Summary
Total Trip Distance: 4408 km
Duration: 6 weeks
Thailand (Chiang Mai, Khaem Son, Khao Yai,
Aranyaprathet)
Cambodia (Siem Reap,
Phnom Penh, Kratie)
Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City -by
bus)
Laos (Pakse, Thakhek, Vientiane, Vang Vieng, Luang
Prabang)
Thailand (Thung Chiang,
Chiang Mai)
Back at home in Chiang Mai |
When first planning this trip we were both going to be on
Mark’s CBR 250. Luckily he
upgraded to the CBX 500 in January which meant Jenny started riding the CBR. She
enjoyed riding a bigger bike enough that we decided to take 2 bikes on the
trip. We can’t imagine what the
rougher bits of the roads would have been like with both of us on the CBR!
We changed the route slightly as we went, and were glad to
discover the Laos/Thai border crossing that saved a day and turned out to be a
great alternative. The biggest
change was deciding not to try to drive to China. There were several factors: difficulty getting across the border, that motorbikes are not
allowed in Kunming or on the Hwy to Dali, much colder weather and finally, that
we are only permitted to have the bikes outside of Thailand for 30 days and we
were already 16 days into our second permit. We are going to fly Chiang Mai – Kunming the week we get
home to finish the interviews for Mark’s research.
Just a quick thank you for your fascinating blog. I recommended to several friends, one of whom is just back from Thailand and is a regular visitor to Laos. He commented "Thanks for this. So much better than [someone called] Sue who reported on her trip to Laos (pronounced Lay-os by her) on BBC 2 on Monday. After an hour’s programme, you still had no idea what it was like to be in Laos!"
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