From Siem Reap in Cambodia, we continued our expedition. We headed north and into Thailand through a remote border crossing at Choam/Sa Ngam. Still not fully recovered after ultramarathon number three, the mountain pass over the Dangrek Mountains – which separates the two countries – was a lot harder than it should have been.

When we reached the top, there was a small village on the Cambodian side.

An average day sees us burning 4,000 calories

We took a seat and drank some delicious sugar cane juice, dripping with sweat after the hike and bike effort over the pass. An average day sees us burning 4,000 calories. With a main diet of rice, which has very low nutrient/calorie content, we have been calorie deficient for a while now and the signs are showing.

Daithí Harrison.

We crossed the border and welcomed the downhill, wind in our faces cooling us off as we made our descent.

The effort we were putting in was no longer sustainable, we decided to cut back on the mileage each day; be out before the sun rises and parked up before the hottest part of the day. As we cycled through eastern Thailand, watching the sun rise over our right shoulders, several flatbed trucks with rice harvesters would pass us on their way to do a days work, the rice harvest was in full season, unlike Vietnam and Cambodia, machines were doing most of the work.

The truck would take the rice to a big depot, empty the rice onto the ground and a front loader would spread out the rice evenly along the ground where it would be left for the day to dry out

A rice harvester looks like a small open cab combine harvester, with a header of about six foot. As the harvester makes it way up the swarth, another worker is on the side holding a big bulk bag open. Once full, the bag was loaded into the back of a small truck. The truck would take the rice to a big depot, empty the rice onto the ground and a front loader would spread out the rice evenly along the ground where it would be left for the day to dry out before bagging it again as the sun sets.

Diary in the saddle.

Smaller farms or individual businesses lay out some tarps in front of their house and dry it themselves before bagging and either use for themselves, swap for other products or selling to neighbours or local shops.

We slowly meandered our way up through Thailand enjoying the local food and the speciality papaya salad called “Tam Som” in Thai, a spicy salad made from shredded unripe Papaya that packs one hell of a punch. We think they made it extra spicy just to watch how we handle it, plenty of laughs and lots of bottles of water ready to go.

The next day, Daithí came down with an illness that gradually got worse

We entered into Laos via the Thai-Loas Friendship Bridge and then on to the capital Vientiane.

The next day, Daithí came down with an illness that gradually got worse and he ended up in the hospital. He got a course of antibiotics and was on the mend. A few days later at 6.50am we woke to our beds shaking, it lasted 20-30 seconds. Turns out there was a 6.1-magnitude earthquake on the Thai-Loas border that had sent tremors from Myanmar to China and all the way to Vietnam.

Some familiar sights along the way.

We were a long way from the epicentre and luckily there was no damage done in Vientiane. We are about 2,000km behind where we expected to be at this stage. We hope to get some consistency and momentum soon to catch up on lost time.

As always, we appreciate you taking the time to read our column. This is a self-funded trip and our main goal and motivation is to reach our ambitious €100,000 goal for much-needed funds for the children’s hospitals in Sydney and Crumlin, with all monies raised being split 50/50. Every little bit helps. Thank you.

For more information and donations see www.cycle28.com

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