We cycled 425km through Vietnam
and Cambodia and raised
£5,405 for Oxfam!
We cycled 425km through Vietnam
and Cambodia and raised
£5,405 for Oxfam!
The route

Adventures in Cambodia


The finish line, Kirirom Hillside Resort, Cambodia, December 1st, 2006.

In November 2006 we cycled from Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) in Vietnam to Phnom Penh in Cambodia, a total of 425km in five days. We raised a total of £5,405 for the charity Oxfam thanks to our generous sponsors, friends and family.

It was the trip of a lifetime. Thirty fantastic people took part as well as a wonderful guide, an excellent bike mechanic and, for Louise, a nearly life-saving doctor.

Why Oxfam?

Oxfam works in more than 70 countries around the world and supports 1,500 community development projects to provide schools, basic health care, safe water and sanitation. They also provide emergency relief helping people to survive and rebuild their lives after disasters like the tsunami and the recent earthquakes in Pakistan. In Cambodia Oxfam focuses strongly on education, working to get more girls into school.

The Big Challenge

It was hot (35°C plus) and humid and we cycled right through the middle of the day. The longest day of cycling was 130km, much further than many people had ever cycled in a single day. The fantastic team spirit, lots of short stops and litres and litres of water saw us through.

Unfortunately 10km from the end, in the car park of the Oxfam project that we were visiting, Louise turned around to go and get some water, caught her knee on the wheel of another bike and dislocated her kneecap very badly. Thanks to the wonderful Dr Sophie it was rapidly put back in place and she was splinted and carried to the support van. This is why she is not in any of the ‘finish line’ photos. She was sitting all bandaged up in a van feeling rather jealous and in quite a lot of pain. It was a freak accident and nothing to do with the cycling or the trip, just bad luck. After a visit to hospital in Phnom Penh and armed with a pair of crutches she managed to finish off the trip and hobble around the temples at Ankor Wat.

Cambodia was the most beautiful country. We were overwhelmed by the friendliness and kindness of all the people that we met. They are struggling to rebuild their country after its tragic recent history and they made us feel incredibly welcome. By the end of each day’s cycling we were exhausted not only from pedaling but from returning all the jubilant shouts of ‘hello’ and waves we got from children who lined the route. They ran out of their houses to watch as soon as they saw the first lycra-clad westerner and gleefully giggled and waved at us till the last cyclist had struggled past.

The Oxfam project

As part of the challenge we were very privileged to visit an Oxfam funded project about 100km outside of Phnom Penh. This gave us a chance to see how some of the money raised by Oxfam is spent and the practical benefits that the charity provides.

We visited the Cham Bok eco-tourism and forestry management site. It is a community-based project that helps people in the local area learn about their land rights and land management and which also provides employment through its eco-tourism (there is a beautiful waterfall to visit and villagers are taught how to make local crafts for visitors to buy).

In the past villagers were taking unsustainably from the forest and their right to live on the land was threatened through political corruption and threatening security forces. Through education the project has taught villagers how to live sustainably on the land and it is helping them to replant the forest. It is also helping villagers to work in groups to give them the confidence to stand up to the security forces who try to take their land.

It was easy to see that this project was making a real difference to the lives of the people in the area. We met young boys being taught how to carve wooden gifts to sell and girls employed at the site. Cambodia is an extremely poor country, there was no running water in most of the villages we passed through and we stopped at a primary school attended by hundreds of immaculately turned out children that did not have a single toilet. This project was truly helping to improve people’s lives and to see it first hand was both inspiring and gratifying.

Have a look

There are pictures of the trip and Ben’s blog post about the trip to read. Please have a look and if you feel you want to you can still donate to Oxfam through our donations page. We can’t recommend a trip like this enough and if we have inspired you and you have any questions please email us.

Ben and Louise