After low quality sleep and a 6:15am alarm, I walk along Wenlin Jie and Wenhua Xiang to head to the office for the last time. The air is crisp and the sun's thinking about rising.

Today's a lot less eventful. We all walk out to breakfast at a place Chris has tracked down. Bowls of ersi supplemented with some chaocai, and we're ready for the day. Sander, Tom and Chris are headed for the bus station to return to Kunming, Marc and I will head to Kaiyuan, 86km almost due south.

Marc and I take it slow in the morning. I've been trying to catch up on sleep, so no complaints from me about a lie-in. We get our stuff together and head for a bowl of ersi. Leaving the hotel, I discover the useful knowledge that if I use the long pannier shoulder straps, I can carry both of my panniers and my bike in one heaving, cumbersome go.

The big question mark about today's ride was hovering over the 2.3km long Geleng Tunnel just outside Gejiu - would we be allowed to cycle through it? Being turned away would mean a 70+km diversion. It was paramount we make it through if we were to make it to Xinjie, at the top of the climb out of the Red River valley, rather than just to Nansha, at the bottom.

Straight out from Xinjie we run into a traffic jam. It's a total classic: cars head to head on both sides of the road, tractors trying to sneak the queue, people wandering everywhere, vehicles left empty. An overloaded truck has snagged an overhead cable and loused up the only road through town. The upside of this is that we're unlikely to have much traffic overtaking us until late in the day.

We've got just under 100km on the slate for today, and after the climbing efforts of the last couple of days, we're silently hoping for some kind of reprieve. Luchun's a classic linear settlement, strung out along a mountain ridge along which the road runs. We trundle out to the west, stopping to wolf down a couple of longs of baozi and a bowl each of doujiang.

We'd heard in Kunming that the stretch of road after Daheishan was unsurfaced and uphill. Asking in Daheishan confirmed this. We decided to hop a bus to Jiangcheng, the regional centre, after which the road was said to improve. We located the bus station Monday evening, and were told to show up early to ensure there was space on the bus for our bikes. At about 8am, we rocked up, to be in good time for the 9:10am bus. A flurry of phone calls later, and we're told the 8am bus is waiting for us up on the main road. Back up the hill, the driver helps us put bikes and bags inside the bus - a bonus, as this is much better for the bikes than the roof rack. We head off for the 60km or so to Jiangcheng, and immediately the road turns to moonscape. Mud, rocks, dust, landslides. We cross a sinuous reservoir. There's some sections of sealed road, but around half the trip is on smash.

Today is much the same as yesterday - same road, same rolling hills. Tea trees on the higher ground, bananas lower down. We're let off a little by the terrain, with small ups and downs alongside a river before heading into a 10km climb that rapidly became challenging. We keep thinking we're done going uphill, but there's always more.

This is the closest we've had yet to an easy day's riding. The departure from Pu'er is straightforward. We stop for baozi and doujiang, our now established breakfast standard, then get onto the road out of town. It's a little broken and shabby at first but soon settles down to be a very useable country road.

We aim to get on the road early today, the plan being to get to Mekong Café in Jinghong in time for a late lunch. We roll out at 9:40am after throwing down some baozi, zhengjiao and doujiang.

Marc and I head to Banna Café for some breakfast. While it's being prepared, we pop to the bike shop around the corner on Manting Lu to check out a handlebar bag. Having some weight on the bars the last few riding days has made the ride feel a bit more treacley and less twitchy. The bag seems to do the job. Breakfast does the job too.

Quite a ride today. I've had a heads up to expect three biggish climbs. When I cross a little blip of a climb early on, I'm uncertain whether it counts. I'm right to assume it doesn't.

The weather's cold, the sky overcast, the locals are wearing coats. I have to put my fleece on until I've warmed up. I stop a few times on the way out of town to make certain of the route. It starts spitting rain. Not rain. It's like the jungle and sky are sweating, water drops forming around me rather than falling from above.

