Drats! Still not working here in Shanghai.Quote:
Originally Posted by GRF_Hans
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Drats! Still not working here in Shanghai.Quote:
Originally Posted by GRF_Hans
This is a super-cool ride report - thanks for taking us along!
:popcorn:
Yeah, pics were there a few days ago, but not now (Beijing).
You're very welcome! I'm glad you're enjoying it. It has been a complete blast doing this trip.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lao Jia Hou
As for the pics, they should be good to go. Apologies.
Hopefully the pics are working now. We also have a Flickr account here for your viewing pleasure: http://www.flickr.com/photos/trojantraveler/
Pics work now.
Great Trip and these pictures are awesome!!!
A spectacular report and fun read - the photos are beautiful and can't believe what a true adventure you all are having! Enjoy!
Yup, working. Great excuse to have a gander at them once again!
Ride Report - Stung Treng to Phnom Penh (The Long Way)
From the ride between Chhep and Stung Treng:
http://www.greatrideforward.com/Grea.../DosAmigos.jpg
http://www.greatrideforward.com/Grea...s/HansTree.jpg
Our last report left us on the bank of the Mekong in Stung Treng, very close to Laos. The 200 or so kilometers from Stung Treng to the capital of Ratanakiri Province, Ban Lung, would take us only 3 or 4 hours, but having to ride on the corrugated dirt road made it one of the worst rides of the trip. I started riding in the softer sand off the side of the road to avoid the bumps but ended up wrecking when I got stuck in a rut. Very unfortunate, but everything was okay.
Ban Lung is a wonderful small town accessible only by bus over the dirt road. The airport there has been closed for the past 3 years, but NGO flights coming in every Friday and land on what is left of the runway.
We shacked up in a cozy hotel off the beaten path and immediately started asking around about the so-called "Highway of Death," or the tiny network of dusty trails between Ban Lung and Sen Monorom 120km or so away. It didn't take us long to find Ron (pronounced Rune), whose brother ran a tour company and made the introduction. Ron said he would take us to Sen Monorom for US$60, and that it would probably take the better part of the day.
We decided to take 2 days to explore the area a bit and get well-rested for the grueling trip. The first day we rode to the Yeak Loam Lake about 8km outside of the town.
http://www.greatrideforward.com/Grea...PeteCannon.jpg
Reportedly a volcanic crater, it had beautiful fresh water and very few people save for wandering groups of local boys that would climb up and leap off the 20 foot trees sprouting from the lake's banks.
http://www.greatrideforward.com/Grea...CraterBoys.jpg
And so the day came where we were to conquer the Highway of Death. We had heard a lot about this route from ADVRider Jacl-Kampuchea who had done it in the rainy season (crazy...) when it was all mud. Every year the paths change and when the rivers are high, it is impossible to even cross. We knew it had to be done though, as this entire diversion eastward from Stung Treng had been for the sole purpose of completing this wicked path.
After meeting with Ron and his friend at 6am, we sat down for breakfast before the festivities began.
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This river that we crossed by ferry is what the opening scenes of Apocalypse Now is based on. Despite its rickety looks, the boat was actually quite sturdy and took the four of us across. 2 Shinerays and a Honda Dream. The one thing that makes me so upset about riding trails in SE-Asia is that no matter what you do or how bad-ass you feel after a particularly grueling ride, some local does it every day on a scooter out of necessity!
What followed was some of the most tiring riding ever. The sand was extremely soft, and it was everywhere.
http://www.greatrideforward.com/Grea.../TwoDustin.jpg
At first I thought it would only be small pockets of it, that if I toughed it out for a while, the hard packed dirt would eventually reemerge, but it didn't. The entire day was spent riding through puddles of sand. Literally, when you rode into them, it would react like water and splash sand particles. The front and rear of the bikes constantly lost traction and broke out, and speed was almost impossible to maintain. I didn't shift out of 3rd gear the entire day.
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As Ron bounced joyfully ahead, his friend was able to get some good photos of us lugging slowly forward. In retrospect it would have been a good idea to put knobbies on instead of using the road tires. Also, to have brought some lightweight gear like Pete's armor would have helped because the sun was brutal. For a section right before the first small village where we stopped to chug an entire crate of waters, I even stripped down to my underwear because I felt as if I was going to pass out in the bulky riding suit.
http://www.greatrideforward.com/Grea...%20%281%29.jpg
Despite the toll the heat and riding was taking on my body and patience, I was thankful that Pete was so slow that we got to rest a lot and pose for pictures. :WTFamI
http://www.greatrideforward.com/Grea...DirtyTank2.jpg
Despite Pete's extensive sand-racing experience, his bike did not fair so well.
All in all, it was a great experience that I would love to do again if I'm ever in Ratanakiri again, but perhaps without the luggage next time. Needless to say, when we hit pavement again outside Sen Monorom, I wept tears of joy.
After sleeping like logs, we made the trip to Phnom Penh. It would be the last stop in Cambodia before heading to Vietnam, and Pete's last stop on the trip. I was also looking forward to meeting with Peader from the ADV Rider forums, as his ride reports around Cambodia had been such a helpful resource. I was thankful that the roads around the city were so nice, but despite our best efforts we still ended up riding into the night.
