Ramblings of a Singapore Biker Boy
Adventures and micro-adventures on a motorcycle
25 July 2016, Monday. The nice folks at the Bajaj Phnom Penh dealership requested and arrange for a reporter from Sabay to interview me. They were curious about my multi-country travel with my Bajaj Pulsar 200NS. And so I had a nice chat with the senior news reporter from Sabay in the morning. Not actually sure if my travel story is sufficiently newsworthy though. LOL!
23 July 2016, Saturday. With nothing much to do in Stung Treng, I woke up early today and set off for Phnom Penh. The journey from Stung Treng to the capital city is a mix of fantastic, okay, and really horrible roads. There were stretches of fantastic paved, smooth roads which rivals the Malaysian North-South Highway. But it sometimes turn into really bad, almost dirt-road quality stretches without warning. So that 6hr-odd, 400+km journey, see me doing triple-digit speeds and sometimes as slow at 30-40kmh at the potholes-filled, uneven, loose-gravelled dirt tracks (which I even hesitate to call it a “road”.)
22 July 2016, Friday. I made it into Cambodia! After hearing all the horror stories of travellers getting turned back into Laos, or worse, getting stuck between borders in no-man’s land, I was a little worried about crossing this one. But then again, it wasn’t an easy experience, and I was almost turned back into Laos.
As I only had 100,000kips (approx SGD17 or USD12) left on me, I decided to head to the little town of Nakasong to get some more Kips. The border officials at the Laos-Cambodia border are notoriously corrupt, and I needed to make sure I had enough cash for their “service fee” or “donation” to make things move along.
But before all that, I needed to get some stuff done on my bike. I asked the 2 motorcycle servicing shops in Nakasong if they sell motorcycle chains, as my current chain is showing some signs of uneven wear. No joy. It was also about 2,000km from my last oil change, and was about time to replace the oil (new engine EO change routine). The first shop refused to Continue reading “The sgBikerBoy 2016 Trip – Day 32”
21 July 2016, Thursday. I head to Si Phan Don (literally means “four thousand islands” in Laos) today. That’t about the southern-most tip of Laos, where the Mekong river meets with an archipelago, creating a system of rapids. There are many islands in Si Phan Don, the biggest of which is Don Continue reading “The sgBikerBoy 2016 Trip – Day 31”
20 July 2016, Wednesday. Decided to stay another day in Pakse, as the region around Champasak has loads to offer. Travellers on motorcycles typically do the loop in Bolaven Plateau. The area offers waterfalls, ethnic villages and coffee plantations. I left early in the day as the Bolaven Plateau loops (there’s a big loop and a smaller loop) are typically completed in 2-3days. I planned on completing it in 1 day.
19 July 2016, Tuesday. I left Thakhek at around 8am this morning, and had planned on arriving Pakse by 2pm – which should give me some time to get a room and perhaps explore the area.
But the roads in southern Loas are…. Continue reading “The sgBikerBoy 2016 Trip – Day 29”
18 July 2016, Monday. I left Vientiane with a (finally) (hopefully) healthy motorcycle. No more technical troubles. I set off at around 7am in the morning, as I had planned for a long day today.
Konglor Cave (Tham Kong Lo) is a Continue reading “The sgBikerBoy 2016 Trip – Day 28”
16-17 July 2016, Sat-Sun. And so I decided to set off for Vientiane – the capital city of Laos. Breakfast in Vang Vieng in a nice little cafe with wifi somewhere near my hotel. Needed that wifi to update the blog as the hotel’s wifi was horribly slow.
I was worried about Continue reading “The sgBikerBoy 2016 Trip – Day 26 and 27”
15 July 2015, Friday. I woke up with disappointment this morning. I had hoped for the weather to turn good and the fog to clear. But unfortunately, the roads were still wet and the fog remained thick – not exactly the best conditions for motorcycle travel, especially on a mountain snake pass filled with loose gravel, sand and soil patches. But instead of getting stuck here, I decided to trod on.
So I packed my stuff, and hurled it onto my bike. Bid the nice staff at the guesthouse goodbye and continued my journey through the thick fog. At first, I was doing speeds of below 30kmh, taking extra precaution not to fall. I think my already injured patella will go if I impacted it the third time in 3 days. Thankfully, the roads started drying up, and the fog started lifting as I descended from the mountains towards Vang Vieng.
14 July 2016, Thursday. So I woke up at 4:30am this morning, determined to witness the morning alms giving ceremony I missed yesterday. Left my room around 5:15am and walked towards Sisavangvong Road in Luang Prabang.
