One of the nice things about going with the company like this, especially when we travel, we are using vacation time from our jobs and we don’t have a huge amount of time to be there. The interaction with the travel company in advance gives you the chance to ask a lot of those questions and plan for the trip. I don’t feel like we had any unpleasant surprises or anything like that. We didn’t know anyone who had gone to those. Sometimes on the trips we take, we’ve had close friends that have gone ahead of us and have given us good advice. This one seemed pretty straight forward from the information we had from the company.

Pankaj from the Art of Bicycle Trips does an incredible job of providing you with pre-trip information, detailed itineraries and recommendations. If you do have a question such as, “We’d like to get picked up at the airport after a long travel from all the way from the western United States across the Pacific Ocean and getting in late at night.” We appreciate having somebody waiting at the airport to get us to our accommodations and not try to Uber or bus or taxi. He sets all that up for us and provides emergency contact numbers if we have any questions. I would say they do a wonderful job preparing you for the trip and answering any questions that you might have.

I think you’d asked about safety on this trip. I can’t remember which country we’re in, but one of the guides put a little identification tab on the bicycle. If somehow you had ridden up by yourself and ended up someplace, your name and then the tour group’s phone number on there so that whatever nice local found you would be able to get you back to the group. It was a nice level of backup plan.

I assume you don’t speak much Vietnamese or Khmer. Did you have any communication problems?

No, we didn’t because when we were remote and rural, the guides were there. The neat thing also with the smaller group and the folks that our bicycle groups work with is they are willing to facilitate communication with people that we met along the way. With the four of us on this trip, we were able to have translation and have conversations with people that we would never have been able to have.

What would you tell somebody that’s on the fence about whether or not this is a trip to go on for them or not? In other words, how would you rate this trip?

We rated the trip as five stars and excellent on Pankaj’s website on the Art of Bicycle Trips website. He’s put both of our reviews from our trips on his website. We did a Trustpilot review. We gave it a five-star because of the attention to detail. We can’t speak enough about the accommodations. After a long day of biking and some hot weather to check into a nice boutique hotel with a wonderful shower, every spot had a full comfortable bedding, air conditioning and fantastic breakfast every morning. The meals, the interactions, we loved it. We were blown away by the Vietnam, Cambodia trip. It far exceeded our expectations.

Is there anything you want to tell us that we didn’t talk about?

The thing that’s always on my mind when we go to some of these off the beaten path, I’m always concerned about whether or not I’m going to get sick. Normally, adventurers either had a little bit of trouble and I did not. If anybody’s worried about can they go and keep their belly happy and whatnot. Those of us who are inclined more towards vegetarianism with the other couple too, they were like us. The adventure eaters had a little touch of bugs, but they recovered and the other two of us did fine the whole time. If anyone’s worried about that, you can definitely go and stay healthy.

It could be because there’s something different for your stomach. That’s where the guides can help too because they know where it’s okay to eat.

I got a little adventurous in my eating and it was nothing that a little bit of Pepto Bismol couldn’t take care of.

You two have made some killer trips in your lifetime. How does this one compare to some of those?

The bike trips we’ve done in India, Vietnam, Cambodia are probably the top two trips that we have done. I can’t thank Art of Bicycle Trips enough for attention to detail. It is not a bike trip. It’s a cultural trip on a bike. It’s not just ride. The bike is a way to facilitate you seeing the country and seeing the culture and interacting with the people.

If someone was thinking about doing this and I like to think of all of this as bike-facilitated exploring. The biking was there but we had requested at some point a priority on getting into the towns so that it wasn’t like all day and all of the daylight on the bike so that we could still get there and walk around and enjoy the places that we ended up. If people are thinking about doing it, it seemed like the best of all worlds that we did get to be out on the bikes and a little bit more hands on. Like Norm was saying, it’s comfortable at the same time. If anyone is thinking about doing it, they should do it. No reservations.

