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Published: November 23rd 2015
November 11 - 2015
Arrived at the Tide Resort Hotel in Chon Buri, an ocean front resort on the Gulf of Thailand for local Thai people (very few foreigners).
This is the starting point for our Edelweiss tour through Southeast Asia. In our group are 11 individuals from 6 countries:
Mike - our guide from Germany. Foa senior Guide with Edelweiss.rmerlly an architectect, he packed in his day job 15 years ago and is
Neil Bradley - Great Britain. A surgeon from England specializing in leg surgeries.
Mike Egan - Canada
David Maslen - Great Britain - Investor. Just got his motorcycle license last month, but rode when he was young.
Geoffrey Pullen - Great Britain - Dentist and motorcycler
Nick Richards - Great Britain . Hotel entrepreneur and double marathon runner.
Markus Ricolli - CH - Computer engineer from Switzerland
Carlos Roesch - Costa Rica Hotel entrepreneur from Costa Rica
Jorn Ellman - Germany - Computer Engineers from Germany
Robert Vartevanian - Great Britain -- Investment Banker
Frans Visser - Netherlands - Corporate executive in Food Industry. Probably the most experienced amateur on the trip.
It is so hot here! I am a little concerned that my riding gear will be a little too much for this climate. Oh well, better safe than sorry. Just have to drink lots of water.
November 12 - Chon Buri - Aranyaprathet (230kms) We met at the bikes with all of our gear this morning for our briefing for the day's ride to Aranyaprathet, which is a town in Thailand at the border to Cambodia. The ride out of the Bangkok are was quit unpleasant. It was 35 degrees Celsius (95 Fahrenheit) when we departed and reached a high of 38 C (100 F). For the first hour we were in fairly heavy traffic, with many traffic lights. Wearing full riding gear makes this very uncomfortable.Finally we hit some less travelled roads, and had an opportunity to get some decent riding in, although still not very scenic. Today was a day to take it easy, get used to the bikes, riding on the left side, and to get to the Cambodian border. Mission accomplished!
November 13- Aranyaprathet ===>Siem Reap (165 kms) We left early in the
morning to get to the border to cross from Thailand to Cambodia . Our guide had all the paper work organized so it only took about an hour to get through customs and immigration. It is like day and night between the two countries. Thailand is quit civilized and prosperous, and Cambodia is much more third world. We drove about 4 hours to get to our hotel in Siem Reap. This gave us an opportunity to get changed, have lunch and go to one of the cultural highlights of our trip, Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is the largest temple in the world. It was made famous in 2000 in the movie - The Adventures of Indiana Jones. The temple is admired for the grandeur and harnmony of the architecture.
Day 4 Seam Reap - Kratie (330km) This was our first long and challenging riding day, 350 km, with long streches of road construction, that means gravel and dust. The highlights today were a visit in a small Cambodian village and the ride along the Mekong in the afternoon on a scenic dirt road. We got dirty and had to swollow some dust, buit it
was a great day!
Day 5 Kratie - Don Khong (240km) Good bye Cambodia, unfortuately our time in Cambodia is already over. Today we were heading to Laos. A long stretch of road construction caused some tough riding. But we reached the Lao border without any misshaps and enjoyed the stunning Mekong Falls. Border crossing was easy today and the boot beer at our Hotel Terrasse at the Mekong was just perfect. Some of the group did a sunset boat trip on the Mekong and enjoyed the beautiful 4000 islands.
Day 6 Don Khong - Savannakhet (400km) Today was our longest riding day, over 400 km. The roads were in good condition, we got the first mountains to see and we had one really adventurous ferry crossing over the Mekong. Getting on and off the Ferry through deep sand was quite challenging, but the ferry ride itself was fun. On a nice dirt road we reached Wat Phou, a Khmer temple complex, which is listed as a world heritage site.
Day 7 Savannakhet - Kong Lor (305km) The first twisty road of the trip we had on our
way to the Kong Lor Caves, wonderful scenery and a spectacular boat ride through the cave. I was crossing the suspension bridge when it when into a wobble. Lost control and crashed. Fortunately neither my bike nor me went over. Unfortunately I cut my leg a tore a ligament on my left hand.
Day 8 Kong Lor - Vientiane (315 km) A part of the group left the lodge earlier this morning for a little off road excursion, which was not as tough as expected, because they built a new gravel highway. The last part of the day we road along the Mekong on a beautiful but dusty gravel road to Vientiane, the capitol of Laos. Some needed a massage afterwards.
Day 9 Vientiane - Vang Vieng (200km) The city traffic in Vientiane was quite interresting, at every red light we had a moped race going on. The destination for today Vang Vieng is a paradise for backpackers and situated beautifuly at a river, surrounded by rugged mountains. The view from the hotel terrace is just breathtaking. Most riders of the group took the chance in the afternoon for an extra off
road loop through the rice fields, including two water crossings and a tiny little bamboo bridge.
A scenic road through the Luang Prabang mountain range with some challenging sections. The mountains and the pass roads get higher and higher, that means it is gettig cooler. Our hotel in Luang Prabang, the religious capitol of Laos with its old French center is wonderful and we can stay two nights here to get some rest.
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Tom
non-member comment
Hey Mike. No postscript to your torn ligament (or was it a tendon) after the fall on the bridge. as long as one hand still works okay. Sounds like a great trip. In case you're wondering, no problem with hot weather here. Keep the blog going.