Overcast start to the day. I'm still feeling a little full, so I defer food. This turns out to be a good strategy, as my breakfast, taken after 27km in Na Mor, hits my system just as I get stuck into the day's main climb. I reckon I'm just going to rattle into places and speak a few words of Thai, as it seems to be understood. For breakfast, I lead with a kin khao (eat rice), and get a kin pho (eat noodles) suggestion in reply - job's a good un. Got a salad of mint, green beans, watercress and other unidentified greens on the side too.

Today has the worst surface since that prior to Jiangcheng. I've left the new Chinese road behind, it becomes apparent as I roll out of Oudomxai. After about 5km, the road turns left towards Luang Prabang, and the first of two big climbs starts.

I wake with the lights on. This is happening a lot lately. Evenings I do chores, I read, I snack and then I fade out. I'm tired, and the two planned rest days in Luang Prabang are only a ride away. Ok, so it's still 110km, but there's no major climbs, and it's a net downhill.

"The ones who are brave enough to face the mountains will not be disappointed." Jesse put in his GoKunming write-up of this leg. He's right, I'm not disappointed. I am, however, not far short of convinced that that was the hardest day I've ever spent on a bicycle.

Legs and morale still sapped from yesterday's outing, I rolled out of bed not too happy about having to get through 100km or so on the bike. It was chilly at first, but as it warmed up, thinking of the 44km downhill to Kasi, I get myself together. As it's a downhill, I decide to wait to eat in Kasi.

As it's only 85km today, and there are good breakfast options in Vang Vieng, I don't rush onto the road. The first place I seek breakfast has staff far more interested in clipping their toenails in the restaurant than noticing customers. Next door is cheaper anyway. Eggs, bacon, baguette, coffee, check out, bike, road, gone.

A pretty uneventful ride into Vientiane today (aside from seeing a sign for a bar/karaoke called Crammy Valentine), so it's time to talk about gear.

It's going to be a biggie, so I'm out of bed at 7am. I'd gone to bed late because I was busy finishing Midnight's Children and getting in a last WiFi fix before heading to the boonies, but I sleep well and wake feeling fresh. Four days of getting fat in Vientiane, and I'm nervous about how today is going to pan out. It's also dawned on me that it could be late March in Singapore before I cross paths with anyone I know, which suddenly seems a long way off.

Another flat and generally uninspiring day today, though fortunately a shorter one. It takes me through 2000km, though I barely notice.

Today's ride was a bit more interesting, if only for the road being less flat. Gentle ups and downs all day. There were some karst-like mountains to the east, which raises the spectre of climbs once I'm headed east after Savannakhet.

Savannakhet certainly has the air of a border town. Plenty of people passing through, few staying. It's not unlike Hekou's China-Vietnam border. In Hekou's case, Vietnam's tiny Lao Cai is across the Red River. Here, Thailand's Mukdahan is across the Mekong, and it doesn't look small. Thailand's economy dwarfs that of Laos.

I've left Kunming after four years. I've left China after 13 years. It was time. It was not doing me good.

Bit of an unconventional day, in many respects. After the last few repetitive days, today comes as the rest that they say a change is.

Today I've gone pretty much due east, towards the Laos-Vietnam border. Savannakhet has a ferry and bridge border with Thailand. I could have chugged across, headed to the beach and skipped Vietnam and Cambodia in favour of sipping Singhas by the sea for a few extra weeks.

A shorter day today, after yesterday's, umm, bonus kilometres. Breakfast is the remaining baguette. It's gone a bit soggy, but it still hits the spot.

Today's main task is not the ride, but the border crossing into Vietnam. The weather is overcast, and unstable with it. I think there's a real chance of rain, and try to make quick progress.

My first steps into the cold and wet this morning take me to a banh my bakery. I wait for my baguettes to be filled as I bask in the warming glow from the baking ovens. A team of guys shape the dough on large trays, slam them in to bake, and then dump out the freshly cooked ones into a heap for the sandwich makers to mine into.

