Around The World On A Honda Transalp

The border crossing seems to go smoothly, thanks to a man who shows us around. At customs, we encounter a problem: apparently our motorbike was only allowed in Thailand for one month. We didn’t know this although it was clearly mentioned on the sheet that the Customs Office in Mae Sot had given us. A little silly, but we had never looked at this sheet before. Customs asks us a 240 euro fine. We want to try to reduce the fine and we go to their headquarters, back in Chiang Khong. They are friendly and after a few minutes they come up with a proposal to reduce the fine to half.

At dusk we arrive at Luang Prabang and we find a hotel in a pleasant street close to the centre. Luang Prabang is a World Heritage Site due to its colonial past. This past is very visible in the architecture. There are also many temples and a lively night market, mainly for souvenirs.

Luang Prabang

Our next destination is Vang Vieng. The way there is the nicest part of Laos so far.

Along the Way

We leave Vang Vieng after eating a delicious baguette for the first time in 7 months, the French have really left their traces here. The next destination is the Bolaven Plateau. Pakse is the second biggest city in Laos and is often used as a base to explore this area. We read on our travel-app however, that it’s an expensive city and that there is really nothing to do there. The app talks about a small village, Tad Lo, named after the waterfall there, located just on the edge of the plateau.

After leaving Tad Lo it doesn’t take long before we are driving on the Bolaven plateau. Actually, we don’t even realize we are here, until we see it on the GPS. It soon becomes clear that we don’t want to stay here, but there are a couple of waterfalls that should be worthwhile a visit.
The first one is Tad Yuang, a very high waterfall in a nice surrounding.

Laos can actually be described in one word, echoing what many other travellers have to say about this country: LAID BACK. Although in Asia we never experienced rush and stress, Laos does seem to be the top of the list. While we were driving through the villages, we saw people at home, resting in their hammocks, eating together or just chatting.

Sticky Rice in Traditional Bamboo Basket

This is a summary from our trip through Thailand and Laos...

More info on www.wijzijnweg.org

In the morning we walk towards the ferry. A longtailboat takes us to the island of Don Det. We dock in the city centre and decide to follow the riverbank. A little outside the village, we find a nice riverfront bungalow, overlooking the Mekong. We have riverview from our balcony and views over the rice fields from our window. The balcony also has two hammocks instead of the usual one. Chilling guaranteed.
There’s not really much to do on the island besides relaxing. We walk around the island, but it takes just a few hours.

In the morning we leave to the border with Cambodia. The border post seems closed at first sight, maybe it isn’t open because it’s Sunday? We come closer and see somebody sitting in the immigration office. He doesn’t want to stamp our passports because he’s not sure if Cambodia will allow us in with a big bike. He says we have to check first at Cambodian side. We had never heard of Cambodia making problems of big bikes, besides we know Christian is driving around there with his Africa Twin.

We first drive to Kratie, which is a famous tourist destination. Once there, we don’t like it very much, except for the boulevard on the Mekong. We continue to Sen Monorom, the capital of the province Monorom. We arrive there in the dark. Just in time for the violent storm, we find a room.

Along the Way

We drive to Boeng Kak, the backpacker’s area in Phnom Penh, according to Lonely Planet. When we arrive there we discover our Lonely Planet is not really up-to-date anymore. The backpacker’s area had moved to another part of the city. We’re here for the paperwork so we just want a cheap room. We find a great room with air conditioning, a fridge, a large flatscreen-tv with movie channels and a balcony overlooking a mosque. Best part of this mosque is that it’s not finished yet, so no prayers in the early morning.

Welcome to Kep

We leave towards Kep, which is the smallest province of Cambodia, just a 16 km long strip along the coastline. What a pleasant surprise when we arrive: we drive on a road along the shoreline and we end up at a small, pearly white sand beach, Kep beach. The town feels a little European with its lovely promenade, colonial houses and many statues.

On the road to Phnom Penh we meet Jens and Helen from the Myanmar group. We take a break together and have a nice chat. Back in Phnom Penh we go to the same hotel as before and we have a good reason for that: there is a computer in the lobby, free to use. We’ve been thinking about rewriting our website in English for quite some time now, hoping to reach more fellow overlanders. Due to the many hours of work, the price in an internet shop would be quite high, so we decide this is the time to do it. We have been typing for a few days and we are glad with the result.

The Angkor Wat Archeological Park is a World Heritage Site. These ancient temples date from the Khmer era and were built between the ninth and fifteenth century. It is the largest temple complex in the world and is spread out over an area of more than 400 km². The site is surrounded by forest and is located in the north of Cambodia, close to the city Siem Reap.

Mickey at Angkor Wat

According to many travel-apps, Battambang is a must-see in Cambodia. They must be talking about the province because in the city itself is not much to do or see. It’s okay but not really special. We walk around a bit and see some colonial buildings, the oldest bridge of the province, aerobic lessons in the park (funny to see) and a Naga (statue of a five-headed snake). The Naga was built as a symbol for peace. It was constructed with parts of weapons which were collected in the area of Battambang.

When we arrive at the border we see many army trucks waiting for more Cambodians who fled Thailand. They are blocking our way but we can squeeze in between and once we’ve passed them, we are out of Cambodia in no time. At the Thai side of the border, immigration goes smoothly but customs takes some time. The bike is only allowed in Thailand for one month, for which we already got a fine the last time here. We are now trying to extend this to two months. Customs at the border say they can’t help us. We insist but no response… We try to arrange this in the custom house in the city.

We didn’t expect too much of Cambodia, but we were pleasantly surprised. There is a nice atmosphere throughout the country. Also, the people were very friendly, even more than in Thailand, the Land of the Smile. The staffs in the hotels were generally spoken very helpful and interested in our story. People along the way were constantly greeting us with a smile.

This is summary from our trip through Cambodia and our last days in Laos...

More info on www.wijzijnweg.org

Our visa for Cambodia almost expires, so we have to go back to Thailand. We still have a few days left so we decide to take a small road to a minor border crossing. We pass by Paillin which is located on the edge of the Cardamom Mountains. We have some nice views along the way and it’s still early, we decide to drive further to the main border crossing at Poipet. Along the way we see many army trucks loaded with people. We are wondering what is going on…

We arrive in Damnoensaduak late in the evening, after a long day drive. This is our second attempt to see a floating market. We have been in Amphawa a few months ago, another floating market in the same area but we were quite disappointed. This time we are luckier. The market stands are located next to the river and lots of them can only be seen from a boat. Also the rest of the market is quite cosy and there are a lot of food stands. The market is only opened in the morning, so in the afternoon we continue our voyage to Khao Lak.