::: 4 Nation ride - Vietnam - Cambodia - Laos - Thailand

[Viethorse]

Well, our team has done couple of trips like that, however they are all organized by a tourist company and we had all logistics and administration support.
This time, we decided to go by our own. It seems really easy task for other countries, but not for those we are going to ride thru. Crazy procedures, or no procedure at all.
We all don't have much free time, so that we have tried to maximize our trip duration by apply leave Friday and afternoon Thursday. Plus two days weekend, then we have 3.5 days for the trip.

 

[Viethorse]

Day #1 ~ 400km from Hochiminh City (Vietnam) to Stung Treng (Cambodia).

We had twelve bikes for the trip. Some of them with passengers.
Noon time Thursday, at the muster point:

Quite clear road during lunchtime, so we moved with quite good speed.
As near to the border, the road condition turned pretty bad, lots of pot holes, loose gravel, all kinds of offroad stuff...
Well, this is what we did not expect, however we knew it would be happened.
A Multistrada got punched, by a sharp stone:

This Multistrada seemed ok with the road:

And of course, for my GS:

GS really showed up it's consistent of handling ability as well as providing comport to the rider. It also proved me quality of the new Heidenau tire set, which I have just install with some km before this trip:

Better road at the end of Vietnam roads:

We reached the border gate. It's a really small check-point. Noticed there are very minimum movement of personnel and vehicles across the border.
Still did not know how sure the guys would let us go:

...................

 

[Viethorse]

Closer to the check point office:

12 bikes, all types of bike:

I was really there:

After a while, we had the plan to head back!:

Looks on this sign board - it's our hope at that point.

Just stopped on the edge...

 

[SilverBullet]

Have a great trip and enjoy. You'll be sorry it wasn't 3.5 weeks instead of days, that's so short. I've rode in all those countries except for your home country Vietnam. Always rode on smaller, older and inexpensive bikes so never hassled. Hope your large group with expensive big bikes gets through ok. Huge profits to be made on illegal imported big bikes, especially in Thailand where the import duty is 300%.

Cambodia roads can be atroscious. You'll be fine on the GS with the Heidenau's but some of the others in your group might have a handful, especially if you get some rain.

Thailand roads are great, most being better than here in Texas. More traffic police than the other countries though so always keep plenty of small bills in your pocket to be quickly on your way after getting stopped.

Laos could be my favorite of the three for visiting. Nice balance of everything.

How many people have asked you about your TWT sticker and what it means?

_

 

[Viethorse]

Thanks SilverBullet.
Yeah, really sorry as we could not make ourselves to be available for the trip some more days. Well, that's all we have for the trip. We'd gotta wrap all the thing within such short period.
Luckily, we did not have any issue with traffic polices, except sometimes waiting at the border gates.
None along the road asked me about the stickers, but the members of my team. I have told them since I came back from the US.

 

[Viethorse]

Finally, we were allowed to pass Vietnam border. Now to register at the Cambodia side:

Hit the road again, guys:

Good road condition, empty traffic...

We decided to have dinner at this place, as we don't know where and how long we would see the restaurant again.
We had also been informed that the remain road from their to Stung Treng gonna be very bad:

Well, just happy with what we have had. These two sport-bike riders did not care what they would face in next couple of hours:

Anh ấy lúc này vẫn còn đang sung lắm!

...

 

[Viethorse]

We decided to continue riding and rest the night at Stung Treng as initial plan.
Someone told us that the road from there to Stung Treng is very bad, however, we did not think it is such bad!! And it's around 200km long.
That was unforgettable night! All of us were exhausted with the road. Can't tell how bad it was. It was paved road, however we don't know because of poor maintenance or over loaded vehicle, there were several big pot holes, lose sand, soil and stone... My GS many time almost dumped into the bloody big hole and the canals across the road. Poor the sport bikes, BMW S1000RR, Yamaha R6 and CBR600, it was the nightmare for them.
We had to stop several times along the road. At least two times for punched tires, some times because of two tired riders, one time the S1000RR need more gas (from other bike's tank)

Reached hotel in Stung Treng almost mid night.
Here 's what we got for the first (half) day:

After checked in, we went out for supper. Don't really know why the meal was so expensive.

 

[Viethorse]

Day #2 ~ 230km from Stung Treng (Cambodia) to Pakse (Laos).

Gold River Hotel, stationed just beside the Mekong river. Nice and well equipped hotel. I think it was $25 for a twin bed room, without breakfast, with free wifi, large parking area.

