Changing countries from Laos to Cambodia at the Veun Kham border crossing was free of red tape and quick. The customs officers are friendly and speak English! Fill in a form, hand over a photo, and we get our 30-day visa. With the Angkor Wat temple complex, Cambodia offers a tourist highlight.

As we already know from other borders, the difference in vegetation surprises us again as we cross. 60% of Cambodia is covered by jungle. Above 700 metres grows evergreen mountain forest; below it, tropical rainforest with trees that often reach 40-50 metres. The exhausting mountain climbs are now definitely over. We cycle easily along flat roads – the highest mountain, Phnom Aural, 1,810 metres high, is far from our route. In the countryside, places to stay have become a rarity.

Longer stages are needed to find somewhere with air conditioning. We tried it: a room with only a ceiling fan didn't let us sleep. At night the temperature doesn't drop below 20 degrees – much too sticky and warm for us. To find "temperature-controlled" accommodation, we have to choose our daily goals so that we reach a town by evening. Distances of 100 to 140 kilometres a day are therefore not unusual. To avoid the heat and still make progress, the alarm goes off at 4:30.

In just 5 days of riding we reach Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.
Here we visit the Killing Fields, a little outside Phnom Penh. We learn a lot about the reign of terror of Pol Pot and the genocide, in which more than a third of the Cambodian population died. We saw an oppressive testimony to history, one that must not be forgotten. For anyone who wants to find out more: Khmer Rouge

The royal palace, another sight in Phnom Penh, was closed to the public. Norodom Sihanouk died in China on 15.10.2012 after a long illness. During the official state mourning, the "Father of the Nation" lies in state in the palace. On the front of the building, by the entrance gate, the funeral ceremonies are shown on a large projection screen. According to Buddhist tradition, the body must be cremated and laid to rest in a golden urn in the grounds of the royal palace in Phnom Penh.

A holiday mood without bikes! From Phnom Penh, by coach, we reach the "tourist mecca" of Sihanoukville in just 4 hours. The finest sandy beach, sun and swimming in the turquoise Gulf of Thailand await us. On offer: a "3-island tour" to the nearby islands. That sounds good: breakfast "on the beach" and a boat trip with snorkelling, a BBQ under the palms and a walk along an island trail. The last part seemed too exhausting to us, so we "swapped" the walk for lazing in a deckchair.

In the meantime our visas for Thailand have been issued. For a stay of more than 30 days, a visa is required. We had given the job to one of the many travel agencies in Phnom Penh. Cost per person, including the processing fee: 50 USD. Sadly there was no time left to visit the "Tuol Sleng Museum". The former Khmer Rouge prison "S-21" is a reminder of the crimes committed there against hundreds of thousands of Cambodians, who died from abuse, malnutrition and disease. Skulls, instruments of torture, photos of executions and hundreds of portraits make the museum a chamber of horrors.

Overland there are still 250 kilometres to go to Siem Reap. Cycling or river cruising? We are told there's a ferry that runs if there are enough passengers. We were lucky! After 130 kilometres on the shallow "Tonlé Sap", we pass the fishing village of "Kampong Chhnang". The many houseboats are tied together as a village community and linked to the bank. Then come another 100 kilometres through "Lake Tonlé Sap", which, at 25,000 square kilometres, is the largest lake in South-East Asia and one of the richest inland waters for fish on earth. After only a few groundings, we reach the ferry landing at 14:00. There are only 15 kilometres left to Siem Reap by muscle power.

The highlight of any trip to Cambodia: the world-famous temple complex of Angkor Wat. We decide on the 30-kilometre "small circuit". With a 20 USD day pass and our bikes, our cultural journey through Angkor Wat begins. These gigantic structures were built between 900 and 1200 AD. An area ruled by the Khmer kings stretched from the Mekong Delta to Burma, and over large parts of Vietnam and Thailand. The Khmer kings were outstanding architects and engineers. Over 600 years they built more than 100 temples and palaces, until the state coffers ran dry. In 1430 the Thais conquered Angkor, and the rule of the Khmer empire broke apart. In 1860 the temples were discovered in the thick of the jungle by a Mekong expedition, and 47 years later Thailand returned them to Cambodia. More at this link: Angkor Wat

Our goal, Singapore, is getting closer and closer. 11,000 kilometres and more than 100,000 metres of climbing are behind us. The mountains are behind us. Now come white sandy beaches, palms, turquoise sea, seafood, pineapples and everything we have had to do without in the last few months.

First we have to earn what we're looking forward to. Poipet, a small, ugly border town between Cambodia and Thailand, put our patience to the test. Leaving the country took 2 hours of queuing. This border crossing is always crowded. Before weekends, waits of 3-4 hours to enter are not unusual. By paying a VIP supplement, you can cut the queuing considerably.

To reach the next town by bike before dark, we pay the extra fee. After 1 more hour of waiting, the stamp was pressed into our passports – now nothing stood in the way of beach life and cracking coconuts.

30 years of war and the reign of terror of the Khmer Rouge:
After Thailand and Vietnam had conquered Cambodia, the country was a French protectorate from 1863 to 1953. In 1973, under the leadership of Pol Pot, a bitter civil war began, which ended in April 1975 with the capture of Phnom Penh. Pol Pot's 4-year rule that followed claimed a total of 2 million Cambodian lives in the genocide, about a third of the population. Cambodia was to become a communist agrarian state without private property, religion or science. Anyone who had studied, spoke a foreign language or wore glasses was considered an enemy of the state and sent to a labour camp or killed immediately. In concentration camps, children, women and men were imprisoned, interrogated and tortured. Across the country, a total of about 400 killing fields were created, where the condemned were brutally murdered.

On 7 January 1979, Vietnamese troops freed Cambodia from its tormentors and murderers. They found a starving country, set back by years. Rapid international aid saved the surviving population from starvation. Cambodia remained occupied by the Vietnamese until 1991, and a "relaxed" form of communism was introduced. Only in 1993 did the first free elections take place. A democratic system and a new constitution were to give Cambodia a new future.

Biker info for the route