Brian's Cycle Ride from Vietnam to Cambodia - Jan/Feb 2011
Brian completed his bicycle ride (see my written account and photos below). Thanks to everyone who donated to the charity. In January and February 2011, Brian cycled from Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) in Vietnam to Angkor Wat in Cambodia. This was part of an event with other cyclists to raise funds in aid of the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) - a registered charity in England and Wales (no. 1083008). MAG is a neutral and impartial humanitarian organisation clearing the remnants of conflict for the benefit of communities worldwide, including landmines and other ordnance.
Click on the logo to find out more about the MAG charity
This is a very worthwhile charity. Some 5,500 people are killed and maimed every year by landmines alone - often children - even in Vietnam, more than 30 years after the conflict ended. Just in Cambodia there are an estimated 8 million land mines and other unexploded ordnance. MAG is currently working in 15 countries around the world.
Final Fundraising update:
- We took various donated items, large and small, to the sales at Brendon Fair in North Devon on October 15th, 2010 and managed to make £230
- We ran a jumble sale in Exford Village Hall on October 17th, 2010 and raised £330. Thanks to all who helped on the day and to those who attended and spent money!
- A family charity walk raised £30 and the sale of my computer speakers on ebay raised £51.
- Online fundraising using the JustGiving.com website raised over £1,000.
- Donations from family, friends and contacts raised a further £1,800
OVERALL TOTAL RAISED: £3,415
Thank you so much for your support!
Between all of the riders who took part in this event (29 of us) we raised £118,416, and this amount can be used by MAG to clear over 78,944 sq metres of land, thus making it safe for people to grow crops and cross the land, or it can buy 59 metal detectors or it can be used to field a team of fully trained and equipped deminers for more than one year.
A photographic record of my Vietnam & Cambodia cycle ride:
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January 28th/29th, 2011: At Heathrow Airport - Met with Sophie and Ian of Action Challenge, plus Geoff the GP who was going to look after all things medical (and who turned out to be the first one to get injured!). Met a few of the other cyclists going to be on the charity ride and then flew Korean Air to Seoul in South Korea. Then after a long wait - and a chance to meet more of the cyclists - we flew to Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam. Arrived at hotel about midnight on Saturday, January 29th. My assigned room buddy for the next few days was Anthony Douglas, who turned out to be CEO of CAFCASS (Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service) - a very interesting person who works regularly at Westminster and meets the top politicians, including the PM. After a quick shower, and despite being tired after a very long journey, we decided to venture out into the streets of Saigon to see a nearby park area with flowers and shrubs for sale in advance of the Chinese New Year. Although nearly 1am, things were quite busy and fascinating.
January 30th: Up early (6.30am), quick breakfast and off to see the Cu Chi tunnels. These are where the Viet Cong lived and fought the Americans during the Vietnam war. A staggering maze of tunnels on different levels where the Viet Cong and families lived - with ingenious design features for everyday life and traps to catch American soldiers. You get a small taste of just how terrifying it must have been for both sides.
Then we get our bikes, make sure that they fit us and are working fine and set off finally! It's hot, about 38 deg C, and humid, but thankfully not quite as humid as I anticipated.
January 31st to February 6th: We cycle each day, sometimes over 100km. Everywhere we go children come out of the houses to wave and say 'Hello!'. I must have waved and replied 'Hello" a thousand times! We had left the bustling city of Saigon with its population of 8 million people and 5 million motorbikes! The countryside has houses on stilts along the roadside and paddy fields everywhere. They get three crops of rice a year in this part of Vietnam due to irrigation, but there was a marked contrast as we crossed the border into Cambodia (which took a long time as every member of the immigration staff seemed to want to check our paperwork!) - much poorer, drier and brown, as there is little or no irrigation and only one rice crop each year. We visit a school in Cambodia and give the children presents of pencils, pens, paper, books etc. They sang a song for us. So well behaved! Cycling was on roads and sometimes on dirt tracks through remote villages. Crossing the mighty Mekong River, we headed towards Siem Reap, finally reaching the ancient temples of Angkor Wat in the jungles of Cambodia. What an amazing sight to behold! These date from the early 12th century and some are partly overgrown by trees and vegetation. We cross the finish line and have a celebratory beer!
We do a tour of some of the temples the next day and then meet with staff of the MAG charity who give us the opportunity to learn how they go about the very slow, meticulous process of clearing landmines etc. We get the opportunity to try on some of the protective clothing and use the equipment and are shown examples of the different types of landmine and ordnance recovered. In the evening we dine with them and get a chance to know them better. I stay on two extra days to take in as much as possible, including further visits to temples and a trip out to a floating village on the edge of the huge Tonle Sap Lake, where three of us visit a floating school and take presents to the children. The families here live all their lives on their floating houses and seemed very happy. They move the village three times a year as the lake expand and contracts with the seasons. We also drop in to see a silk farm and a country market, and take a close look at some paddy fields.
February 7th: Borrow a local Cambodian bike from the hotel and cycle to the new Angkor Museum in Siem Reap. In the afternoon I walked to a nearby, un-touristy, bustling indoor market. Fascinating, but managed to resisit buying anything. In the evening, at 8pm, I took a taxi to Siem Reap airport - after saying farewell to Charlotte, Georgina, Stephen and Vito, who were all staying on a little longer.
February 8th: After 31 hours travel, including long waits at Siem Reap and Seoul airports, I arrived home at about 8.45pm. Exhausted, but buzzing after an amazing experience and having met many wonderful people - and all for very important cause, knowing what a difference the work of MAG makes to the welfare and economy of the poor communities of Vietnam and Cambodia.
The other riders on this challenge were people I had never met before, but they and the organisers were lovely people from a whole range of backgrounds. This was great experience all round and it was so good to meet MAG staff and see what great work they do.
Thanks for reading this page, and I hope that you will be able to support this good cause. Contact me by email if you have any questions or suggestions. In 2008 I cycled with my brother Colin across Australia to raise funds for WaterAid, and you can see my photos and diary here.
Best regards, Brian
Brian training indoors when the roads
were covered in snow and ice
See also: Cycle ride across Australia 2008