Till Jomtien Beach

24/3/11

Rode to Koh Kong near the Thai border. Saw a sign for elephants on the road, first though was what would the road train look like? I know the elephant would be dead but roo bars want do much against and elephant.

Nice road through the Cardiman mountains lots of flowing corners and bush everywhere as it is a national park.

25/3/11

Went to the Ta Tai waterfall which was lovely as there had been a bit of rain for a few days before.

Gave the bike a bit of a check over and all the bags before heading to the border.

26/3/11

Rode to the border, the Cambodians where easy to deal with. The Thailand side took a little longer but still no real issues, they valued my bike at 50,000 B (a little under $2000US) so will not be happy if my bike gets nicked as that's what I have to pay to leave the country without it.

   Road about 5km from the border on some lovely slow curving up and down roads and spotted some beaches of to the side, so went for a ride down a dirt track to a couple of them. If I had my tent I would have camped at the first one, no one there lovely little beach. The second one had some kids playing at it (under 5) and they came running over saying Sa Wat Dii (hi in Thai), one was very excited and ran over giving my legs a big hug, so I picked him up and put him on the bike. He'll be telling his olds about that for a while I guess.

Rode straight through to Trat and court the ferry to Ko Chang. Noticed the roads will be fun here.

27/3/11

  You may not like this bit mum so go to the next day.

  Armoured up and went for a hoon up the coast, had a ball. I didn't know my little Gracie could corner like that hehe. Saw a guy with proper armoured gear on, the first one so far on the trip. So gave chase to have a chat to him, man when you are on a 125 chasing a guy on a 650cc it's hard, I had to go up the hill so slow, ringing the shit out of the poor girl, but I made it up to him before he entered a secure compound. (yes he had to slow for some traffic at the end). Definitely wore in a bit more of the edge of the tyres tho. The west coast of the island makes the great ocean road in Victoria look like the main road to Sydney.

Yes the video is side ways, tuff it's hard enough riding one handed to worry about that. This video was taken when heading to the ferry and riding slowly.

28/3/11

Was having breakfast and an Israeli guy I'd meet in Cambodia (they where on the same bikes as me) rocked up so got chatting. Seems I may have been lucky at the border as they couldn't get their bikes through, one even got stuck in no mans land and had to sell his to one of the cops for bugger all (almost sounds like a scam to me). Maybe the crossing at less used borders is making it easier, to early to say)

Went to the beach for a swim.

29/3/11

Went to Long beach at the very far end of the other side of the island (should have come here to stay). Lovely place.

30/3/11

Took the ferry back to the main land and road to Chanthaburi. Bit of an industrial town.

31/3/11

Short ish ride up to Jomtien Beach. Will be meeting William late tonight.

Leaving Utopia Kampot

 

11/3/11 till 23/3/11

Chilled in Kampot at Utopia, brilliant place. Swimming the river 2-3 times a day. Riding around the local area, found some amazing little areas, including this cool 5 foot deep ditch with thorny thicket above.

 I got the petrol tank re welded on the bike, fixed some electric issues (I hope), and on the way back from town saw these guys, i don't know if these guys worked for the power company or where just taking the cable.

 Well had a brilliant break but now it's time to ride again. The plan is head to Koh Kong for a couple of days riding in the hills. Then over the border to Thailand and out to Ko Chang for a couple of days, then up to Jomtien beach to see William.
Enjoy your life. I am

Still in Kampot

4/3/11

Didn't do much. Got an early night ready for the festival.

5/3/11

The First Annual Kep Beach Festival was held and great. Was actually aimed at the Khmer people but had some good stuff, including a young group doing melody thrash (rock'n'roll/thrash metal), they where good. Jugglers, stalls, drink, beach, lighting. No rain though one of the organisers said he asked the monks to pray for no rain when they blessed the show, and the lighting went both sides, but not on the show.

6/3/11

Did very little got home and slept.

7/3/11

Road around a bit, got the bike washed, went to the market. First solid poo for a while.

8/3/11

Went for a ride but the road up the hill was closed, so stopped at a guest house/bar on the river that people said was nice. Very nice would be the word, hammocks river swing rope on the other side. Mmmm.

9/3/11

Got ready to go to Sihanoukville, got over the bridge and thought I'll just see if Utopia has any rooms and it did so 7km for the last hotel I was here. Swam across the river 3 times today I'm to big to use the rope swing at high tide, but fun at low tide.

 OK the room has some draw backs.

But there is a reason i like the place

10/3/11

Have decided to wait here swimming the river a few times a day till my foot is better. So maybe 3 more days. Maybe.

 Well i'm quite happy at the moment.

  Enjoy your life. I am.

Till Kampot Part 2

23/2/11

Went to town to get some money and try to sort out a dive trip. Got a 8 dive trip out to the outer island, 2 dives on Ko Rung, then 3 dives (after a 3 hour trip getting up at 4am) at Ko Tang, then 3 dives at Ko Rung.

24/2/11

Had a relax day on the beach, Otress beach. Then organised leaving the bike etc, well on the island.

25/2/11

Early rise and 2 hour boat ride to Ko Rung, nice room, view wise, which I expected as the trip cost $300us. Straight into getting gear sorted and out for the first dive, back for a hour break then out for another dive, all boat entry.

26/2/11

Waken up late, was suppose to be 4 am but got away with 4.30am. 4 hour boat ride as a pump got water on it or something, was pretty ruff on the way out there. The best visibility I have had so far 15ish meter, but loads of small things to see. Saw my first Moray eel, very small one, smaller than my little finger. Getting better at my buoyancy and breathing.

27/2/11

Had a lot of fun on the first 2 dives, mainly playing with my breathing etc because the visibility was about 3-5 meters lol. Got lost from the group on the second dive but decided to reduce my weight for the last dive. Should have changed weight at the start, I had said I needed 8kg and they gave me 9kg without me knowing, dropped down to 7.5kg and man it was way easier.

28/2/11

Rode to Kampot in the morning, had breakfast and checked into a hostel, then rode over to Vietnam for a soda hahahhaa yes for a soda. My first visa run went well got a new Cambodian visa for $24US instead of $54 for an extension, does mean I have to stay in Cambodia for a while longer to make the expense worth it hehe.

1/3/11

Well I scratched the top of my foot before I did the 8 dives, so of course the scab hasn't scabbed as the fins rubbed on it the whole time. So I'm having a couple of not wearing shoes days which means sitting in hummocks and things like that.

2/3/11

Yes still doing the same thing today but also hanging around near the toilet as well as for my foot.

3/3/11

Well the foot is ok should be able to wear my sandals tomorrow, as I have a nice scab going. Still needed to stay near the toilet though hehe. For more graphic descriptions of these events please private message me, and I will go into far more detail of the pushing and the sounds.

Sorry not many photos but the internet is really slow here. I'm still having a ball though, meeting a lot more riders now.

  Enjoy your life. I am.