What a day

What a day, meeting an old pal from bankfoot,  a morning coffee then looking for somewhere to meet calumn nearby and then the day went to shit, a dog bounded out and bit Fiona on the backside. Within moments we were surrounded by concerned bystanders,  I was trying to organise a taxi to the hospital, meanwhile calumn arrived , eventually the dog owner who was full of apologies organised a taxi to take us all to hospital ( about half an hour away ) so the dog owner and Fiona got admitted to A&E whilst calumn and I waited outside for more than 2 hours while Fi got 4 injections and then we got a taxi back to a cafe to properly catch up.

What a day so far! Our plans have changed because Fi has 4 more hospital appointments over the next 4 weeks, Vietnam Hospital tour right enough. 

The people are.so amazing we can't thank them enough . The lady who's dog bit Fiona paid the bill for the taxi and the initial hospital treatment then asked is to have dinner with them, we politely refused . Its at time like these you realise you are on your own people thousands of miles away cant help so we are  reliant on strangers,  that's travelling,  thanks to aĺl the locals and Calumn for moral support , it was appreciated!

keeping the red flag flying high

our saviors who were all on their way to work and who took time to help us,  especially the lady who had the seats on the back of her bike who provider a stool for fiona to rest on !

and great to meet Calumn who was a great help, hadn't seen him for over 30 years but he certainly came through today.

Trying to catch the chaos but failed 

and again 

Goodbye Cambodia hello Vietnam

Well that was a short visit to Cambodia, I wished it was longer, we saw some amazing temples including some that were used in a film .

A short flight to Ho Chi Min or Saigon as the locals still call it, and in a proper plane, but it was Bumpy and Fiona saw a girl being sick ( I'm glad I missed it) Immigration was a PITA, we got the slowest most torn faced woman  ever, no smiles, obviously hated her job, I had to go back and make sure our visas were for 45 days because her writing was so bad, I feel this may come back to haunt us when we leave.

.Got stung for a 40 dollar taxi into town from the airport, suckered again, and encountered the most dodgy ATM at the airport which we thought was going to keep our card.

I ended up directing the taxi to our apartment, we actually didn't know exactly where we we staying until after we got to the rough address we had. I WhatsApp the guy who owns the apartment explaining we were in a coffee shop nearby, his reply "check in at 2' it was 1.30 and he didn't send instructions until 2.45, nice apartment though but to be honest not impressed at that point. 

Out for a wander and food near our digs, friendly but have to use the translate on the phone, trying to get used to the currency ( the dong ) could only take 5 million out the first time ( about 120 pounds) but on first inspection it seems cheap 😀 

We pick up bikes on Wednesday but are hopefully meeting an old pal from Perth today (Monday )

Some photos of the famous tree and temple from the film Temple of doom for you 

Keeping on keeping on 

Cambodia

 So we put off coming here because of the Thai - Cambodia war, the Foreign office were changing their minds every couple of days so we lingered in Laos too long .

Cambodia so far has been a shining light, the locals very kind and happy to see us, the roads are actually tarmac and we'll surfaced and the rubbish seems to be under control and. 

We are only here for 8 days which is unfortunate,  picked up a couple of Yamahas , PG 1 s , our new favourite bikes and done just over 100km this morning before the sun and heat became unbearable,  back to the hotel , shower and out for lunch at Pub Street, it's a thing !

The plan tomorrow is get a very early start to get a sunrise photo at Ankor Watt

A bit of an early night after a cheap meal and a visit to the Artisan night market, some nice things where we could have bought some more treasures to take home or more likely Junk, mind you we are getting the hard sell constantly, tut tut  drivers, stall owners, restaurants,  and even massage girls , it gets a bit tiring. 

A 5 am start, after not much sleep because I knew it was an early start to head to the Ankor Wat,  Fiona bought the tickets, over 100 USD , and that's for a 3 day ticket.  A ride out of the town in the dark saw us there before 6 am, then we got charged for parking, that pissed us off a bit. Even at 6am it was filling up with tourists, christ I hate tourists especially ignorant ones ! We got a few photos,  saw some scrounging monkeys ( not a euphemism) and had a cuppa before moving on to the next one which once again were going to charge us for parking. We just parked at the side of the road and got photos from there. Job done we actually got back to the hotel in time for breakfast , long time since I managed 3 1/2 hours motorcycling before breakfast !