This isn't going to be pleasant, this isn't going to be comfortable, but it is going to be. It's supposedly pretty much all downhill on good surface, so hopefully I should be in Hue well inside four hours.

Including the day I entered, I've now been on the bike for four days in Vietnam. It's rained for all of them.

Lang Co is just north of the Hai Van Pass, considered by many Vietnamese as the physical divide between north and south Vietnam.

Three days off the bike getting fat and now it's time to get going again. I'm going to head for the coastal resort of Nha Trang along highway 1 (QL1). It'll take five days.

Today gets off to a bad start when the hotel rip me off on the room.

Finally, a day on the bike with no rain. And what a difference it makes. Today's terrain is similar to the past couple of days, but paddy fields with their greens glowing do so much more for one's optimism.

My first dorm night of the trip, and probably the last. Not the best of sleep, but the price was right. I'm slow off the mark, but take time for a sturdy breakfast of chips, eggs, bacon, toast and coffee.

The wind's really been the story of the past few days. Without it, I'd have spent a lot more energy getting to Nha Trang. Against it, these distances would have been hard. But today's blowout was of a different kind.

About 100km on the slate today, to the twin cities of Phan Rang-Thap Chiam. Bit of a dismal day all round, thanks partly to overcast, blustery weather.

Today turns out to be much longer than I'd expected. It's unfortunately all my fault.

I cobble together a breakfast from my guesthouse's confused menu, do a bit of basic bike maintenance, and roll out.

Knobbled for baguettes again! I've really not sorted the eating patterns of Vietnam out. Rice is not for dinner, ok, I think I've got that straight. I've been offered rice porridge for dinner, but elsewhere in Asia, that's pretty squarely in the breakfast department. What's going on? Anyway, I thought baguettes were an all day kind of thing, but I don't see any on sale as I roll out of La Gi.

Here's what the rest of the day looks like, aside from bike time, starting with rolling into a destination town:

Piece of cake, really. Point bike at city, ride, arrive, stop. Well, ok, there's a bit more to it than that, but it's not too much of a challenge.

Getting out of Saigon was as easy as getting in. I track west on a busy but orderly road until I hit QL1, loop around on a feeder road and bam! I'm right back in the highway melee.

Sore throat this morning. I make a mental note to have a few soothing cold ones if it persists.

Just like a day job. Wake up, wonder where you are, who you are, what it all means. Put on your work clothes, grab some breakfast, begin your commute. Today was little more than quotidian drudgery.

Lunch is for breakfast today - rice and chops, again - at my guesthouse. Rocket fuel coffee on the side.

Big fat breakfast at Oasis Bar. After eating and caffeinating, I go two doors down to the jeweller and sell all my remaining Vietnamese currency for US dollars, the de facto currency of Cambodia.

A longish but surprisingly easy ride today. I definitely get some wind assistance for a lot of the ride, as well as a helpful pull from another bike tourist.

Back to Kampot today. There's nothing really wrong with Sihanoukville, but I think I felt a bit more relaxed in Kampot.

My day off the bike in Kampot was spent hanging out with Justin and Emma, reading, eating, strolling around the town and getting some fixes done on the bike.

My first bike tour was from Kunming to Hekou for four days over the Christmas of 2009 with Chris. Then followed an ill-fated but educational five dayer around the Lincang area with Dan for Christmas 2010.

Had a chat with Mrs Chen this morning. She said she was born in Cambodia, but her ancestral home is near Shantou in eastern Guangdong province.

First full day in the capital, I squirt some air in the troublesome tyre and head off to the bike shop to get things sorted. The bike shop's closed for Chinese New Year. I thought I'd got away from all that. I'm told it'll be open again on the 26th, which isn't too bad - I'll just be here three days instead of the planned two.

Long day. First 20km goes in 50 minutes, as does the second, which is a reassuring start. I hit the Coke early, but it doesn't quite hit the spot.

