2012/2013 Indochina Tour - Day 5 and 6

Look at what I found!

Husref...convinced we're gonna end up in jail for this stunt.

Remember I was telling you about the pretty woman that did our conveyance form at the Thai/Cambodia border of Trat/Koh Kong? Well I managed to sneak a pict paparazzi style. So to the left you can see the decoy that I used (wasn't too pleased I might add), so that I can pretend to take a picture of him when we all know the focus is elsewhere.

You know, in real life she's pretty, but in my picture she actually looks like a ghost. You know like one of those photos where there's nobody there and at the edge an image of a person appears. Oh well....anyways just in case you guys don't believe there's a pretty chick working in the immigration booth in the middle of nowhere, there's the proof.

By the way wanted to share this, when the waiter showed us to the hotel the night before and I agreed with his recommendation, I wanted to thank him and say goodbye, which I did. Then as I was unpacking the bike I saw that he was still outside....hmmm that's odd, but since he knows the people there I thought he's just chilling out with them, that is until he came back towards me. Now mind you he's a tiny fella, now I'm short, so if any guy is shorter then trust me, he's short. Fella is barely pushing 5'2", so in no way I felt threatened, but what transpired next had me a teeny weeny worried. Also his name is Ten by the way.

Ten: I go now

Me: OK *hmmm I thought we did this 5 minutes ago

Ten: I go now  *extends his hand to shake so I did the same

Me: OK, thanks again *I let go of his hand but he was still holding on to mine and looking me in the eyes.

Ten: I go now

Now this is the point when my train of thought went into hyperdrive and I'm imagining weird stuff but a guy looking me in the eye, holding my hand, not letting go. I mean come on, you can only think of one thing right? Yes...I was thinking, ohhh shit, fella is gay and he wants to hump me! In my mind Ten wants to shine his tiny flashlight up my bum bum and I kid you not I was ready to judo chop his hand if he didn't let go the next second, which thankfully he did.

Only much much later did I realise, Ten was looking to get a tip for his good deed. Aiyaaa facepalm! Good thing I didn't break his hand though. Now that'll be a tip he'll never forget.

We planned for a couple more nights in Sihanoukville and based on our poor and limited research Otres Beach seems to be the quieter part of Sihanoukville which also has a number of guesthouses. So the plan was head up there, find Wish You Were Here (a guesthouse) have breakfast there and see whether we can secure a place to stay.

Nice Beach Hotel....ok la you don't suck that bad but we want better

Otres is about 10 minutes ride from Occheautal with an inland way and through the beach. It's not really on our GPS so we kinda pawed our wy through before we found Wish You Were Here.

That's Johnny....and yes, he's wearing only a sarung.

The name is really saying "up yours" to Corporate life

I adore my pancakes

See! not lying

You know, there is something infinitely cool when you go to work wearing only a sarung. I mean tell me that's not cool and I know you're lying. I love his story of how he ended up there, more than a year ago he was at the beach with his friend Aaron getting stoned and it that very stoned state he said, wouldn't it be nice to have a place here that we can chill out. So there you go, we've been told not to do drugs coz it fucks up your thought process and granted, yes, drugs do ruin lives, but here we have a couple of stoner hippies in a very stoned state that decided to open a guesthouse/bar/restaurant and actually did it. I mean I've met so many "coherent" and "sober" people who yap about what they're gonna do, yada yada yada and a year down the road, they've done nothing to achieve what they said they would. Of course you'll hear all sorts of excuses for not doing what you said you would. So really, 2013 is a new year. Talk less and do more is what I say.

Hmmm I'm rambling here, anyways Johnny was full but he suggested for us to go to just ride along Otres further in there're new places. 

That's how we found Honey Moon Bungalows. Mike (who was topless as well that I'm beginning to think it IS a uniform after all) says he's got a couple of rooms for us.At USD18/night for a fan room it's not exactly cheap but it's pretty cheap around here.

The wifi password is ExtremlyLarge...i kid you not.

Now, the cool thing about this place is of course the fact that we get to park our bikes rigt in front of our rooms.

It's been a while since I last used a mosquito net

So now that the accommodation is sorted, there's nothing left to do other than to chill out, veg out and do absolutely......nothing. I mean, that's the idea of a holiday right? You already work hard all year, so when you're on a holiday, don't you want some time off, as in really off? No riding, no phones, just wake up late, veg out, go for a massage, swim a little, watch the sunset, eat and that's pretty much it.

I leave you with more pics of Otres. If you have any plans to come here, do it soon. The landscape is changing everyday, with more and more resorts. bungalows and guesthouses coming up. In a few years it may no longer be peaceful and idylic.

Nice clean beach

A nice bungalow type guesthouse, WildBeach

Fortunate to watch a couple of beautiful ones when we were here

A Spanish family. It's awesome that they expose their kids to these sort of experiences

Aaron, Johnny's partner. See what I mean about the uniform?