And today Wednesday another early start to head to Spean Bridge (actually true) its beside a lake just south of Siam Reip, I added it on the GPS as a waypoint , have to be careful when I get home to put the right one in otherwise it could be a very long trip. Its funny the area reminded me of Loch Earn, apart from the heat, the people and the architecture, nice place to hang out with a bit of a breeze making it bearable..We shall keep on keeping on....

Temple ( not me )

Old things, its like the SCMCC

tourists

Sunrise over Ankor Wat

Monkey

still sunrise

two monkeys !

Fi with her bike, some old things in the background

Lost at this point

Some park, it was closed

Fi always happy

Loch Earn

Cuppa in the layby

7th Century, even older than me

Bikes at rest

And again

Fiona exploring

Spean bridge

Paske Laos

We took an internal flight to here in the very South of Laos, as we flew in despite being told the roads were OK in the South they weren't.  The main road is paved but most of the side streets aren't.  We are staying in  a nice almost European Hotel so we can escape the heat at midday and the general chaos and rubbish outside.

The locals live an outdoor life, cooking and relaxing outside mostly, in amongst the litter and dust. We have seen several fires in  buckets outside and you are never sure if they are cooking or burning rubbish. The Lao people are very friendly though and don't seem to mind living that way.

We have found a couple of good restaurants, an Italian and a French guy who makes brilliant burgers and we have experienced the local stuff as well mostly followed by a few hours on the toilet.

So tomorrow we are leaving, we only have 2 days left on our visas,  it's been interesting!

the market

the old town isn't too bad 

Wat 

and again

it seems to be party night every night 

the night Market

sunset on the Mekong 

dodgy cafe 

the showground during the day

gone fishing

gone shopping

another view of the Mekong 

the lady who had this built is a coffee magnate,  you think she could pay to get it cleaned up outside her gates

Chinese stuff for sale 

na, dinnae think so

these wee farms at the side of the river are nice

Street View

look at the rubbish view

Chinese New year soon so  best buy some more stuff you don't need 

Thailand Part 2 , the video

 Where we climb mountains on Honda 125s , get lost and meet some elephants

Into Vientiane

Well we made it, just over 750km on probably some of the worst roads I have ever had the misfortune to ride on . Near Death experiences with Chinese truck drivers and the local idiot's. It has been exiting and very tiring. We stayed in some outstanding places where we rested in nature and ignored the harsh reality of North Laos before getting back on the bikes do do some more. I do wonder why the locals dont kick up a stink about the infrastructure,  the Chinese built a railway from Luang prabang  to the capital Vientiane  but the roads have got worse, If you take the train I believe its like an airport check in with airport type security and everyone is being watched , watch the news for some kind of chinese takeover in the future.

We had a nice couple of days just South of Vang Viang , idyllic actually,  met a couple from Kazakhstan, Mara and Marina, had a great laugh with them, he runs a moto tour company throughout the Stans so now that is definitely an option in the future

Several people warned us before we left luang prabang the roads were bad but we had to find out for ourselves. 

So now in Vientiane the capital of Laos which is very noisy, back in the land of perverts and very young girls and dodgy businessmen 

It all feels wrong. 

It's been a blast but we are both knackered, the adrenaline has subsided and been replaced for a need for sleep.

The yamahas have been outstanding, only 115cc but my god they have been amazing.

I may do a comparison at some point ( after we recover) the photos show the highs, not the lows.

Would I recommend it, well yes and no, speak to me / us offline to get the real story 

Stunning sunset

and not too shabby during the day

Booze cruise 

waiting for passengers 

Fiona oot for a paddle 

oor wee hoose

sunset Fiona

our new Kazakh friends

Stayed in this very interesting place for a night, a story to be told in Person

The bar 

Handing the bikes back

And a welcome drink before we got into our hotel for a sleep