6:01am
With barely 4 hours of sleep, thank goodness for make up and beauty apps to help make me still look alive...
even though I'm actually feeling like that on the inside hahaha.
After doing 2,000km in 2 days, and having to ride close to 700km for Day 3 today, it's so easy to let yourself dwell on how tired you are and feel discouraged looking at the mileage you have to clock for the day....
But nope! Not for me. I just tell myself, just don't think so much, gear up, strap those bags up, and move forward with the ride.
Blessed with yet another day of good weather, we moved off from Bangkok at about 6:40am and headed East towards Chanthaburi!
It was a Sunday and luckily there wasn't much traffic in this early morning therefore getting out of Bangkok city was a breeze.
This is just barely the 3rd day into my ride and look at the amount of dirt on the beak of my baby!
Gotta try not to look at it because I know it's only gonna get worse when we enter Cambodia haha.
What I'm really thankful for was Jok & Calvin from the BMW Cambodia Club actually rode down 470km from Phnom Penh (Cambodia) to Chanthaburi (Thailand) to meet me, and take me across the border to ensure my entry into the country is smooth and fuss-free.
I'm always a little nervous when it comes to crossing borders especially into another country I've never been to before.
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| Approaching Koh Kong Border |
So when I was at the border, I realized entering Cambodia with your vehicle is pretty simple. You actually just need:
1) Cambodia Arrival/Departure Card (filled in)
2) Passport (make sure it's stamped)
For Singaporeans, no VISA is required to enter Cambodia. No carnet or whatsoever needed for your motorcycle either.
EXITING THAILAND
After riding about 200km from Chanthaburi, we arrived at the border and cleared the Thai Customs & Immigration.
Got my passport stamped, and returned the signed Conveyance Form for my motorcycle to register its exit.
Yep, this is the Conveyance Form.
That is a very important step to do because if you miss that out, Thailand will not know your motorcycle have exited their country and you may face a fine of overstaying.
Next, we were given this card which is for our motorcycle, and we are supposed to pass it back to the officer standing at the side when we officially exit Thailand and cross over to Cambodia's border.
ENTERING CAMBODIA (Cham Yeam Border)
The Thailand-Cambodia borders are just next to each other, walking distance. So we're here at the Immigration office where we got our passport stamped, to enter Cambodia.
The officer was nice, got my Passport stamped and..
TADA!!!
WE ARE OFFICIALLY IN CAMBODIA!!! YEAHHH!!!
Easy peasy ;p
Now, just a minute.. let me update my location and status on Facebook first... Hahaha.
We then crossed this long Koh Kong bridge that links to mainland Koh Kong Province,
and here we are! With the rest of the big group of local Cambodian boys from the BMW Cambodia Club, as well as other bikers riding Ducatis, Harley Davidson and so on. What a crowd!
The first 10km of mountain roads from Koh Kong towards Trapeang Rung was so amazing. Gradual ups and downhills, on smooth tarmac and gentle bends.
Thereafter, it was potholes EVERYWHERE.
Left, right, centre, big, small, shallow, deep, whatever the variation of potholes you can think of, they have it. I reduced my speed from 100kmh to just 75kmh, but it was still impossible to avoid all of it.
The best I could even if I couldn't avoid it was to go over as gently as I could.
The BMW GS-es didn't seem to have any issues as I see them all just ramming over the pot holes without cringing!
After doing about 100km, we stopped at a petrol station near Boeng Preav where we re-fueled and bid farewell to more than half of the guys here who were heading straight up to Phnom Penh.
While the group of 4 with me, we continued down South towards Sihanoukville.
The sun was slowly starting to set and thankfully the roads gradually got better too.
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| Credits: cambodiatravel |
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| Credits: madmonkeys |
None of which we really got to see hahaha because by sunset time, we were still about 50km away from the town.
When we arrived at the hotel, the sun had already set, I was tired and all I could think of was a good cold shower and a good night's rest. I was even willing to skip dinner, because you know, I'm more tired than hungry.
Not sure if you've felt that way before?
Well, did 11 hours of riding today so off I go to snooZzzeeee.
[Singapore. Malaysia. Thailand.Sihanoukville,Cambodia]
[Mileage Clocked: 2,712KM]
[Weather/Temperature: Mostly Sunny/34°C]
[Terrain: Road/Tarmac/Bumpy Pot Holes]
Next stop: Kampot, Cambodia
