the journey.....: March 2014

our last trip was to pattaya. took sometimes to materialized this one. members in and out. finally only 5 of us. me, dato b, zack, and 2 new comers to king mat jue and pekan. again it has been delayed when chukai and kuantan were hit by the big flood end of last year. we had to postpone again. a little bit tense when we something was delay. anyway.. it was a go on the new date.

we make a move one day earlier from the original plan. the idea was to have an extra day in cambodia.

day 1- kuantan to thung song

i left home at 330 am in the morning. why??? not really can sleep that night. pekan was already somewhere in segenting kra riding. so i have to move alone from kuantan till chukai. mat jue and dato b still at home when i were in petronas jakar.

ready to rumble... only three of us from chukai. zack is on his way from the platform and waiting for us in kota bharu. anything chopper delay that morning.. we have to say good bye to zack. but alhamdulillah zack manage to touch down at 9am that morning.

having breakfast at kak comel stall in pasir putih. rezeki dia pagi tuh.. after so many stalls mat jue stop at that one.. we had a lite breakfast before move to tasik banding waiting for zack.

our original plan was to go thru rantau panjang border since using this route can save us almost 2 hours. so while waiting for zack we decide to wait for him in banding resort. look at the view. beautiful God creation. who says malaysia do not have a beautiful route??? actually grik-jeli is one of my favorite route in malaysia. especially in the early morning. during metal butt in 2011, we ride thru this area at 3 am in the morning. have a sleep for couple of hours before we finish metal butt.

zack arrived about 1 hour later. we regroup and headed straight to sg petani to meet hj own our route advisor.

i can say we had a lunch here even we are really hungry actually.

as planned, we met hj own. he said a few words about riding in these new countries. he went to all these countries except he only went to north vietnam-sa pa. we are using different route. and we covered more than he did.

the mamak restaurant where we had a meeting.

while refueling at changlun we received a call telling us one of our good friend asmawi abu bakar passed away. we were shocked. he lived behind dato b house in binjai. it was all sudden. Al-fatihah to him. may his soul rest in peace.

the border clearance was smooth that day. we arrived in thung song around 7pm. straight to the muslim restaurant opposite of our hotel. good food. it is at the petrol station food court.

day 2- thung song to ratchaburi

we had a breakfast at the same restaurant that morning. almost the same menu.

it was cold that morning. i am worried since i do not bring water proof pants. only jeans. i said to myself if this continuing like this i will be in trouble. alhamdulillah... this condition only for like an hour and so.

only for a while. it was hot and getting hotter after that. this is what i hate about segenting kra.

look at dato b. tired he said. too hot.

our supposed to be nakhon pathom. but the gps showed us a muslim restaurant near ratchaburi. so we looked for it but we are not that lucky. it closed at 4pm. one of the owner sons' bring us to one the stall. owned by aminah. a very nice lady.

day 3- ratchaburi to siem reap

as usual we start early to finish early. we always on the bike at 6am. all riders had to adapt with our way of riding.

stopped for breakfast.

breaking up is normal especially in a heavy traffic area. we lost mat jue. just sit tide. relax.

the day was getting hotter and hotter. especially when we approaching cambodia border.

no wonder when we arrived in cambodia border it was dusty all over the place. it answered all the question why it was so hot.

we regroup with pekan here. border clearance in thai side was easy.

dato b... soon will be dato'

photo session at the cambodia border crossing.

we almost failed to enter cambodia. alhamdulillah .. god knows how it was settled.

the road from the border to siem reap was quite rough and tough. potholes everywhere. road under construction. the visibility is very low to spot the danger in front of us. we are quite late in siem reap.

token from us to the restaurant owner. i forgot the name of the restaurant. but guys... must go to this restaurant. may be because of we hungry?? hahahha

do some shopping. but dato b was flat. sleeping.

day 4- siem reap to phnom pehn

breakfast before left for PP. not bad this hotel. bed and breakfast.

we have our time at this hotel. center of the town. in front of the hotel is a shopping area. like nite market i can say. other than that of course ANGKOR WAT. dato b said siem reap is nothing without angkor wat. we went to angkor wat. good thing is we can bring our bike into the wat area. but not really into the central wat. that one you have to walk actually. we made a few round before we left for PP. for those who wants to visit here. at the ticket counter just bur the ticket and ask the permission from the authority. they will allow you to go in.

so many temples here. small and big.

pekang aka shah rukh khang sungai isap

biasala.. mesti sengihnye hahhaha

mat juee our speaker..

blek the legend..

dato b.. coolest dato'

bravo blekki..

macho man dato b... hok ni la datin sue dok tahan sgt tgk ni

our moment here... life time ride....

5 minutes break

waiting for exting the temple area. so any vehicles and tourist. gotta take turns. tired. all muka ayu. we spend almost couple of hours i guess. we jsut riding all over the places. for the tourist you have to walk to see inside the temple.

dusty from siem reap to PP. all day long like this.

pre-arrange by our agent. halal restaurant on the way to PP. good food. i forgot the name of this place. but if you pass bye here, you will not miss. got big signage by the road side.

god knows how tough this ride was. but we enjoy it very much. very dusty. bad road surface. we have friend went to cambodia by cars. they said how can we ride in this kind of conditions.

day 5-phnom penh to gia nghia

since we enter cambodia border, we know our journey will be a tough ride. leaving pp to enter vietnam is another day ride. dirt road almost half way before arrived in xamat border vietnam.

having breakfast by the road side. our agent fauzi tapau our breakfar from pp.

take 5.. as usual. hot weather.

some house photos in cambodia.

the most exciting moment in this ride is to enter vietnam border. hahaha we manage to get thru.

on vietnam soil....

my plate number for vietnam..

the real avventure now begins hahahaha mann the road condition even thougher than cambodia.... nok nangih waseeee...

the hotel we stayed in gia nghia... power failure that night. no wifi, nothing... blep even more tension

day 6 gia nghia to kon tum

pretty cold that morning. we move as early as posibble. we had meeting with our guide every night. we were informed about the toad condition. pretty tough until we reach ho chi minh trail.

sunrise on the mountain. we were told that most of the area were planted with coffee. Vietnam is the second largest coffee producer in the world. anyway, among the best coffee i ever taste is vietnam coffee.

stopped for breakfast. tuna with french bread. fresh from oven.

bon ma thuat

we have a surprised her in kon tum. our arrival were welcome by kon tum bikers at the city entrance. about 20 various bikes waiting for us i guess.

even most of them cannot speak english but we tried hard to communicate even with sign language

hahahha this one is a bit controversial. anyhow its in kon tum to far from malaysia. if its in hatyai will be a different story hahaha.. one of the bikers family. her first kid.