Nice views from my room:

Our guys were there to prepare the bikes:

Met an US biker - Jake - He told us that he had been riding there in Southeast Asia for around 20years. He made the map, which I can't recall the name. Asked him for the road from there to Pakse, he said all well paved road.

Went for a breakfast:

Food there is almost same as what we have in Vietnam. They even provide us Vietnamese coffee.

We also found that there are a lot of people who can speak Vietnamese fluently:

There was no ATM or credit card machine, or something like that. So to be survived, need to be well prepared with cash:

We departed around 9:30 AM.

 

[Viethorse]

The second day began with not a good sign. With very kind support from the hotel manager, we could not find anyone around Stung Treng who can deal with the rear tire.
Most likely the CB1000 would not be able to pass Laos-Thailand border.
We passed the Mekong river, and the sun was shined very hot. Hmm, this area seemed much hotter than in HCMC.
It was even hotter when we faced with this bloody issue!!

Dang, it quite a nail:

And worse, it is not tubeless tire.

And we did not have any spare tube.

This Africa twin seems to be the only one in Vietnam. The owner of this bike did not intend to ride this bike for this trip. He had planed to pass Phnom Penh to exchange with his GSA, which is stored there. However, due to long long process at the Vietnam border, we could not make a passing by Phnom Penh in the day 1.

Hmm, Multistrada looks safer:

And of course, my GS also:

...

 

[Viethorse]

We decided to split into two group.
One stayed to deal with the Africa twin. And the other one proceed to Cambodia - Laos border for checking the procedures and others.

I was heading to the border.
Reached the border without any issue. The officers there they speak Vietnamese quite well:

Asked for the procedure, informed the other group, and take a rest, to wait for them to appear:

The tire work took more time than what we though, and we proceeded to check out from Cambodia:

Now to Laos' checkpoint:

Passport control office:

Almost done!

 

[Viethorse]

The front group done the Passport control at Laos side. Now for the bikes:

Happy time - to forget the bloody high temp there at noon time:

The Laos officer was pretty nice guy. He have studied in Vietnam for 5-6 years or so, he can speak Vietnamese quite well. Very helpful guy.

Done with bike's paperwork, we headed to the Khone Phapheng waterfall - the larget Waterfall in Southeast Asia. Link for more info about the waterfall.

In Laos, "Huay" means Bridge, I think:

Really sunny, really hot:

It's one of adventure styles:

Reaching the waterfall:

Ticket to get into the tourist area and for bike park:

...

 

[cdc]

Excellent!
Cannot believe your friend did not carry a spare tube..

 

[Viethorse]

Excellent!
Cannot believe your friend did not carry a spare tube..

Well, as I mentioned, Africa twin was not his intended bike for this trip, but his GS.

 

[Tourmeister]

More please...

 

[Viethorse]

More please...

Yes Sir!

 

[Viethorse]

Some photos of the Khone Phapheng waterfall, the largest waterfall in Southeast Asia:

It's how the waterfall looks like. I just be able to capture a small corner of it:

A small shelter providing soft drinks, souvenir, and rest area for tourists.
:

Downstream of the fall:

 

[Viethorse]

An overview of this corner:

__________________

 

[Tourmeister]

That is very cool! I bet the sound was incredible. Looks like flood water given the color of the water. Does it run that heavy all the time or is the flow seasonal?

 

[Viethorse]

That is very cool! I bet the sound was incredible. Looks like flood water given the color of the water. Does it run that heavy all the time or is the flow seasonal?

It is, the sound is really awesome. Wish I could have chance to come back there and do camping.

I have done a little search on the map, and found that my photo above just somehow captured 1% of the overall waterfall.
The below pix may tell the true size of the biggest waterfall in SE Asia:

I don't know how about the normal season. However it must be different. Because the downstream of Mekong river is in Vietnam, and the water lever going low during dry season. This area should be the same with us.

 

[Viethorse]

Someone may like to see this video - BBC made it about normal life of locals here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BatNeIDbdw

 

[CBRider]

I enjoyed your photos, thanks for posting them!

 

[stingray]

Great report, thanks for sharing!

 

[Simmons1]

Thanks for sharing a great ride report!

 

[Viethorse]

Thank you guys, there are lot more photos coming...

 

[Viethorse]

Then we moved inside the tourist are for lunch.

Very nice and well set up restaurant:

All cooking stuff were arranged pretty neat. Notice the clock, that time we hadn't had lunch yet.

These are the tool they used to cook sticky rice - almost same as what we have in Vietnam:

Too hungry, we were focus on the lunch then forget to take food pix.

All good food.
During luch, we called the other group, they are still struggling with the tire. We talked to the restaurant that they should prepare for the next coming group.