On we go, taking in the corrugated Iron shacks whose roofs are thatched with leaves from the abundant coconut and banana trees. The hot, humid, tropical scenes, sound-tracked by exotic bird songs, ensure that the afternoon drifts along at a gentle pace, a bucolic and soporific experience that soon has Coman snoozing in the lounge while I take photos and write notes of all that we see.

I’m looking for the fabled durian fruit which apparently tastes like heaven but smells like hell. Its pungent aroma is banned in places like Singapore as the stench is so putrid, but its flesh is supposedly a delicious custard-like thing of beauty. Sadly there are none to be found anywhere but in amongst the various exotic things on offer we do see dried frogs on sticks being sold as breakfast snacks. Not ones for us…

Our route takes us on a circle around the mountain, passing through villages and countryside, with school children waving at us and roadside vendors looking on in bemusement. Communist monuments and temples and pagodas dot the landscape and we investigate a few as we go, dodging potholes and traffic, and cycling past farms and a few rice paddies.

A few minutes later, at exactly 3.47pm we wave goodbye to Cambodia and say “Good Afternoon Vietnam!” as we sail across the border point marked by national flags on the shoreline and pull into Vietnam’s floating immigration jetty. Passports stamped and visas checked we continue on our way in double-quick time - our private water taxi making this one of the smoothest border crossings we’ve ever done.

In the heart of Phnom Penh, overlooking the Tonlé Sap river is the complex of temples and palaces known as the Royal Citadel. Despite the horrors inflicted on the country by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge a few decades ago - and which we are soon to see in grisly detail - the Royal Citadel survived and is home once more to the revered royal family.

The streets of Phnom Penh are aglow. Neon and lasers flash across the sky, trees cascade down with multi-coloured lights, buildings, statues and shrines are bathed in illuminations that twinkle and flash. The Pearl of Asia, as the city was known during colonial times, has transcended its traumatic recent history and become a modern metropolis on the banks of the Mekong.