2 - Recap: Month on Moto

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After epic skiing, mountaineering and kayaking adventures in the Canadian Rockies with cousin Nate, it was time to set off on the solo segment - nine weeks in Asia!

I knew I wanted to spend these upcoming months with little structure or plans. I set off with not much more than a flight into Bangkok, a hit list of things I knew I wanted to do or see, and planned a few days out at a time, slowly stitching an itinerary together and taking in countless suggestions from friends and fellow travelers met along the way.

I planned to replay quite a bit from my Dad’s “Oriental Quest” section (which needs a new name fit for 2023) - see their itinerary and photos here, which included highlights of SE Asia, India, Nepal & China. Before setting off I knew I wanted to motorbike through rural areas, explore the culture hubs of big cities, and travel with the flexibility to wake up without knowing where you were sleeping that night, and easily answer the question: “how about a couple more days here?”. So in Thailand I bought the ultimate freedom machine - a motorbike, a story which I write about in the next post.

After tallying up my motorbiking mileage from the last month, I was shocked to learn I trekked 1,600 miles across Thailand, Laos & Cambodia in a legendary journey through the mountains, small cities, villages and countryside of this beautiful region! (1,600 miles is roughly the distance from Maine to Florida. Holy shit!). Crossing international borders, one minute I was driving on the left side of the road on well maintained Thai concrete, and the next on the right side on Cambodian dirt toads. Some days were tiring, both mentally and physically. When biking for multiple hours you're constantly on alert, your ass hurts, your neck gets stiff, you run out of things to think about, but with the remedy of of a $4 Thai back massages, the endless jaw dropping vistas, the ability to explore random villages, and with new unexplored cities at each destination, the fun of the adventure continued. All in all, the most difficult part was the mornings when craving a nice American breakfast, I had no choice but to eat a a spicy rice plate again!

With my backpack bungeed to the moto, I traversed North Thailand’s famous Mae Hon Son Loop in the heart of the Golden Triangle, spent days in a Buddhist monastery - “meditating” (in quotes as it’s more appropriate to say “I tried my best”) for days, journeyed far east on the moto briefly into Laos, and then straight-lined south into the less-traveled flatlands of Eastern Thailand. My last couple weeks were spent in in northern Cambodia before returning west to Bangkok, not without first enjoying myself on the beautiful Thai Island of Koh Samet.

The route. If you don’t want to read anymore, just click on images to enlarge & scroll.

The rig. (Before adding the rain cover for the monsoons)

Eyes on the road and proof for my mom I had a hemet

I was fortunate enough to have no major motorcycle issues, accidents, or nights spent without a bed. In my favor was both the low / monsoon season and the unfortunate slow bounce back of this region post-pandemic - which often was quite a depressing reality on how heavily certain economies in this region rely on tourism dollars. Typically I was one of few guests in the homestays, hotels, and hostels. However this did allow me to often just show up unannounced, which only added to my flexibility when biking became tiresome or I wanted to extend stays for another night.

It was monsoon season in SE Asia, but other than the extreme muggy heat (90+ degrees, 70%+ humidity eventually got used to sweating all day) and a guy reluctant to shave his insulating beard - insisting it as part of the travel pedigree, the rainfall was of little impact. Only in the mountainous areas would it rain, typically in the late afternoon, and usually just when I would begin biking again hah! But slow and safe travel - - I’d just pull over under a local shack on the side of the road selling food, and read or chat with the military who were often road-side running border control checkpoints. Once the rain stopped I’d hop back on the bike and continue riding!

I knew going into the trip through the countless Facebook and online forums I joined - and benefited greatly from - that land border crossings between countries with a motorbike are complex in this part of the world. It was impossible to take a Thai bike into Vietnam, and visa versa, but Cambodia and Laos entries were supposedly easier for crossings. And it complex it was….but it turned out to be well worth the experience and adventure! The ability to hop on and off the bike, turn down a random dirt road to uncover a refugee camp, leave when I wanted - the bike was the ultimate adventure and freedom machine!

Lucky to have such an extended amount of time, I fought hard against my New Yorker disposition which lends itself towards speed and efficiency, and embraced concept of slow travel. On this segment particularly, slow travel meant saying “Yes” to “how about another day here?”, it meant motorbiking the long way because it would be more scenic (and safer Mom), pulling over if it was raining because why would I be in a rush, and silly things like taking the older ferry to Koh Samet island even though the fast one is only $2 more. The foreignness of the slow travel concept took some getting used too, but I eventually found my groove.

I’m particularly excited to share photos here. Kial bought me a 4lb 1980s film camera right before my trip. Much to my initial disgruntlement at adding that much weight to the pack, it made for a fun project; I’ve enjoyed first, learning how the hell to shoot film, and it was fun to locate few of the remaining shops that sell Kodak film and develop negatives. Check out how my first two rolls here!

Links to posts. Favorite photos below:

Famous Bamboo bridge connecting two villages in NW Thailand on the bike route

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An hour on my first dirt roads of the trip led me to a small village adjacent to a Burmese refugee camp, home to few remaining that practice the “long neck” jewelry tradition

Favorite friend from Bangkok who spent the day riding around in cabs with me trying to buy a motorbike (I eventually flew to Chiang Mai to buy one there)