SE ASIA - DAY07 - PATTAYA to KOH KONG(Cambodia)
The hotel doesn't comes with breakfast at SGD40/day. That allowed me to set off at 6.30am when the sky just turned bright. Due to being early, traffic was smooth getting out of Pattaya.
Had my breakfast in one of the petrol kiosk 7-11 along the way.
It is always pleasant to ride in the early morning when the weather is cool. The temperature will start to heat up at about 9.30am when the sun rises up to a certain level. Taking out the jacket would be so much bearable, but at the expense of safety. Safety remains the be the priority so I have to bear the price to be roasted under the sun. Hope that the temperature will drop to a comfortable level when I go up north towards Laos.
The road from Pattaya to Ban Hat Lek Border was in good condition and I manage to cruise at 110km/hr most of the time. It does pass through a few towns and I have to stop at quite a few traffic lights. It is only until the last 80km when good road turns into bad roads. The signs there saying that they are trying to build a Special Economic Zone there near the border and there are full of constructions at the moment. The roads were full of pot-holes and a lot of the area were covered with dirt. I have to reluctantly reduce my speed to 90km/hr in the last stretch of road.
Once I reached the Thailand side of the border, I parked my bike in front of the shops and walked over to the immigration counter to get my passport stamped. Pretty straight forward.
Then I have to walk slightly forward to the custom counter and had over the outgoing vehicle conveyance form to them, the one that was filled up when coming into Thailand. The counter staff asked me for the custom form for the bike but I said that Sadao border did not issue them. Then he started to ask for my vehicle registration details and then ask me to take some papers to the other side of custom counter when they process the arrivals into Thailand, which is only across the road. The custom officer there check the papers and stamp it, gives me a card and say that I am clear to go. The card is to be passed to the guards when I ride across the barrier and the guards again take some more details of my bike before letting me go.
50 meters after exit Thailand, I arrived at the Cambodia border.
I parked the bike before the barrier as guided by a young Khmer boy.
He offered to guide me through the process and asked for my passport. I politely declined as I know they will attempt to scam me off in every opportunity they can. I told him that I will deal with it myself as I have done it before. (yes, in other country to be honest). So I went to the counters and start observing what is going on. Then there is this health quarantine counter who called me "Mister, please come here". Well, it's a nurse in uniform and asked for me passport. After that, she used a thermometer gun and pointed at me, write something onto a yellow slip and handed over to me and requested for THB20 (SGD0.80) . I have heard about scams and I look at the yellow slip, it appears to be legitimate. Last thing I want to end up with is a refused entry into Cambodia for not paying a 80cents fee, so I just paid up and move on.
Obtained the entry application form from the counter and filled it up. Then I just queue up at the counter and have my passport stamped. No Visa required for Singapore passport. Yeah, I am in Cambodia !
Another 20 meters down the road, a big Chinese supermarket, bigger than any one you can find in the area.
After passing the long bridge, I arrived at the small Koh Kong town that I am scheduled to stay for the night. Nathy Koh Kong was supposed to be a much newer and better hotel but it was fully booked. I can't believe it, fully booked hotel in such a small sleepy town. Anyway, I settled with Apex Koh Kong, which is decent with Air-con at a rate of USD16/day. Yes, the accommodations here are that cheap ! Of course, you do not expect all the bells and whistle of a 5 star hotel, this hotel room definitely beats what I used to stay in my army barracks, Air-con, LCD TV, private bathroom, hot-showers.
While Cambodia have their own Cambodia Riel (KHR) currency, USD is widely used especially for big amounts. For small charges, they will still charge in Riel. So I have to bring both currencies when I go out. The street conversion rate is USD1 to 4000KHR. So when I paid the hotel staff USD20 and they return me back KHR20,000 in change.
Did my laundry and went out to hunt for food.
Had 2 cans of the Cambodia signature drink with fried rice for 10k Riel (SGD3)
Everything taste so great when you are hungry.
Got a Metfone SIM card for USD1 and top up USD5 worth of credits. Then I activated a 1.5GB 7 days data plan at USD2 credit, quite a good deal. Once it exceeds 1.5Gb within the 7 days, the data will be throttled to 384kbps. 7 days later, I can activate another similar package by dialing *133*150# . The strange thing here is that the APN is not configured automatically for Android devices. You will need to manually configure it, otherwise the data will not work. (Name = metfone , APN = metfone)
Spent the afternoon doing some maintenance on the bike. Oiled the motorcycle chain. Found that the front of my shoes started to open up, thanks for the two days of soaking it in water, I tried to fix it with JB weld that I brought along and hope it will hang-on for another day before I go buy a new pair in Sihanoukville.
Then it's dinner time and the street outside were really dark, no street lights.
I came across this BBQ stall and ordered 3 chicken wings.
It came with some pickled papaya salad for KHR6,000 (SGD2) . It is barbequed to perfection, juicy but cooked. It is unlike those you buy from the hawker stalls where they are precooked and heated up again when you ordered, hard and dry. This taste reminds me the days when we do the BBQ in east coast long time back.
