The Four Corners of South East Asia

If you choose to fly straight to Thailand this day will consist mostly of flying and involves getting to Chiang Mai including transfer to your hotel. We’ll meet you at the airport. You’ll need to arrive by mid or late afternoon so we have time for some bike paperwork, and we’ll have a meet ‘n’ greet before we have our first dinner together. Overnight in Chiang Mai

Our first riding day, leaving Chiang Mai in a westerly direction heading for Mae Wang famous for its many Elephant camps. We stop at one of them. Continue on back roads up in the mountains towards Doi Inthanon, Thailand highest mountain standing at 2’565 meters. We will park our motorcycles 200 walking meters from the shrine on the summit. Passing a continental divide we spend the rest of the day on beautiful scenic curvy roads the whole way to Mae Hong Son. Before reaching Mae Hong Son we stop at the Japanese war museum in Khun Yam. Overnight Mae Hong Son.

Before we ride today, we'll visit the Karen tribe’s people, better known by the less attractive tourist moniker of The Long Necks. They're actually natives of Myanmar who migrated across the porous border several generations ago and made Thailand their home, and the women of the tribe typically wear heavy brass rings around their neck (and arms and legs) to give a 'stretched' or elongated appearance, which they find more attractive. Then we head off to explore the roads for which northern Thailand is justifiably famous! It's a short half-day's ride to Pai through some absolute riding nirvana. We'll get there in time to explore the famous Pai Walking Street in the early evening. Overnight Pai

Today we have a diverse ride in front of you. Leaving Pai, heading back towards Chiang Mai for a while to complete the remaining 1864 bends we started yesterday. Lunch at Chiang Dao, a beautiful mountain formation famous for its many caves. Continue to Fang before crossing yet another mountain range to Mae Suai. Along the way we stop at Mungmee Coffee Roasters and try some of their coffee blends. The owner, K. Ole is very friendly and passionate about coffee. Before reaching our hotel in Chiang Rai we stop at the famous white temple. Once you visit the temple you realize why it has become one of the main tourist destinations of North Thailand. Overnight in Chiang Rai

Quickly leaving Chiang Rai behind we head for the mountains towards Choui Fong tea plantation. Enjoy the beautiful tea plantation and try one of the great cakes and tea blends. From here we ride up to Doi Tung, a mountain range along the Thai – Myanmar border. We will stop at a military checkpoint, offering a spectacular view and its own coffee shop. Along the military road we head for Mae Sai, one of the main border points between Thailand and Myanmar, this is also the most northern point of Thailand. Next stop is the famous Golden Triangle where the three borders of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet. We will drive up to the temple Wat Sop Ruak where you have a great view over the Golden Triangle. Visit the ‘House of Opium’ and learn the interesting history of this area and the once flourishing opium trade. Last part of the day we ride along the “Paradise Road” following the Mekong River to our end destination for the day. Overnight in Chiang Khong.

Today we leave Thailand and cross the Mekong River into Laos. The border opens at 8 AM and with some luck we clear both side’s customs and immigration within 2 hours. Just relax and enjoy the bureaucratic “show” and let our tour guides work their magic! Once in Laos you will notice the difference, this country is much poorer and less populated than Thailand. We will ride along the Mekong River, crossing a mountain range heading to our destination of the day, Pak Beng, along the Mekong River. Pak Beng developed as an overnight stop for both cargo and passenger ferries. Set in a scenic spot where the Nam Beng flows into the Mekong (Pak means mouth and Beng is the name of the river) Enjoy the view from the hotel's infinity pool. Overnight Pak Beng.

First stretch today is to Hongsa, most “famous” for its huge lignite power station. It’s an enjoyable stretch of road, snaking its way over gentle mountains (Enjoy the Lao villages). From Hongsa we take the new road over the mountain to Luang Prabang. The scenery is beautiful, not many people are living in this part of Laos. There is still plenty of virgin jungle in this area. In the afternoon we shall reach Luang Prabang with its gleaming temple roofs, fading French architecture and stunning mountain backdrop. It has been claimed by UNESCO to be ‘the best-preserved city in South East Asia’. Overnight Luang Prabang.

