2012 was quite a year. A little over 12 months ago, I was living and working in Cambodia. I visited Burma for a week in February, getting to run around the famous Bagan Temples and the capital Yangoon’s streets. In early March I was off to Thailand to compete in the River Kwai Adventure Race. … Continue reading Back home in Ireland for 2013
I use a lot of photos on my blog. But for years I’ve always wanted to take and use better ones. It’s not that I lack opportunity for great shots what with the amount of travel I do. For example whilst I was on Spain’s Camino last month, I took some not bad pictures. But … Continue reading A Picture is worth a Thousand Words
The Mekong River is the world’s 12th longest river. Starting in China, it passes through Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam before finally dumping into the ocean. Last Sunday I decided to swim a piddling part of it, 600 metres to be precise out of its total length of 4,350 kilometres. The Mekong River Swim … Continue reading The Murky Mekong River Swim
I like to run up mountains. But without any mountains around Phnom Penh city, I decided to sell my soul back in January and race up a set of stairs. Phnom Penh tower is one of the capital’s tallest buildings at 192 metres. And earlier this year, Child Helpline Cambodia managed to trick the tower’s … Continue reading 1st Vertical Stair Race in Phnom Penh
For months Cambodia’s Bokor Mountain has been officially closed. The public were barred due to reconstruction of the road that winds its way to the top. Finally, I heard that it was open again to the masses, and so took my road bike out on Sunday for a spin to its summit. It’s around 8 … Continue reading Bokor Mountain – now open for business!
Kirirom is a 700 metre high hill in Kampong Speu Province, 2 hours’ drive from Phnom Penh. Geoff was in town, and we wanted to show him a good time, so we headed straight for the hill. Kirirom is synonymous with mountain bikers for its wicked forest single track. It’s also the venue for annual … Continue reading Mountain Biking in Cool Kirirom
5 road accidents. That’s the number of incidents I saw during a mere 240 kilometres’ cycle over New Year's. None of them were drink related. All of them were in broad daylight. Road accident #1: I set out from my home in Phnom Penh at 7am to start ride my bike to Sihanoukville via Kampot. … Continue reading Lucky to be alive after Road Biking to Sihanoukville
Not many people realise how beautiful Cambodia’s capital city is. In fact, my weekday running route is pretty incredible when it comes to impressive buildings. Within one kilometre of my front door, there’s the imposing Independence Monument. Built in 1958, it commemorates Cambodia's independence from France in 1953. Right beside it, there's a long park … Continue reading What I see when running in Phnom Penh
Despite this blog being called “Running over Mountains and Around the World”, I’ve been a bit lax lately in fulfilling its mandate. I’ve been doing hardly any running. And I’ve been up very few mountains recently. Instead, I’ve been spending my time doing loads of biking in different forms. In October I cycled down to … Continue reading Biking in and around Cambodia
Thailand’s floods have dominated the international headlines in recent days. Cambodia, its next door neighbour, has not fared any better in the current rainy season. The country is now experiencing the worst floods in a decade. 247 people have died over the last 2 months. Over 100,000 people are still displaced. 16% of the country’s … Continue reading Flooded Cambodia