I really do envy these Mat Salleh's who just picks up and sets themselves up in a foreign country, braving through all sorts of challenges. They're taking a huge risk as they're leasing the land from the owner, in a country that is corrupt that recently 35 businesses closed down because a large corporation bought over the land and had the government do the dirty work of kicking those people out. They were given 2 weeks notice before heavy machinery came through and tore it all down. So it is not without worry that they are there, yet they are and of course the most important thing of all, they're happy. Something we all strive to be.

2012 Indochina Tour - Day 3

Sunday 16/12/12 Bangkok to Pattaya 135km

So the night before we already decided to head to Pattaya for the night instead of legging it all the way to Cambodia. Since it's a short ride we can afford to take it easy. Gives time for Husref to catch up with his cousin and her family as they live on Soi 8 as well.

The nephew

Christine, the cousin.

It's really a short ride of 135kays, well anything less than 900kays right now is short in my books haha. There's a new higway 7 that would have cut short our journey by an hour but as you might have guessed, bikes are not allowed on it. Damn it!

By the time we left it was 12 but it being a Sunday the traffic wasn't that bad.

Surrounded by pink taxi's...but trust me they're no pushovers

You see that hiway on the right? Yes...no bikes..no likes!

I think I mentioned that the last time I was in Pattaya was in 1990 so you can imagine how the place has changed. Now I've heard about how the place is overrun by Russians now but nothing like seeing it firsthand. Yes...they are literally everywhere. Big Time!

I'm a big fan of beach cities or attractions like Hua Hin, Samui, Phi Phi, or good ol Redang and Perhentian (god knows why, since I can't swim to save my nuts),  but 1 night in Pattaya is enough to tell me that I'm fine if I never come back here. There's just something when a single foreign nationality (regardless of what nationality) comes to a foreign country and totally overpowers the locals and makes it their own place that is somewhat offputting to me.

You can order TomYam in Russian...add vodka and it'd be perfect!

Having said that the TomYam was aroi mak mak!

Just a picture of Husref. Honest!

It was funny the way we scored our room for the night. Because we are keeping our travel plans loose, we did not book a single room in advance. Call it poor planning, or adventure, or flexible or whatever, but it seems to suit us fine. The night before I had seen this Manita Boutique Hotel in Agoda but thought since there's plenty of accommodation in  Pattaya I didn't bother to book. So after lunch we just rocked up there. 

You can imagine my surprise to see the walk in rates is 2000baht(200rinngit) when I was pretty sure it was half in Agoda. So I asked the receptionist "What gives? How come you're expensive?", She give me this whole Agoda has bought rooms from them hence the cheaper price. She was very very helpful though, suggesting I sit down at their computer and book through Agoda. So there I was, already at the hotel, sitting in the lobby, using their computer, their internet, email to book a room in the very same hotel that I am already at so that I can save 1000baht. Hahaha the irony and humor of it all. It's also topped by when I enquired her name she gave me this long Thai name that I can't pronounce then proceeds to tell me just call me Pookee for short. I almost bust out laughing la.

Anyways, the hotel apart from being about 10 minutes walk from "Walking Street" is nice and for the price you(within our budget I mean), definitely I cannot complain.

A see through shower

Husref! I told you to pull down the blinds!

Walking...yes...I'm just walking

Walking street

Short time for you sir?

We are going to cross the border into Cambodia the next day, Pattaya's been ok but we can't wait to head to Sihanoukville. So stay tuned for more! 

2012 Indochina Tour - Day 2

Saturday 15/12/12 - Day 2 - Phattalung to Bangkok

This will be like series of 1st for us as this is the first time we are riding into Bangkok and also the first time that I'll be riding 900 odd kms in one go. The longest distance I've ever done before that was 700 kliks. So knowing what faces us we started off early, about 7am.

Looks like another wet ride for us.

What's odd was there were sighting of strange creatures lurking around our bikes

Another one of those creatures.

Many might think that with 900km to go we would blast our way, tearing through the hiways like a cat with its tail on fire, however that is very very far from the truth. You see we keep our speeds around 100-120kmh on the hiways, it's just that we take a longer time. If you're the type to do 150 or 160 avg speed, you would hate riding with us.

There seems to be a Harley gathering going on somewhere coz we would be bumping into huge groups of em on the hiway. Beautiful machines, but you can't pay me to ride that 900km. My ass would literally leave my body and kill me.

The other thing that I screwed up was that I forgot to check my fuel cap after filling and it appeared that I had forgotten to close it. Shit....over 70,000km done on the bike and I still make a rookie mistake. Easily a few litres spilled out of that tank. Humph! so much for conserving petrol.

It's actually on long rides like this that your are free and alone with your mind. Well I can't speak for others, but this is when I feel somewhat at peace. No distractions. Thinking about what I wanna achieve in life, where I want to be, should I get married (my parents will say yes you fool!)  and all that mumbo jumbo la. You know, when you're in the saddle for hours and hours on end there's plenty that you can and will think about.

