A Quick Run to Chiang Mai from Siam Reap in Four Days

I think I was possessed. I left Siam Reap heading straight for the border of O’Smach. There was not much to be said about this border crossing since it was just another repeat. 

Exit Cambodia. Customs TIP Surrender on Right Building then Immigration Exit on Left Building

Only new thing was that the new Cambodian Temporary Import Permit for the bike was surrendered to customs and after stamping out Immigration it was then onwards to Thailand side to repeat the same procedure to stamp in and get a new TIP.

The plan was to stay a night near the border in Surin Province. Riding though the city of Surin at early afternoon since the border crossing was way faster than expected, I decided to push on since I still had four hours of sunlight. 

I actually aimed for a small little village near the Mun river under the municipal of Thatum but upon arrival, all the guesthouse was full.

Roi Et Tower Landmark 

Annoyed that there was no place to stay, I continued on and by the time I settle back into a familiar hotel in Roi Et, it was already sunset and I had done a good 500km from Siam Reap + a border crossing on the same day. 

It would probabaly be the fastest distance covering journey I had ever done with a motorbike in SEA. The momentum and pace continued for the next few days since I was in the zone.

Skip hop to Petchabun to camp a night in Phu Thap Buek mountains before riding through Phu Hin Rong Kla National Park and staying in yet another small little village called Pa Daeng Sub District in Phitsanulok.

Camping in Phu Thap Buek 

Staying at Pa Daeng Sub-District 

Riding Through Uttaradit Rice Fields 

One more day and I was in Lampang within a stone throw of Chiang Mai already. It took me only four days to get here to Lampang covering more than 1000km and I did not even feel exhausted. 

It was the 11 April 2024, and Thai New Year which is also known as the Water Festival would start on 13 April 2024 but what I did not realized that the pre new year festival had already started.

Pre-Battle Songkran in Lampang 

Lampang was already in pre-battle mode and I was skirting very close to be bombarded with water shots before I could even reach Chiang Mai. I took a long detour through smaller road to Chaing Mai going north first near Chae Son National Park and managed to stay dry all the way to the hostel in Chiang Mai.

Just in time to see the biggest festival in Thailand in one of the most cultural city in the North.

Are you Ready for Songkran ? 

Traveled on : Apr 2024

Passing Time in Cambodia

I went though Cambodia this time round as a primary Visa run. I had to stay in Cambodia long enaugh so that once I re-entered Thailand, the one month entry would last me all the way to the begining of May.

So once I got to Pailin and stayed the night, it was a day of gambling in the Casino and then a dash to Siam Reap where I booked a room for a few nights and stayed in to escape the heat. 

If I had never mention this before, Pailin is my fav Gambling Border Town in South East Asia. Easy going, chill, currency accepted in Cambodian Riel or Thai Baht, low limit tables, best hospitality and never too crowded. 

Pailin Flamingo Casino 

Pailin Palace Casino

Yep it was blazing hot during the day in Apr and I just stayed inside the air-condition room every day for three nights only surfacing outside for food and water.

New 361 Cafe just outskirts of Siam Reap

Night time was usually spend just drinking and watching the Pub Street crowd and while I would always come back to Cambodia for the easy access to comfort and ammenities, there was not much left for me to explore in this country.

Pub Street at Siam Reap 

Cambodia became a mandatory stop to get some chores done mainly :

1. Withdraw USD currency for emergencies

2. Extend Visa for Thailand

3. Replenish or Deminish my Bank Acc depending on Casino Luck

After time was up in Siam Reap, I rode in a single day to O’smach border and crossed over to Thailand.

Traveled on: Apr 2024

Breezing Through South Thailand to Pailin – Cambodia.

I have ridden the south route five times now I think and there was not much new path for me to explore. East coast or west coast, almost all the route has been done twice now so there was not much point of lingering too long.

From Hatyai I was doing long distance riding nearly everyday making the route fairly fast for my pace but I know to other bikers opinion, the whole thing could be shortened to two days.

