Back to the Land of Smiles Thailand via Overland Crossing

Day 42 – Day 47 | 30th June 2016 – 5th July 2016

My last day in Laos. 234km From Mohan/ Boten (Laos/ China Border) to Friendship Bridge IV (Houay Xay/ Chiang Khong ) (Laos/ North Thailand border). That is pretty near back to Thailand.
Fresh Motul engine oil I changed by myself prior to starting my journey to back to Thailand. Feeling good for the bike. Good vibes. Packed up everything and I am ready to set off just as the sun rose.

 

Never did I expect that after not riding for 1 week + on the motorcycle, especially on my last day in Laos, I would end up crashing by myself to the ground. Blame it myself. Inadequate skills and knowledge= Flung off from my motorcycle at about 35km/hour. My motorcycle dragged on the dry, rough tarmac too.  Heres what happened:

I honestly dont know what kind of “road” is this in Laos. Probably under development. Yesterday was my last day in Laos and the first ride in 11 days after some time in China. Last day in Laos but this is the worst fall ever. Scary. This fall was totally different from all my other falls. Usually previous falls would be at a walking pace at a maximum. 30km into Chiang Khong, Thailand, this crap has to happen.

This time I was going at 40 – 50km/ hour (Already a very cautious speed in Laos road. For a four hour drive, I did not even hit 80km/ hr, the “roads” are really that bad), and the mishap happened.

I flew slightly, and my entire body dragged on the asphalt. What the ####.  Scary as hell. The vehicle also dragged even after landing on the “Road”. I really THANK myself for wearing the safety PPEs properly. I wanted to actually not wear the jacket already as it was a hot day. Since I was already prepared to go slow, I really DID thought of removing my jacket. Glad I DID NOT even unzip my jacket. Glad that complacency did not tae over me.

Because if I did any of those, my skin would be a goner. I would be bleeding profusely on the parts that got the impact.. For sure, Because I could feel myself grinding and had a HARD landing on the asphalt. What the hell experience. Everything happened within a split second.

1st body part that slammed first on the ground (as it is the most painful): Right Hip Bone. Injuries: SLIGHTLY Bruised only (No “Blue Black”, but painful if touched now, just like a normal bruise when you hit against something)

2nd body part that slammed on the road (Assumed), Right Elbow. Injuries: NON (Only hard markings left on my skin from the Jacket’s Fabric). Its like an imprint. The jacket’s Elbow hard padding cushioned and protected me.

3rd body part that slammed on the road: Right Palm. Injuries: NON. The basic Glove saved my skin.

4th body part that slammed on the ground: Right Shoulder. Injuries: NON. The jacket’s Shoulder hard padding cushioned and protected me.

I dont think my back hit the ground, as I dont remember impact on the back (Though there is a Back Padding in the jacket too).

Basically Unscathed because of the jackets safety properties.I was going uphill (Its mostly hilly regions in Laos if you are going north), when I saw this “what the heck” kinda road. Its a 2 lane carriageway. I stayed in my direction and went on this “road”. Unstable and bumpy as hell. Also, with that stupid, unfinished sudden parapet/ ledge road-like-hump by the sides of the road (Refer to photo below). Especially with a FULL LOAD, its difficult to manoeuvre in this kind of path. Looks easy. Easier said, than done, by most people. Try it.

Thought to myself: “Lets get on to the opposite direction side of the road”. I steered left. Crap. Wrong choice. The moment my front left wheel hit the “ledge” of this “road” to “CLIMB” onto the opposite road (Proper Road), KABOOM. And it happened as described above. Within a Split second.

The pain on my left hip (the part that smashed first on the road) was excruciating you could say. Pretty sure I had not felt this kind of immense pain before in my life. Yeah, I got into fights some numerous times before. My face was punched. Sucker Punched (Of course I wacked the fucker up too.) It was painful, but never a pain had reached this level before (of my hip bone smashing on the asphalt, while being cushion by the jacket and riding pants still).

Wow, I remembered I groaned in pain trying to subdue the pain away from my hip bone, waiting for the pain to subside while in a half standing position. It didnt take long for the pain to subside, before I could walk to grab my camera (to get those shots below).

Probably a short 3 mins of subduing the pain, but that 3 mins+ was the longest part of the day. It was hell.

Verdict: I would have been bleeding profusely had I not worn the safety PPE. Not a single drop of blood was lost due to wearing proper gears.
Also, as far as my limited knowledge brings, the nearest PROPER hospital will be in Luang Prabang, more than 5hours drive from here.
Damages to the bike after this dreaded slide fall:

After checking myself and the bike under the scorching hot sun (No even a shade from a tree at all),  both of us were fit to carry on to exit Laos. Whew!