Attack!...(after 6 hrs on the bike you then to go a bit wonky)

We were warned to stay of the hiway into Bangkok with these words from Husref's friend "Whatever you do, stay the fuck off Hiway 34!"....hehe ok boss! So it was hiway 35 all the way for us until we joined the road to Phra Pradeang and after that it was all the small roads before we joined Rama III heading our way to Sukumvhit Rd. If you're not aware, Sukumvhit Rd is pretty much the central of Bangkok and boy did we feel the traffic.We were stuck on it for an hour just to move 300 meters. Even the small kapchais and scooters got stuck so let alone us.

That's us on Sukumvhit Rd

Silly boy!

Immense relief came to us as we turn into Soi 8 and head up to our hotel. We stayed at Citadines, a very nice place. It's RM250 a night which is definitely wayyyy over our budget but Husref said he's buying so, after 900km and 12 hrs on the bike I am not going to argue.

Yummy PadThai Gung for dinner.

The original plan was to head into Sihanoukville, Cambodia the next day but during dinner we decided to swing by into Pattaya for a night. I guess that's the beauty of a flexible travelling plan. Husref has never been there and the last time I was there was in 1990 la. So why not eh?

2012 Indochina Tour

Friday 14/12/12

I suppose I gotta get this blog going coz it's not gonna write itself isn't it? It's been ages since I last went for a long trip and  it's high time I rectify this. There were so many challenges leading up to the trip that at 1 point I had thought I just might have to call it off. My travelling partner for this trip is Husref and we were supposed to leave on the 12th but as I mentioned, there were stuff to sort out so it became 14th afternoon for us.

We ride again!

  The first stop is Phattalung, 650km away. As we left KL about 3 we thought Hatyai would be a good place to stop and put up the night. Unfortunately, this being a Friday and it's school holidays (though I doubt the school hols has anything to do with it), Hatyai was quite full. So a decision was made to push up another 100km to Phattalung, plus that would give us a good headstart out of there.

Just happy to be on the bike

Last stop in Changlun before we cross the border.

First meal across the border. It's TomYum country!

We're not advocates of night riding but I'm comforted by the fact that if needs to, both of us are able to do so. We crossed the border at 8.30pm and there was still another 150km to go, so you can imagine what time we reached Phattalung.

Anyways, the weirdest part of the last 150km was that from Changlun to Phattalung the roads were wet ALL the way. Not a single dry patch yet we were not riding in the rain. Did we just miss the rain all 150kms?

When it comes to hotels, Agoda is my friend. Through it, I found Chai Kana Thani Hotel at 70bucks, it's well within our budget. Oh yes, did I tell you we had a budget of RM50 a night per person? Well we kinda burst this budget the 2nd night but I'll tell you more about it later.

Why are my socks wet? Taping up torn boots.

Btw, I didn't tell you our trip plans yet did I? Well here's the short version.Get on bikes and head North. Reach Bangkok turn right and head East. Reach Cambodia turn left and head up North. Reach Laos turn left head West. Reach Thailand head South back home.All in 3 weeks or thereabouts.

Ok the slightly longer version is that we want to do Cambodia. I didn't really have a chance to sample what Cambodia has to offer the last time I was here as we kinda just passed through on the way to Vietnam. These places are on our hit list. Sihanoukville, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and we'll make adjustmensts as we go along. Then there's Laos, where the last time I was there in 2010 I sampled Northern Laos pretty extensively but none of the South and as for Husref, he's never been there.

So stay tuned as I update this blog for what these 2 clueless boys are up to on their adventure around Indochina. 

*There's more pics on my phone but I forgot the cable as I type this so I'll update that later.

Indochina(Thailand) - Post No 2: Bangkok

20 November 2010

There's no riding today, phew as i slept at 3 last nite. We just need to get our asses to the the airport for the 2pm flight to Bangkok. The bikes were expected to arrive at 4pm, which is just nice as we'd be arriving at 3pm. Just a little bit anxious as it's a good 24hrs that i am parted from the bike, but  a quick call before we boarded confirmed that the lorry is en-route. 

Tons of gear going on the flight

AirAsia sure knows how to pick em

Hadyai airport - definitely modern.

We checked in Chaba hotel near the airport and not even half an hour later the bikes arrived. Now I had stuffed my wet jacket and pants in the panniers, so the thought did occur as how bad it might smell after 24hours being cooped up in there, well....we'll soon find out.

Before that, I'd have to reserve my respects for the transporter, the same guys loaded the bikes, which took about 3 hours to finish, drove 1000km, yes, in case you thought I got wrong, i'll spell it for you, one thousand km from Hadyai to Bangkok and 24 hours later seems to be still fresh and strong to unload the bikes. I wouldn't be surprised if these people pissed napalm.

The hotel

Unloading

The courtyard filled up quickly

Back to the jacket, after taking out from the panniers glad to find that it doesn't smell so bad, then again I could have lost all my senses, and in these kind of circumstances, that's just fine by me.

Over dinner, we went into a discussion on how we're getting out of here to make our way to Cambodia. We had 7 Garmins at the dining table and I kid you not almost all had different routes going to the same place, so we're just going to use 1 instead of confusing ourselves.

Behind the hotel 

Tomorrow bright and early we'd be shooting off to Cambodia to spend a night in Phnom Penh and thus the adventure continues....