We had made a trip prior where it was a little bit more biking-based where you got up in the morning, as soon as breakfast was made you were on that bike and you’re on that bike all day. By the end of the day, you were tired. All you can think about was eating and going to bed. We didn’t get to enjoy the towns and the places you were in. The Art of Bicycle Trips focuses on that balance and that balance is key because after all you’re on vacation.

Thanks, Norm and Karen, for coming on the show. We sure appreciate it.

Thanks for having us.

Thank you.

—

I have to say that I’m getting more and more interested in bicycle touring because like Kristin said in episode 27 in Puglia, Italy, you get to cover a lot more ground, you can see much more of the country than I do when I do my long-distance hikes. In episode number 11, we biked the Danube River all the way into Vienna in Austria, which was cool as well. The pace that Norm and Karen did on this particular Vietnam, Cambodia trip was nice because they’re only biking maybe four or five hours a day, you’re not tired at the end of the day that you have time to go exploring. Unlike what I did in the Cotswold, which was a long distance hike, episodes 31 and 32, I pushed my pace a little faster than it was good for me because at the end of the day I was too pooped to do too much exploring.

This is probably a good middle ground for me to be able to do half-a-day of exercise because I do want to take the time at the end of the day to explore the towns and the villages that I’m visiting. I need a little bit more energy and a little bit more steam at the end of the day in order to do so. I also love too how similar to long-distance hiking because you’re on the bike. You’re getting a lot more local interaction. That to me is probably my most important thing because it’s not the landscapes. It’s the people that make the trips, it’s those small interactions whether it’s with a shopkeeper or whomever. Those are the memories. That’s what you remember. I’ve long been interested in exploring Southeast Asia, but like everybody else, there are always the limits of time and money. If I do it by bicycle and combine several of the tours together, that might be the best way for me to see the countries in my timeframe and in my budget.

As much as it’s possible in a show, I’d like this to be a two-way conversation between us as much as we can. For example, the topic today with Vietnam was inspired by an email that I got from Peg who is looking for a tour company in Vietnam and I had myself been looking and had been unsuccessful in finding a company that I felt comfortable recommending until I found Art of Bicycle Trips. I got another nice email that I’d like to read to you from Melissa and this is with her permission. If you write to me and it’s okay for me to read them out loud, please make a note of that. I’d like to see us have two-way conversations. Here’s her letter which warmed my day when I got it. I got it on a particularly bad day. This made my day.

“Dear Kit, I wanted to say thank you for your show. I genuinely enjoy your positivity and your sense of adventure. I want to especially thank you for your comments about courage being a muscle and for encouraging people to think about pushing themselves to live the lives that they want to live. My husband and I do a lot of active travel together, but I wanted to travel and he didn’t. Rather than sit at home and be annoyed, I remembered your words to go a tiny step beyond your comfort level. I booked a flight for myself and made a three-night getaway to chase some Florida sunshine. While I did do a little hiking, it wasn’t all that adventures of a trip. It was a little beyond what I’ve seen myself as capable of. What’s ridiculous about that is I’m a former Peace Corps volunteer so you would think that I would have a comfort level with doing things on my own. You inspired me and I’m grateful. Keep up the good work.”

Thanks, Melissa, and thanks for making my day. If you’d like to reach out to me, you can find me at Kit@ActiveTravelAdventures.com. If you forget that, you go to the ActiveTravelAdventures.com website, click on the contact button and that shoots right to me in my office. I have a special episode coming up. I took my 93-year-old mom to one of her and dad’s favorite adventure locations and I can’t wait to share it with you. Until then, adventure on.

Important Links:

• Art of Bicycle Trips
• Camelbak
• Trustpilot
• TripAdvisor
• Episode 27 – Active Travel Adventure episode
• Episode number 11 – Active Travel Adventure episode
• 31 – Active Travel Adventure episode
• 32 – Active Travel Adventure episode
• Kit@ActiveTravelAdventures.com

• Here’s How »

• activetraveladventures.com
• Active Travel Adventures Facebook Page
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