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Heading out from Sen Monorom on a freshly paved road!
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About 60km outside of Phnom Penh we crossed a bridge.
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We even busted out the tripod to celebrate the occasion. This will be our album cover.
Due to good luck, we found a hotel which happened to be right around the corner from Peader's bar. We ended up spending more than a week in Phnom Penh, me for the insanely lengthy and difficult Vietnamese permits, and Peter to arrange travel back to the USA. While we managed to hit all the usual morbid Phnom Penh tourist sites, what I enjoyed the most was the MX6 motocross race. Very cool that it was happening three days after we arrived!
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We convinced some guards that we were foreign journalists working for a motorcycle website so they let us roam around the inside of the track to take photos.
http://www.greatrideforward.com/Grea...rdcoreRace.jpg
It was a great day, with a Thai rider beating out the very strong New Zealanders in the final race.
Next stop...Vietnam!
Wow, what a treat. Keep the report coming and thanks for sharing.
Thanks for yet another amazing report. You guys are great at making others dream.
Looking back at the first post, i realize you guys have been on the road for 3 months already! That's fucking cool. It's gonna be hard to readjust to real life after something like that....
Thanks of the report. And don't try come back to "real life" for it sucks! Rather stay on the road!
Haha! Such great advice... I have actually been in Shanghai for a while now trying to sort through the multitude of Vietnam photos to post up the last 2-3 RRs...Quote:
Originally Posted by moilami
:popcorn::popcorn::popcorn::popcorn::popcorn::popc orn::popcorn:Quote:
Originally Posted by GRF_Hans
:popcorn::popcorn::popcorn::popcorn::popcorn::popc orn::popcorn:
:popcorn::popcorn::popcorn::popcorn::popcorn::popc orn::popcorn:
Ni hao .. Hans, Pete: is it possible to get visa at the Lao border, or do you have to apply at some embassy in KM? I'm planning to ride up to the border for an exit stamp, and come back the same day.
You can get it at the border. Just as long as you have all your documents to exit China with your bike (they gave me a little grief cuz I was driving without a license...but not much grief...). Didn't try coming back through it obviously. If you just need an exit stamp, might not take your bike across.
I can't wait to see the Vietnam reports!
Wow! It's been much too long since the last update...
Ride Report: Into ‘Nam
First up, I would like to apologize for the photos in the remaining Ride Reports. After our week off in Phnom Penh and a tearful goodbye, Pete departed for the airport on his way back to Los Angeles via Shanghai. After shipping all his gear back and unloading his bike, the realization dawned on me that I would now be very alone for the next month. How exciting!
Through a Singaporean rider on the ADV Rider forums, I managed to get in touch with Anh Tuan, a fixer who arranged for my bike to get into Vietnam. As many of you may know, this is quite a feat, as Vietnam law expressly prohibits the import of foreign motorcycles across its borders. The entire process takes two weeks, he had told me before we entered Cambodia, so I had scanned and emailed all of my applicable documents from Siem Reap. The Vietnamese Traffic Bureau kept pushing back my application (if you could even call it that, maybe bribe is more fitting), so after Pete left, I ended up spending another two days sitting around until I was finally given a green light to go on March 28th.
http://www.greatrideforward.com/Grea...iles/Viet1.jpg
The ride from Phnom Penh to the Moc Bai border into Vietnam was quite leisurely. After escaping the hectic construction-caused traffic jams of the big city, the countryside was as beautiful as ever and the nice cool wind kept me from overheating. There were several bridges to cross on the way, and also a huge ferry.
However, once I arrived at the border, matters complicated yet again. The Traffic Bureau had issued a permission slip allowing me to pass. For some odd reason they had printed April 1st as the date of entry, though, and the customs officials could not conceive to allow me in with my bike a minute earlier.
My first thought was to turn around and ride the four hours back to Phnom Penh. Anh Tuan insisted there was another way though. Apparently since he brought so many motorcycle groups in through this border, his relationship with the Cambodian officials was pretty good. Oh and also he had served as a supply truck driver for the Vietnamese Army during their war with Cambodia and spoke pretty fluent Khmer. Guess that helped, too.
Anyways, he introduced me to these fine chaps.
http://www.greatrideforward.com/Grea...iles/Viet2.jpg
Anh Tuan is the one in the yellow and to his right is the head of the border checkpoint. They arranged for me to leave my motorcycle in his house along with all my luggage. I would spend 3 days in Ho Chi Minh City, coming back on April 1st to enter with my bike.
I cleared customs and hopped on the back of Anh Tuan's scooter. We rode about an hour straight into downtown Ho Chi Minh City. I had heard there were a lot of scooters in Vietnam before, and I foolishly thought that living in China would prepare me, but no. I was in shock. It was completely unbelievable how many scooters there are in this country. I cannot figure out how people can even cross the street!
I stayed along Pham Ngu Lao, the backpackers' district, and spent the next few days touring. Luckily, my Vietnamese friend from Shanghai was in town and had some time to show me around.