Today is our first rest day. The town of Luang Prabang is a former royal capital of Laos and is easily explored on foot or on wheels – you'll have the use of your bike if you want it. It’s an unstructured day to give you options; some of you will probably visit a few of the 32 wats (temples), others may choose to ride to the nearby Khung Si waterfalls, take a river cruise on the Mekong River, or sit quietly with a drink and count the number of saffron-robed monks. Overnight Luang Prabang.

Once on the motorcycles we ride north along the Nam Ou River, it’s a pleasure to ride this road with its gentle curves. Once in Pak Mong we will be crossing over the Song Cha mountain range. A couple of years ago this 120 km stretch took the whole day (sometimes longer). Now there is a new road snaking its way over the mountain. Today it’s an absolute pleasure to negotiate the curves and enjoy the scenery. Passing Muang Xai we ride out into the countryside and to our beautiful resort in the jungle. Overnight Muang Xai.

Our Motorcycle Tour continues in an eastern direction on low traffic density, provincial roads to the Vietnamese border. The first stretch we will ride along the Nam Phak River, enjoying the scenery. At Pak Nam Noy we start climbing up the mountains towards the Vietnam border. This is a remote area of Laos, not many villages & the scenery is spectacular. Not much is happening at the Lao / Vietnam border, that said, it can still take some time to work through the paperwork. Our Vietnamese guide will wait for us at the Tay Trang border crossing and together we will ride to Dien Bien Phu. You will notice how things have changed once crossing into Vietnam, different landscape, more people, villages & traffic.
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was the climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War between the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps and Viet Minh communist-nationalist revolutionaries. We can visit the Dien Bien Phu Museum, the notorious hill A-1 battlefield, the former French command post and a captured tank. Overnight in Dien Bien Phu

Today we have quite a long ride ahead of us, passing endless villages with plenty of photo opportunities on offer. Toward the end of the day we start climbing up the mountain & the scenery gets better by the hour. After an early breakfast, we depart follow the NR12 to Muong Lay, then head up to Taphin plateau to conquer a scenic and stunning road through the Sin Ho Valley. We stop at the Sin Ho Market, which is more lively and crowded if we arrive early. We continue this less travelled road until Lai Chau and drive the winding road to Sapa with a photo stop at the O Qui Ho pass where, at 2005 metres, we have a spectacular view of Phan Xia Pang (3143 metres), Vietnam’s and South East Asia highest mountain. In Sapa, there are plenty of restaurants, souvenir shops and bars, something for every taste. Overnight in Sapa.

Today our journey takes us in the southern direction. We ride on good quality mountain roads to Nhiah Loh. During the whole day we pass through endless villages and rice fields. There are countless photo stops and possibilities to “mingle with the locals”. The closer we get to Nhiah Loh the more spectacular the landscape becomes, especially the valleys with their endless rice terraces. The road is especially scenic between Than Uyen to Nghia Lo. We will stop at a monument on pass 1570 and viewpoint No1 where we have the opportunity to climb the watchtower. The view of the rice paddies is best from here. Overnight in Ngiah Lo.

Mostly motorcycle riding is all about the journey. Today this is partly true, it’s also a long riding day passing the outskirts of Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital on our way to Ha Long Bay. The closer we get to the capital, the more dense the traffic becomes. Once crossing the Red River we cover the final stretch to Ha Long Bay, our end destination of the day.

Hạ Long Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The name Hạ Long means "descending dragon". The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various shapes, sizes and cultural characters.
Hạ Long Bay has an area of around 1,553 km2 (600 sq mi), including 1,960–2,000 islets, most of which are limestone. The limestone in this bay has gone through 500 million years of formation in different conditions and environments. The evolution of the karst in this bay has taken 20 million years under the impact of the tropical wet climate.
We will leave our motorcycles and explore this spectacular area on a boat including overnight. Overnight Ha Long Bay.

Disembarking our boat around noon we are back on our motorcycles. Passing Haiphong, the biggest port in north Vietnam continuing along country roads in the south east direction. We arrive at Tam Coc, a small town, full of guest houses, coffee shops, restaurants, and souvenir shops (good opportunity to buy inexpensive Vietnamese handicraft) etc. Once this was the ancient capital of VietNam, settled in the 10th century. We can visit temples of two dynasties of Dinh and Le with very unique architecture. Explore the local area by bicycle. Overnight in Ninh Binh.