Ao Tho Li View Point of Phang Nga Bay 

The route north I took was :

Hat Yai – Krabi – Phuket (Always visiting Cuz to say Hello) – Laem Son National Park – Hua Hin – Bangkok

Swordfish Sculpture at Krabi 

The famous Patong Beach Nightlife in Phuket 

I could have skipped Krabi – Phuket & Laem Son going stright from Hat Yai to Hua Hin then Bangkok but I guess I was still a little nostalgic to go a slight detour once a while. Bangkok was also unintentional.

Laem Son National Park was a new detour and a simple one. A great place to see the sunset over a the local pier watching some locals sport fishing. This place might become my favarite stop in future going up or down from Malaysia for it was nowhere near the expensive tourist beach and I could use the stop to propel me further without needing to enter Ranong

Laem Son National Park

Laem Son National Park 

I also wanted to skip Bangkok entirely but somehow Bangkok sucked me into the city as my navigation goes haywire with one wrong turn and the redirected route forced me to go through Bangkok traffic. I gave up trying to cross over to Chon Buri within the same day and just stayed in Bangkok for the night.

From Bangkok it was a simple dash to Pailin with only one detour at Chao Lao Beach. In total it took me 8 days to get from Hat Yai to the Cambodian border. It used to take me at least three weeks to reach Cambodia but now I guess I was getting more seasoned to ride longer distance or more stop sleep go cycle.

Chao Lao Beach 

Traveled on: Mar 2024

Riding Through The South Of Thailand Betong & Yala

This was a new route that I had not taken before in Thailand. Very rare but usually the border crossing into Thailand was always through Bukit Kayu Hitam since there was always a rush of time to head north to allow more time spend in central part of Thailand.

This time round I had no rush to go north so instead I choose to do Betong, the southern most town and point in Thailand which also makes it the southern most border of Thailand. Betong had many trophy checkpoint for a traveler just because it was the southern most everything in Thailand.

Crossing into Thailand-Betong 

Betong Old Town

Betong Clock Tower 

The route however was beautiful. Raw nature immediately after leaving the border town, I could see that in the future, Betong could be a long weekend ride for my sanity when I need a break from work but cant go too far away. 

I spend the night in Betong and visited the famous marker of 0 km starting point but found out that it was actually built by a entrepreneur biker and not the Gov of Thailand.

Betong Route 410 - 0 km marker 

The marker became a novelty over time and now it was more like a pilgrimage for bikers and a cheeky checkpoint tourist destination in Betong. 

I had a good chat with the owner which was from Malaysia but had settle down in Betong for long time. When he found out that I was on my way to Central Asia, all the stickers that I was about to buy suddenly became a gift from him.

I spend the second night at a paid campsite in the outskirts of Betong so I could see the famous morning scenery of above the clouds in Betong and then it was slow ride through winding and curvy roads through the dense tropical jungle all the way to Yala.

The Tropical Landscape of Betong - Yala Province

Morning Cloud Mist of Betong 

Simple town Yala with barely any foreign tourist. It was one of those unknown places in Thailand that no tourist would go and only crazy travelers like me trying to find some niche hidden gems. 

Nothing really spectacular but with plenty of time in hand, sometimes these are the little simple gems of watching the normal lives of people flow by.

Yala

After Yala it was an easy ride to Hatyai where my mandatory stop to visit relative for a few days is always a welcome break.

Traveled on: Apr 2024

Border Crossing from Ban Padkad (Thailand) to Phsar Prum (Cambodia) with a Malaysian Registered Motorcycle.

Alright it was time to do a border crossing and as always I was nervous. Cambodia now had a new system compared to when I last tried back in 2018 with Bluey. 

Those days Cambodia did not really have a system in place for a temporary import vehicle so I had to do it the hard way getting a full importation permit.

This border Phsar Prum was one of the border that I had used back in 2018 to exit Cambodia and enter Thailand so this would be actually the first time doing it on the opposite direction. 

I first exit Thailand at Ban Padkad border. Standard process of immigration stamp out and then returning the Temporary Import Permit before moving on to the Cambodian side.

