2012 Indochina Tour - Day 4

Monday 17/12/12 - Pattaya toSihanoukville - 550km

"Dude...that was fucking tough!"as I lay slumped on the table barely 10 seconds after ordering dinner  When we started the day, we didn't know that statement is how we were going to end with. It was all fine and dandy as we made out of Pattaya, stopping for a quick breakfast. Get this,we even had an opportunity to help a guy with 1 of the thousand and one tools that we carry,which is of course, had to be the humble Philips head screwdriver. His chain came off and he needed to take out the chain guard.

Pay up sir!

Not many get excited with our bikes, so we're excited when someone does

Husref with his arsenal of tools when all the guy needs is a screwdriver

So there's like 550km ahead of us and boy did we underestimate the time it's gonna take. You would think hiway 123 would mean a hiway , but nooooo it was just full of traffic lights, one after frigging another, and of course we had to stop at each and every one of them. Without fail!

Before we left, one of the things that we needed to sort out was our International Driving Licence, but call it negligence, carelessness or insufficient time neither of us had one when we were stopped at a police road block, and of course, the 1st thing the copper asked us was "International Driving Licence?". We're screwed! With my spaterring Thai, I said we didn't have one and how we were told we don't need one ( which is a complete and utter lie!, one that will come back to haunt us again later btw). So I think he either took pity or was just too disgusted with my Thai that he let us go. Phew!

Road block 0, lawless fellas 1

So now, with all the stories going on about riders with foreign vehicles being turned away at Cambodia and Thai borders you can understand our anxiety upon reaching the border. The rules seem to be changing daily so we have no idea what's gonna happen until we get there. Will we be turned away? or will we be lucky and they haven't gotten the memo yet? 

So now you know! It's about 20km before the border

There was already a slight glitch when we were asked for the conveyance form at the Thai immigration, when we said Sadao never gave one they went on about how Sadao very bad bla bla bla. I'm already thinking he wants to shake us down for some cough cough *sustenance, but it seems do they do require this form. So he directed us to this other window where this nice *read pretty lady typed one out for us and we just had to pay 20baht for it. This form is then handed to the immigration which is somewhat redundant coz it states the same details as our temporary import papers. Sigh, but I guess rules are rules and we just have to follow, no matter how silly it seems.

Mus was here in 2010...and now in 2012

Cambodia!

Once in, a fixer and a self appointed one at that "helped" us with our documentations while we sit down and enjoy a coke. I say that coz honestly, you can do it yourself. But bearing in mind the possibility that we can be turned back we just don't want to make a fuss and want to make the crossing as smooth as possible. So for that. we were charged 200baht each by the fixer, and that was just for us coz no one said anything about declaring te bikes to customs. So we just rode in. Cambodia, here we come!!!

Hehehe....we're just smiling but inside it's butterflies man.

This drink hut did not exist 2 yrs ago. I guess they have a symbiotic relationship with the fixers.

It was 4pm by the time we crossed into Cambodia and we still had another 200km to go to Sihanouville, a place where neither of us have been to. So we punched it into the GPS and it proceeded to take us on these seriously bad back roads. In fact on the screen also popped out "Bad Roads". It was at this point that I called it names and cursed it's stupidity. I mean, if you know it's bad, why the hell you took us there la! After wasting about an hour we turned back and referred on the map to get on N48, and from there it was relatively smooth. In between, the GPS was still pointing us towards these "Camel Trophy" type of roads but we've learnt to ignore Jill. Yes, Jill is the "American Voice" on my GPS that tells me where to go. I've learnt to shut her out as I do with most women in my life, but that's another story altogether I suppose.

Cambodia drive on the "right" side

Roads...not too bad

Takdeeee pun.

We were still another 150km away from Sihanoukville when it got dark. Now, if you don't know this about Cambodia then let me clue you in on a little fact. They FUCKING LOVE THEIR LIGHTS HERE! Everyone drives with the high beam on, and I mean everyone. It's like if they can fit stadium lights on the trucks, bus and kapchais, they'll do so. So it is a severe understatement when I say our retinas were royally fried. You can hardly see the road coz it's just so dark and your lights are not that great, then you have this "prison search lights" bearing down on you. Plus,this is the best part, if they want to overtake, they'll just do so, because they know you're a motorbike, you WILL give way. Throw in the occasional farm animals and dogs on the side of the road that we only see in the very last minute and super slow converted people carrying tractors with no lights in front of you. Imagine all the above, and you're about halfway to experiencing riding Cambodia at night. 

This is an exercise that will not be repeated!....I'm not gonna say never as I've been forced to swallow my spit on a couple of occasions, so I'll just say if possible, I'll not do this again.

By the time we rolled into Sihanoukville, we were completely fried, kaput, finished, spent, dried, knackered....and we still had no place to sleep. Hahaha....travelling with us is just a barrel of fun ho ho ho.

Dead tired, but not dead! yes! we survived!

The dog whisperer...actually we're glad to be alive we were even talking to ants

We asked the waiter about accommodation and he said there's a couple of places that he can take us to nearby. He took us to this place called Nice Beach Hotel. It was new but already looked a little run down. Just a reflection of build quality really. The room had no windows, but I'm just too tired to look at another place. It had a shower, 2 beds and ac...no window though, all for the princely sum of USD25, so I had screw it. Take first, we'll look for something else tomorrow. 

They painted a window hehe. Fooled no one though.

Oh ya, btw this is on Occheutal Beach, a busier part of Sihanoukville. We plan to head out to Otres Beach the next day, the quieter part of Sihanoukville.

Also, Nice Beach Hotel....you suck, coz 1) No windows 2) You don't even have a friggin beach!