In the morning we will explore the Van Long Nature Reserve on our motorcycles. After lunch we head south passing the city of Thanh Hoa. From here we follow the main coastal highway connecting Hanoi with Ho Chi Minh city in south Vietnam. Our destination of today is Cửa Lò, one of the most beautiful beaches in Vietnam. This is one of the main weekend destinations for the Hanoi crowd. Overnight Cua Lo Beach.
(190 km/118 miles)

Once on the road we take the small highway QL15, also known as the Ho Chi Minh trail, through some beautiful countryside to reach Phong NHA. The 'NHA' stands for Natural Heritage Area and it lives up to its name. There are some spectacular caves to be found in this region of Phong Nha province. Hang Son Doong is the largest known cave in the world but unfortunately it's extremely remote and difficult to access (ie, a four-day trek!) so we'll go to another one nearby. Overnight Phong Nha.

Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng national park, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is our first destination of today. The park borders the Hin Namno National Park in Laos. The core zone of this national park covers 857.54 km2.
The park was created to protect one of the world's two largest karst regions with 300 caves. Total discovered length of the cave system to about 126 km. Son Doong Cave is considered one of the largest caves in the world. We will explore part of this beautiful area by boat.
From here we make the relatively short motorcycle ride and visit the Vinh Moc Tunnels. When the war took place in Vinh Moc from 1965 to 1973, the US Army released over 9,000 tons of bombs in the area, with a ratio of 7 tons of bombs on average per person. The locals began to dig tunnels in 1965 and finished in 1967 with simple tools in 18,000 labour days. The total length of the tunnels is nearly 2,000m long with six entrances to the tops of hills and seven entrances to the South China Sea. Overnight Dong Ha.

Note:
There is also a possibility to visit the Khe Sanh military base, immortalised in a famous Cold Chisel song. This is a much longer riding day.

Today we are heading south to the historic old city centre of Hue for lunch. Huế was the seat of Nguyen Dynasty emperors and the national capital from 1802 to 1945. We will visit the vast, 19th-century Đại Nội Citadel, surrounded by a moat and thick stone walls. It encompasses the Imperial City, with palaces and shrines; the Forbidden Purple City, once the emperor’s home. From Hue we cross the spectacular Ocean Cloud Pass on a high coastal road. We'll then bypass the busy commercial city of Da Nang before reaching our resort hotel in Hoi An, right on the beachfront.

We'll continue down the coast for a little while before striking inland via the Violac Pass to the town of Kon Tum. There's an old wooden church and a Catholic seminary school here, a legacy of French missionaries from over 100 years ago. We'll then proceed to our hotel in picturesque Pleiku for the evening.

Today is quite a long ride, because of course we have another border to cross. We head to Le Thanh and pass into Cambodia, our “fourth corner”. The usual four-stage process applies for passports and bikes, and then we are in Cambodia. This part of the country is full of pepper plantations. On our way we will stop at Yeak Laom, a volcano lake for lunch and a swim. You will notice that the countryside has become flat, roads are straight and we cover the last distance to Stung Treng quickly. At Stung Treng we meet the Mekong River yet again.

Through small villages we wind our way to Siem Reap, which has become Cambodia's, and possibly Asia's, most holy of tourist pilgrimages. Prepare for a few more people than we've typically shared our space with over recent days! Siem Reap is a bustling commercial (dare we say tourist) town because of the nearby temples, but also boasts a vibrant nightlife of pubs, bars, pool rooms, music, restaurants. It's a great place to unwind and have a few drinks whilst soaking up the atmosphere.

You're about to transition from those who haven't yet seen Angkor Wat, to those privileged few who have. It's right up there with Machu Picchu or the Taj Mahal or the medinas of Marrakech. The sheer scale of the temple complex is mind blowing, and a visit to Ta Prohm is particularly impressive, as the authorities have left much of it in the same condition as they found it, still covered in lush jungle growth and creeping vines. The place is truly awesome.

We are well and truly winding down the clock, as we cross the border back into Thailand (and cross to the other side of the road). It's a 400k final run into Pattaya Beach, where we'll probably have a cleansing ale or two before the famous promenade at our front door turns on its wild night scenes.

Our tour officially ends with breakfast, then you're on your way to the airport. From one of the nearby airports you can fly Domestic or International, depending on your connections. Bye for now, it's been fun and the memories will last a lifetime !