Cambodia - Central

There is nothing exciting about riding in Cambodia, or at least not that I have experienced.  The Country is flat, the roads are straight, and there are rice fields all about.  The rice fields can be beautiful at times, especially at sunset, but they can be monotonous when riding for hours at a time.  By no means am I saying that Cambodia is not exciting, but its main draw is the rich history over the past millennia, and the horrendous history of the past 40 years, to include the Khmer Rouge, dictatorships propped up by hit squads, and the Country's ranking as the third most corrupt nation, being bettered by just Afghanistan and Syria.



Cambodia had it's own genocide back in 1975-79.  Much of the Country is littered with killing fields (over 300) and detention centers. The primary detention center is in Phnom Phen, and a killing field on the southern edge of the City.  The Khmer Rouge responsible for the both and 20,000 deaths at these facilities.  The places had a stink of death about them, definitely reminiscent of Auschwitz, but to a lesser degree.  Out of respect, I did not take pictures of the place, which is fine, as I am not sure that I would want them as a memory or a talking point. 

I have not published this in a longtime, so here it is, my updated map:

Bizarre Sight of the Day:  A Buddhist monk, running a red light. on a motorcycle.  

Leg Distance: 195 mi (314 km)

Total Distance Traveled by Motorcycle: 32,962 mi (54,063 km)

Countries/Territories Visited: USA, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Gibraltar, France, Monaco, Italy, Vatican City, San Marino, Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Transnistria, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, China (for 20 seconds), India, Nepal, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia

Into Cambodia

The crossing from Thailand and into Cambodia, depending on what border crossing is used, can be quite difficult or embarrassingly easy.  A couple of weeks before my crossing, a friend of mine entered Cambodia through the Krong Poi Pet border crossing.   He ended up having his bike confiscated until he obtained a tour guide licence, a process that took a week (and a very long bus ride to Phnom Pen and back). For my crossing, after consulting with Dave from the Plodd Stop (see last entry). I went through the Baan Pak Kad border.  My crossing was completely uneventful. It took seven minutes, $35, and a photo to get a visa and 5 minutes to be processed through immigration.  As far as customs goes, I had to ask where it was, and once I found it, they just passed me through, no document check at all.  Apparently, they don't have custom checks on all borders, first on for me and good to know.



First big stop in Cambodia was Siem Reap.  During my stay I had the opportunity to visit Angkor Wat, an enormous Hindu (later Buddhist) temple complex is quite amazing and spans for kilometers in all directions.  The long distances between the temples is bad for most tourists, but great for motorcycle riders as there is allot of single track trails through the woods that lead not only to the major temples, but other un-restored and tourist free temples.





On a more somber note, I stopped at the Killing Caves on the way into Siem Reap.  The caves are where the Khmer Rouge tossed an untold number of "dissidents" to their deaths.  This is just one of the kill spots for the pigs, more famous one being "the Killing Fields."  Pol Pot and his boys killed 1.5 to 3.0 million people in this country and there are reminders all around.  This will be the most interesting and disturbing part about touring Cambodia, and I am both looking and not looking forward to experiencing what I have only read about.

Leg Distance: 434 mi (709 km)

Total Distance Traveled by Motorcycle: 32,767 mi (53,749 km)

Countries/Territories Visited: USA, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Gibraltar, France, Monaco, Italy, Vatican City, San Marino, Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Transnistria, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, China (for 20 seconds), India, Nepal, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia

Northern Thailand

The border crossing from Tachiliek, Myanmar into Thailand was a much ado about nothing.  We all made it without guides.  Apparently, we hit it on the right day at the right moment, people have been sent back to India though Burma before, but all was well for the group.


Thailand serves as a stark comparison to other parts of Indochina. Its almost a first-world country, so there are grocery stores (with isles, not just stacked bags of beans and rice), malls, maintenance facilities, western style roads, huge infrastructure projects, etc, etc, etc are all present.  The feeling when riding from Chang Rai to Chang Mai was surreal.  It was as if we were teleported 40 years into the future.  All was well until I was stopped by the police... three time...within 48 hours.  Two bribes and one warning later, and I realized that Thailand has a ways to go to earn its first world status.  The bribes were quite low so no point in arguing, just paid and left, no arguing, I save that for a higher threshold as it takes about 45 minutes to an hour to successfully maneuver my way out. While I am on the subject, bribes are usually very high or very low, and have never been in between.  The lows have been in India, Thailand and Kyrgystan, which were about the five dollar mark, the highs have been Peru, Columbia, and Bosnia & Herzegovina, which have been in the $200 to $350 range. During this RTW journey, I managed to extricate myself from all of the large bribes, with the exception of one, which did land me in a holding cell, but even then I got the fine down to $70.



I made my way from Chang Mai to Bangkok, although faster than I really wanted.  I did get to see some sights, but I had to have the first real repairs done on Greta, and parts supply can take close to the length of a visa, so shot down to Bangkok I did.  Greta needed allot of little little things fixed, like fork seals, clutch covers, remapped and timed the engine, repair the pannier rack, recovered the rear seat (monkey damage in India, which is a phrase I never thought I would use in my life)) etc, etc....  The one big expense ticket item was a new rear shock.  It was expensive, but worth it.  Ohlins really helped me out.  I told them my of my plight, and they sent a shock overnight (at no charge) to Bangkok, a wait time that would of normally taken 2 months.  My spine and back has rewarded my purchase decision since its installation by not going into spasm at night.


I have been to Thailand many times, so there is not allot of bucket list items I have to do here, it has been more of a relax and enjoy an uncluttered mostly modern civilization for a while.  Indochina is very difficult to traverse.  Denied entrance at borders, motorcycles being detained in holding yards until days of paperwork are approved, and extremely high fines for improper paperwork, are all common.  I have enlisted the help of Dave who is a legend in the overlander community.  He owns and runs an overlander community called the Plodd Stop (near Pattaya).  He offers vehicle storage, new and very nice apartments, and most of all his knowledge of the visa/carnet requirements for Indochina, which border posts can be traversed with a vehicle, and most of all, how to get around the tour guide requirement.  As odd as it may seem, a country's rules in this part of the world vary by border crossing point.  So here I am working out a path from Thailand into Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, all supposedly doable with my dear Greta, and of course, Dave's help.

Leg Distance: 606 mi (1,042 km)

Total Distance Traveled by Motorcycle: 32,327 mi (53,040 km)

Countries/Territories Visited: USA, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Gibraltar, France, Monaco, Italy, Vatican City, San Marino, Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Transnistria, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, China (for 20 seconds), India, Nepal, Burma, Thailand