- Do you want to Create a new account?
- If you forgot your username or password, get a new password emailed to you.
- Having trouble logging in? Please check the FAQ for some solutions.
cycling south east asia
Submitted by laromagnola on Sun, 2009-12-13 03:54
hello there!
at the end of january i'm going to start my first real cycling tour for 4 months around south east asia. i'll take off from BKK and head east towards cambodia then vietnam along the coast and up north to laos and then i'll see where the road takes me from there. i'd like to make it to malaysia but don't know if i have enough time. i would love to met any fellow cyclists around there at the time. hit me up if you are going to be around. any itinerary advice will be very much appreciated!
cheers
lisa
Cycling SE Asia
Hi Lisa
In response to your plan about cycling in SE Asia. I recently returned form a 10 month trip with my son from Ireland to Japan. Fab!
We did the stretch from BKK to Cambodia - a bit of a nightmare once you get over the Cambodian borded. The road seems to have been 'under construction' for many years. In fact all that happens is they steam-roller it with a kind of toothed roller that makes lots of deep indentations in the mud. This helps cars & trucls get grip but it is sheer hell for cyclists and goes on nearly all the way to Siem Reap. In the rainy season it is a quagmire into which buses sink - impassable by most cyclists. Be warned, it is misery-making.
We found Thailand far more rewarding than Cambodia (people, prices etc)so headed back into Thailand after Angkor Wat (north on unmade roads via Anlong Veng) and enjoyed the less touristy places like Roi Et in the North East on our way up to Laos.
Laos is superb as you will have been told. There is a legendary stopover at some teak huts by a hot spring around the middle of Laos. All cyclists in Laos seem to tell you about it. Few other travellers can reach it. It is after Vang Vieng (about 81km north) near Phatong Lam. Spectacular scenery. Vang Viang is aimed at backpacking young western gap-year kids who bus between hip locations around Asia and think they've seen the world. It's beautiful in a natural sense but the focus is on bars selling silly shots, ganja sprinkeld on pizza & so called whitewater tyre rafting where there is no white water just hundreds of oiks vomiting their drink and ecstacy tabs into the water. Luang Prabang further north is, however, a lovely calm small city worth the trip.
Vietnam was also great although I have heard that further south is now all super highways (we did the north only, via North Laos, across to Hanoi and then up into China). Roads in Nth Vietnam were pretty primative).
Check out details on our blog www.bugbitten.com/father_son_cycle
Have a great trip.
Regards
Mark
thanks!
hey Mark
thanks a bunch for your very informative reply. the hot springs huts in laos are now on my must go list. i check out your blog and found loads of useful information. thanks again
lisa
hi lisa, would love to join
hi lisa,
would love to join you on the tour. check ur pm.
Hello Lisa I am at the moment
Hello Lisa
I am at the moment in Kuala Lumpur. I will start heading North at the beginning of January and around the end of the months I will be in Bangkok. My itinerary is the same as you, East then up to the North along the Vietnam coast and back West to Laos.
I travel pretty heavy because I am also carrying winter cloths. I usually average between 50 and 100 km a day, depending on the road and on the sightings.
Let's keep in touch if you make it to Bangkok.
Edo
laromagnola
Vedo solo adesso il tuo nick. Avrei potuto scrivere in italiano. Vabbe'
Saluti
Edo