The Chinatown Market.
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After three days, the time had come for me to retrieve my bike from the border. On the way out, all I could think about was the guards taking turns joy-riding my baby, so you could imagine my relief when we arrived and everything was fine. After tea and cigarettes with some of the Vietnamese guards, they gave me the okay and hooked me up with some temporary plates!
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Overall, it worked out okay. Despite having to do some serious improvisation (not to mention slip USD$600 worth of bribes), I had gotten into Vietnam safely and legally.
My route through southern Vietnam would unfortunately be very rushed. Since the temporary import would only give me two weeks to get out of the country, I was looking at getting all the way up to Ha Long Bay in merely 5 days. This equates to between 450-500km per day, definitely not something to look forward to. The upside is that the majority of the ride would be within five kilometers of the ocean, and having watched the Top Gear episode where they rode up the very same roads, I knew there was much to look forward to.
One day after getting my bike into Saigon, I set out for Nha Trang, one of the most built-up tourist beaches. Anh Tuan had given me the contact information of the head of the Nha Trang bike club so I was looking forward to meeting him. Also, I knew I would be catching my first glimpses of the South China Sea! Not even a policeman hitting me with his club as I 'sped' by could muffle my happiness.
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Anh Tuan had also told me about a scenic detour about 30km outside of Nha Trang. The path took me through an abandoned military base and then up through the mountains and along the coast before descending on the beach, all on newly paved twists. Since Pete's camera is no longer with me, I had to try and keep the art factor up. Unfortunately, it just doesn't look quite the same.
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Nha Trang is probably the big-bike capital of Vietnam. Geographically, the beach gives rise to rather large hills almost immediately inland, and due to the massive tourism income, the roads are all in amazing shape. As you can imagine, this draws plenty of the big-bike crowd, and Anh Tuan's friend did not disappoint.
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I felt bad he didn't have to shift out of 1st gear when we rode. The Shineray is many things, but fast is not one of them.
It was a shame that I couldn't stay there longer, but time was short. My next stop, Danang, would be a full day's ride. One of the largest cities in Vietnam, it is packed with history modern and ancient. Danang is the site of the first American landings into Vietnam during the 70s, and before that it was a cultural center of the Cham civilization.
Oh and I also forgot to mention: pho.
http://www.greatrideforward.com/Grea...iles/Viet8.jpg
Since I was by myself for the majority of the first week in Vietnam, I only knew how to order pho. The rice noodle soup was definitely delicious, but after eating it for 21 meals in a row, I was definitely a bit sick of it.
:riding::riding::riding:I will definitely be posting up more photos of the rides from Vietnam later as well...I took quite a bit, but they're scattered all over my hard drive so it'll take a while to organize 'em. Unfortunately, they're all pretty low-quality, too. With Pete updating the site from the USA and me in Shanghai, I have to compress them quite a bit to send. Oh well.
The next couple ride reports should be awesome though! The north part of Vietnam is undoubtedly the most beautiful place I have ever ridden/seen in my life! Stay tuned.
No excuses, Hans! Just get on with it. Even low-res pix will be cherished in this forum...
cheers
Hehe, I thought I was prepared because I grew up in Beirut, but really it's no match for Vietnam. I was there last April to renew my visa, and having also watched the Top Gear episode, I couldn't resist riding there. Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon... here's me after riding from 5.30pm(15 mins after I got my passport back from the consulate), through the night till 8 am next morning. Fueled by delicious sandwiches, beer, coffee, and cheered on by ladies selling something called boom boom :naughty::naughty:Quote:
Originally Posted by GRF_Hans
http://hotimg23.fotki.com/a/113_106/186_25/P1060841.jpg
Eh, now try to cross the street.
http://hotimg23.fotki.com/a/113_106/186_25/P1060816.jpg
One thing I noticed was the absence of any China vehicles! No cars, not motorcycles! Also much cleaner than China, even the toilets on the train were clean!
Sorry about highjacking your thread, just my lame ass excuse to not writing up my own proper post.
Hi, Just joined the forum and would appreciate advice on travelling thru' China.
We are starting from Central Europe in May,2012 heading east to Mongolia, then south, but all my reading says China will be a no go on a NX650 Honda.
We have explored freighting bikes from Mongolia to Laos and then we would train it thru' China and catch up with the bikes in Laos. The journey then continues down the islands to Oz.
Anyone got any experience with traversing China as a foreigner by motorcycle??????
There is so much bullshit out there I would really like to hear from someone that has done it.
Dear John,Quote:
Originally Posted by John Neville
Welcome to the forum, and looks like a fantastic adventure you are planning. Similar to another one that was posted in these pages recently. This Great Ride Forward is a ride report and is not the right thread for your query, but you could do a lot worse than having a read through this thread, where similar questions are being asked. Then maybe post specific questions. You could start another thread titled something like "Transiting China by motorcycle", and create something easier to find with enduring value for others with similar plans.
Good luck!
cheers
Quote:
Originally Posted by slabo
No worries! I actually didn't get any photos (that I can find at least) of the streets packed with scooters. So I actually do appreciate it!