Start of SE Asia Touring

06 December 2011 - Bangkok to Sisophon - train and 60 km

Got up so we could make the 6:00 train.  We were told to get there at 5:00 am to ensure the bicycles got on.  Bought the tickets for the train no problem but had difficulty finding the cargo compartment...as we were debating just shoving them on the train the conductor showed us where to go.  Then we had to go to cargo office to pay, the bikes cost as much as us for the trip.

After 6 hours on a cramped train it was time to get on the bikes and ride to the border.  Luckily John had been through the border before and we went right through the touts to the correct office.  I waited as John got stamped out of Thailand and then took my turn.  Then we went to the Cambodia visa office and waited in line together as the guards watched our bikes.  

Off to Sisophan we went.  It's interesting passing to Thailand to Cambodia as we switched from left to right side of the road.  There seems to be an exact point where to make the transition.  Luckily I had read that Cambodia was a right side country otherwise I would have been quite confused.

Immediately we saw trucks overloaded to an absurd amount.  Just as my legs were getting tired a pullalong tractor slowly passed us and we jumped behind it to draft the next 30 km.  It was great to go so fast without using barely any effort.  The children started screaming "HELLO" from all directions.  Most I couldn't even see where they were coming from...I refer to those as sniper attacks.

Drafting off a tractor.  The guy on top didn't know what to think of us.  Loved when he pulled out a smartphone to answer a call.

Giant cambodian crepe

07 December 2011 – Sisophon to Siem Reap – 108 km

Headed off to Siem Reap today.  Since I haven't seen rice paddies before I enjoyed watching as harvest was happening.  I was hoping that we would come across another tractor to draft behind but we only got about 5 km of help.

We gawked as multiple pigs laid on their back and placed in a wood U-shaped basket were on the rear of motorcycles.  The winner of our “best” packed vehicle occurred with a fully packed van with no less then 3 motorcycles hanging out the end with people sitting on the motorcycle seats!  It's always interesting.