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)
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
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