Day 08 - Koh Kong to Sihanoukville
Had my breakfast in one of the petrol kiosk 7-11 along the way.
It is always pleasant to ride in the early morning when the weather is cool. The temperature will start to heat up at about 9.30am when the sun rises up to a certain level. Taking out the jacket would be so much bearable, but at the expense of safety. Safety remains the be the priority so I have to bear the price to be roasted under the sun. Hope that the temperature will drop to a comfortable level when I go up north towards Laos.
The road from Pattaya to Ban Hat Lek Border was in good condition and I manage to cruise at 110km/hr most of the time. It does pass through a few towns and I have to stop at quite a few traffic lights. It is only until the last 80km when good road turns into bad roads. The signs there saying that they are trying to build a Special Economic Zone there near the border and there are full of constructions at the moment. The roads were full of pot-holes and a lot of the area were covered with dirt. I have to reluctantly reduce my speed to 90km/hr in the last stretch of road.
Once I reached the Thailand side of the border, I parked my bike in front of the shops and walked over to the immigration counter to get my passport stamped. Pretty straight forward.
Then I have to walk slightly forward to the custom counter and had over the outgoing vehicle conveyance form to them, the one that was filled up when coming into Thailand. The counter staff asked me for the custom form for the bike but I said that Sadao border did not issue them. Then he started to ask for my vehicle registration details and then ask me to take some papers to the other side of custom counter when they process the arrivals into Thailand, which is only across the road. The custom officer there check the papers and stamp it, gives me a card and say that I am clear to go. The card is to be passed to the guards when I ride across the barrier and the guards again take some more details of my bike before letting me go.
50 meters after exit Thailand, I arrived at the Cambodia border.
I parked the bike before the barrier as guided by a young Khmer boy.
He offered to guide me through the process and asked for my passport. I politely declined as I know they will attempt to scam me off in every opportunity they can. I told him that I will deal with it myself as I have done it before. (yes, in other country to be honest). So I went to the counters and start observing what is going on. Then there is this health quarantine counter who called me "Mister, please come here". Well, it's a nurse in uniform and asked for me passport. After that, she used a thermometer gun and pointed at me, write something onto a yellow slip and handed over to me and requested for THB20 (SGD0.80) . I have heard about scams and I look at the yellow slip, it appears to be legitimate. Last thing I want to end up with is a refused entry into Cambodia for not paying a 80cents fee, so I just paid up and move on.
Obtained the entry application form from the counter and filled it up. Then I just queue up at the counter and have my passport stamped. No Visa required for Singapore passport. Yeah, I am in Cambodia !
Another 20 meters down the road, a big Chinese supermarket, bigger than any one you can find in the area.
After passing the long bridge, I arrived at the small Koh Kong town that I am scheduled to stay for the night. Nathy Koh Kong was supposed to be a much newer and better hotel but it was fully booked. I can't believe it, fully booked hotel in such a small sleepy town. Anyway, I settled with Apex Koh Kong, which is decent with Air-con at a rate of USD16/day. Yes, the accommodations here are that cheap ! Of course, you do not expect all the bells and whistle of a 5 star hotel, this hotel room definitely beats what I used to stay in my army barracks, Air-con, LCD TV, private bathroom, hot-showers.
While Cambodia have their own Cambodia Riel (KHR) currency, USD is widely used especially for big amounts. For small charges, they will still charge in Riel. So I have to bring both currencies when I go out. The street conversion rate is USD1 to 4000KHR. So when I paid the hotel staff USD20 and they return me back KHR20,000 in change.
Did my laundry and went out to hunt for food.
Had 2 cans of the Cambodia signature drink with fried rice for 10k Riel (SGD3)
Everything taste so great when you are hungry.
Got a Metfone SIM card for USD1 and top up USD5 worth of credits. Then I activated a 1.5GB 7 days data plan at USD2 credit, quite a good deal. Once it exceeds 1.5Gb within the 7 days, the data will be throttled to 384kbps. 7 days later, I can activate another similar package by dialing *133*150# . The strange thing here is that the APN is not configured automatically for Android devices. You will need to manually configure it, otherwise the data will not work. (Name = metfone , APN = metfone)
Spent the afternoon doing some maintenance on the bike. Oiled the motorcycle chain. Found that the front of my shoes started to open up, thanks for the two days of soaking it in water, I tried to fix it with JB weld that I brought along and hope it will hang-on for another day before I go buy a new pair in Sihanoukville.
Then it's dinner time and the street outside were really dark, no street lights.
I came across this BBQ stall and ordered 3 chicken wings.
It came with some pickled papaya salad for KHR6,000 (SGD2) . It is barbequed to perfection, juicy but cooked. It is unlike those you buy from the hawker stalls where they are precooked and heated up again when you ordered, hard and dry. This taste reminds me the days when we do the BBQ in east coast long time back.
Day 08 - Koh Kong to Sihanoukville
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