The people of Laos helped me lift up the bike to the side of the road. Definitely thanked them.

 

Another hour plus of riding and I finally reached the border of Laos/ Thailand. Extremely glad this Honda is built to be extremely robust. Lots of terrain have wanted to destroy the machine and myself day after day, but it refuse to break apart. Like everyone says: Honda, its a bulletproof engine.

Going into the Friendship IV immigration checkpoint was pretty straight forward. If I remember correctly, there was not a motorcycle lane in sight. Stopped there awhile to read the signs and the grass cutters told me to get into the car lane.

Sure enough. Stopped there and did the standard procedure for the documents to re enter Thailand. Almost every thing was the same, except that this time there were cash incurred! I am not sure why, but it seems that it is official, because they did provide receipts. It doesn’t feel like I am paying coffee money. Anyway, it is Thailand, where I have not encountered a single corruption. Probably in other borders, or maybe not. This is what i encountered.

I paid twice. A total of about USD 7.
1  for bringing a foreign vehicle into Thailand.
The other seems to be the cost for going through this border ( HouayXay – Chiang Khong). As there were receipts provided, I did not ask much. Strange though, because some borders (Entering Thailand), I did not need to pay a single cent.

As I am writing this after my entire tour has ended (Oct 2016), I did not need to pay a single cent when I was at the Poipet border [Cambodia’s main border crossing with Thailand, which links north-western Cambodia to Aranyaprathet (Thailand) ] en route back to South Malaysia from Vietnam, Saigon.
Not a single cent was asked/ paid on both sides of Thailand and Cambodia. I was expecting to pay again upon entering Thailand especially with a vehicle. Well I guess it depends on the border you cross, and also the person that deals with you. I CAN be wrong.

There was a small cost involved (Max of USD 7, cant remember exactly) (Seems like Official Money though there was no receipt) when I was leaving Thailand to Laos through Nongkhai (Thailand) to Vientiane (Laos). The cost was for the “process of documents” for temporary vehicle import and to legally enter Laos.

Border at Laos SideConsidering it to be a rather smooth over land crossing, I was able to drive into Thailand within an hour.  Now I asked the officers for the nearest Insurance company where I can apply for vehicle insurance. Supposedly it is illegal to drive a vehicle in Thailand without an insurance coverage. You can be fined 1000 Thai Baht/ USD 29 if caught without an insurance.

Rode up to the area  (less than 10km from border) where I was told and gosh, the insurance company was there, but the staff told me to go to another company as they do not cover motorcycle insurance. Went on another wild goose chase to the said company and I was also told that they also do not cover motorcycle insurance. I was then told to go to another insurance shop that covers motorcycle insurance but its 105km away (that is in Chiang Rai).

I thanked the lady in the 2nd shop and I made my plans before I moved off.  As I still felt pain from the bruising on my right hip from the crash I had hours back in Laos, I decided to stay in a paid room for tonight.
I always tell myself, if I get sick or injured in my tour, I will be willing to part with my cash for a proper room to nurse myself back to health the proper way, before trying to stay in my tent.
Health is always the number one priority. Without a healthy and working body, one cannot work properly. Like the saying goes: “Health is more important than wealth”

I stayed for 2 nights in a pretty affordable guesthouse. For the 2 nights, my mind and body was able to recover adequately and properly from my crash.

I used Agoda (App) to find the cheapest room for myself in Chiang Rai. No more Air B&B for me. It sucks. Because I learnt from myself (browsing rooms through different countries) that Air B&B are mostly used by private owners.
The probability of finding a room for yourself less than USD 7 is less than 20%. Every room/ Apartment is priced sky high there, especially when I am traveling on an extreme budget, I will want to use Air B&B as my last resort.

With Agoda, I am able to find a private room as cheap as USD 4/ night all for myself always. Whats the best part? I pay lesser than other backpackers that share a room with at least 5 other people or more!
The only downside is that there is no air con and the toilet is shared. Thats fine with me, dont expect much with what I pay.
What we pay, is what we get, usually.
As long as I can keep my belongings safe behind a door! I already find this extremely privileged compared to staying in my usual tent. So its not a problem for me!

 

Before I carry on, I will like to emphasize, NEVER EVER be complacent when it comes to SAFETY. All it took for me to be stuck in Laos, bleeding profusely, most probably not fit enough to ride the machine (with no Hospital nearby), was not to wear the proper gears! It made a HUGE DIFFERENCE just by wearing them!