Ban Padkad Border Thailand 

Parked the bike and queue up for an Entry stamp at immigration which was stright forawrd since Malaysian passport did not require a Visa. 

Next I ride around 100m and was stop at a guardpost which just asked for passport to ensure I had the entry stamp before allowing me to proceed.

Left the guard post and I was technically in Cambodia proper already. There was no stops for the bike and I had actually ride nearly 1km onwards trying to find the customs office before decided to turn back to ask the guard post where the customs was.

Immigration 

Customs Building at Cambodia side to get Temporary Import Permit for Bike

Customs Building Entrance at Opposite of Road after entering Cambodia

It almost seams like one could just ride throught without doing the proper paperwork but then maybe the border guard thought I was just a border hopper like all the other Thai registered Vehicle that never leave the border area as they just go in to visit the border Casinos for a short getaway.

Who knows if I might get in trouble without the papers further in Cambodia but I’ll never really know I guess.

Customs Office was apparently on the left side of the main road 20m after the guard post. I rode into the compound and park my bike and went knocking on doors to find the right desk to process Bragge in officially.

The temporary import of Vehicle into Cambodia now goes though electronically via https://tvs.customs.gov.kh/ but it was tricky trying to figure out the registration system. 

The customs officer however offered to do all the online registration on my behalf for a small fee of USD 5. I accepted and he proceeded to create a new account for me, uploading multiple pictures of my motorcycle documents, passport and finally registered the bike for entry.

I was then given a single piece of paper which stated Temporary Import of Vehicle into Cambodia valid for one month. 

With that done, I was good to go roaming around Cambodia. The process was so much more simple now and very similar to Thailand Import system.

Traveled on: Mar 2024

Route Info – From Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) to Laos (Boten)

This time round there was not much motivation for me to explore in Malaysia even though I had started the journey. I went straight for Cameron Highlands looking for cool weather retreat a few days and checked into a cosy hostel to run some routes and planning check again.

For some reason, I make plans and decision best on the road in unfamiliar hostel. I had always love Cameron Highlands for some reason. The mountains has a special call to me that just being there makes the soul smile. Beach are nice but mountains are nicer.

After a few days just lazing around going from one tea place to another it was time to move on. I packed up and went straight to the Thailand border. 

This time around I would cross into Betong a new part of Thailand which I had yet to explore which makes it a great starting and warm up breaking the monotonous ride up north through mostly places that I had visited before.

The route I took this time round was almost 70% a repeat of the previous journey in 2018 with Bluey but there were some new spots along the way.

Route Info - Malaysia to Thailand to Cambodia to Thailand to Laos to China 

Betong to Yala to Hatyai
- A New Route on the most southern part of Thailand

Hatyai to Krabi to Phuket
- A repeated route always to visit cuz in Phuket

Phuket to Laem Son National Park to Hua Hin
- A new National Park to explore but mostly a mad dash covering crazy distance all the way to Hua Hin

Hua Hin
- Usual pit stop to service bike on the way up

Hua Hin to Bangkok
- A repeated route along the coast and salt farms

Bangkok to Chantaburi (Chao Lao Beach)
- Going Through more simple uninteresting roads to skip Chon Buri & Rayong

Chao Lao Beach to Pailin (Cambodia)
- Another mindless dash to the Border so I can Gamble at the Border Casino for a few days

Pailin to Siam Reap to O’Smach
- A repeated route chilling and passing time in Cambodia

O’Smach to Roi Et to Phetchabun
- New Road but Repeated Destination

Phetchabun to Phu Hin Rong Kla National Park to Pa Daeng Sub District
- New Route through remote nature.

Pa Daeng Sub District to Lamphang to Chaing Mai
- New Route & New Destination and for the purpose of celebrating Thailand New Year (Songkran) in Chaing Mai

Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son Loop (Salawin River Detour + Ban Rak Thai Detour )
- Another run at Mae Hong Son Loop but this time through the north burning season which was horrible

Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai to Chiang Khong
- A repeated route with familiar destination revisiting same tourist sights.

Chiang Khong to Huay Xai to Luang Namtha to Boten
- A regular route to China