49, 42, 42, 44, 43. These are the rolling times in minutes of all of today's 20 kilometre blocks. This is what happens when the wind is on your side and the surface is golden.

I'm well aware that my tolerance level for temples and ruins can be rather low. Ruined temples? Yep, turns out similar. I chose to get the one day ticket for the Angkor Archeological Park, and it was the right decision.

After an easy, smooth day yesterday, today's the opposite: highway 5 is rather bumpy, and I'm going into the wind for most of the ride.

This is my last full day in Cambodia. I head along route 57 to Pailin, a small provincial town that lies 19km short of the Thai border.

Why did the cyclist cross the road? Because Thailand drives on the left.

Drunkenly tottering older female yank, Bond orchestra style horns and drums, a tribe of Germans, a polite Polish couple, and a Brit in an Hawaiian shirt that's bordering on obscene.

Today I finally manage to get back on the bike. I've been a week in Trat feeling under the weather.

I spend a few kilometres getting out of Chanthaburi and snaking north to get on highway 3, and then most of the day is a steady grind along it.

...but the sun's not going to stay up for me.

Gonna be a short one today. I demolish three bananas for breakfast and roll out.

Bangkok's been the second stage of getting some rest and stability after so many kilometres. I spend my time running a few errands and eating, sleeping and rejigging my itinerary. Now it's time to get on the road again and actually start aiming at Singapore.

No main highway today. It's good to have a break from the noise.

Today is a pleasant surprise of a ride, only marred a little by poor food planning.

Today's a highway day, but I manage to clock quite a few kilometres off it, and those that are on it are painless.

I get up at 6:20am to watch the sunrise over the sea. I'm not the first up.

Lang Suan's a tiny bit farther south than Rach Gia, at just under 10 degrees north.

Lang Suan's small, the rollout's easy: under the rail line, an immediate right, and keep on riding.

I get up early, as I know it's going to be a long one.

Since Jiangcheng, I've not used motorised transport as a means of biting off a large chunk of distance. Today, however, is a ferry day.

The rain's been a reliably recurring feature of the last few days, generally making an appearance around mid afternoon. With this in mind, I set out early to try to get the ride done before it dumps.

The plan today is similar to yesterday's: get going early to beat the rain. The hotel café opens at 8am however, and breakfast is too important to skip.

Up early, not much cycling planned, as it's a ferry day, so a quick 7-11 breakfast will do.

The ferry to Penang leaves at 2:30pm, so it's hardly a hurried start to the day.

Woke up sore from yesterday's exertions. Nothing to be done. Breakfast, pack, bike.

I've several cuts and scratches on my hands, patches of moist forest matter stuck to my ankles, a red patch on my left sock where I've bled into it, a rather muddy rear, and I ache all over.

My tyres are getting worn. Back in Ao Nang, I swapped front and rear, due to the rear wearing faster. It's no big surprise when I pull a chunk of metal out of the rubber.

Tanah Rata is the administrative centre of the Cameron Highlands. There's a clue in the name that hints at what today's ride was like.

For a day with such a hefty descent, today's a lot of work.

I'm expecting a flat easy day today, with a few bumps and maybe with a nice tailwind. No can do.

A short outing today, but still with bumps.

Yesterday's short day seems to have led to good recovery. At no point was today's ride challenging, even when it looked like the wheels were going to come off.

Something feels wrong with the day from the get go. My breakfast plans come unstuck, I can't find what I need in the shop, etc. Just got that feeling.

Today was pretty much as expected for a short day after a long day: difficult but over quickly.

Palm oil plantations, lots of them. Consequently it's a bit of a tedious day.

Nearly done. The Asia leg is complete: Kunming to Singapore. Now I just have to hop the aluminium bird back to Heathrow, clatter about in London a few days and then ride a couple more days across the UK's south east.

After an overcast start, it is a clear and bright day, which is appropriate for Qingming festival.