Following onto 2nd July 2016, 2 days later, I left the guesthouse, body feeling refreshed and ready to take on any sh*t that comes bludgeoning at me. And of course, back to staying in Tents to keep cost low.
As I wanted to see the Golden Triangle (in my list), its at the extreme North West of Thailand and from where I am currently.

I am 63km away from the Golden Triangle (Head North West) or 105km away from the insurance company in Chiang Rai (Head South West).
Think.
As I do not want to waste my time and petrol doing a detour going south west first (Just for the Insurance) and then going back up north to the Golden Triangle, I decided to go with a risky pathway. I headed straight to the Golden Triangle without attaining the vehicle insurance first. After all, traveling alone has always always been a risk in certain situations anyway. Just do it.
I mentally prepared myself to fork out 1000 Thai baht if the police decides to check me.

I reached The Golden Triangle within an hour. Pretty good roads, albeit a short stretch of few kms where it was completely off road due to road improvement works.

Passed by the Opium house but it wasnt under my list to see.

The Golden Triangle viewpoint wasnt as exciting nor mesmerising as expected. What I just saw was basically a dirty brown river that is the confluence point of the Ruak River and the Mekong River.

Pretty amazing feeling though. This is the first time I am able to see 3 countries with my very own eyes. Not sure if I am able to see it again.
From one country to another, the distance was actually less than 500meters. A strong swimmer would be able to get across within 7 minutes or less, albeit the pretty strong currents.

365 days a year..no coast guards..super dark at night there..one can only imagine.
Makes me wonder if there had been illegal immigrants swimming across before..as I do not see any police patrols/ watch towers around the vicinity for all 3 countries!

I decided to pitch my tent here in the open for the night .
What happened for the night:

A certain stupid country (you know, I know, and I dont want to mention it because I am not proud of it) [worlds most expensive country], does not allow motorcycles entering/ parking / in certain areas of hotels/ city. And even not being able to enter a sub – island south of that tiny country.
Well because motorcyclist are 2nd class citizens, indirectly, right? Motorcycles are an eyesore, better dont show them to the world, right?

In anyway, lets get back the trip.

Motorcycle became a clothes rag as usual for the night. Managed to wash all my sweaty clothes and bath as usual at a Petrol station in Thailand. Asked for permission to sleep in their premises for tonight. As this is a family run Caltex Station (Franchise most probably), I have to ask permission. Large petrol stations would not even bother with me if I sleep in their premises even without asking them.
Family run Petrol stations’ staffs do not usually wear uniforms .

Following morning…

Chiang Dao National Park entrance.  200 Thai baht for foreign vehicles. Extra cost for cars. Motorcycle free.
Crazy 25 degrees inclining and declining slopes.

I am lost. Just exited Chaing Dao Wildlife Sanctuary with the crazy inclined slopes and broken roads that are scarying the hell out of me. Have not researched what animals are there in here, but I think there are wild elephants. I dont know when will I fall in this area. Good luck if I fall on the crazy slopes. Because for sure I cant pick it up on a 25° slope with no grip on my soles and an uneven ground. With the vehicle fully loaded now, I think it might have hit 330kg or more. I just cant imagine trying to lift this unevenly distributed weight up on unfavourable grounds. Really scary on these conditions alone.
Good thing that I managed to leave the park without falling once.

After leaving this park, Im actually lost. Its been years since I got lost. GPS does not detect the roads I am in. Its giving me nonsense directions which does not exist. Like when this broken road goes straight, the #map shows a road to the right. I am backtracking now without the use of the confused GPS. I need to go back 150km in reverse direction again tomorrow morning. Scary thing is that I need to go through the Wildlife Sanctuary again.

Why? Because of this stream. I am NOT going pass that alone, because I have learnt the hardway what those rocks (not gravel even) actually did to me many times. This time its rocks with fast flowing water. I asked the Local. This is the ONLY way to Mae Hong Son from here unfortunately (With a group, I will go past that stream). I am not taking any chances to try to go through that stream. By doing so, theres a very high chance I know that I will fall into the stream. How am I going to pick up 300kg+ up on that kind of surface alone? Not a single soul here and I will back track 150km to be on the safe side..I stood here for 15mins thinking if I should take the risk or go back 150km. I went with the safer and wiser choice.

I cant make it through the Chaing Dao forest as light is falling already. I wouldn’t want to add further risk by going on those rocky pathways in pure darkness.. its crazy..

2 Thai sisters accommodated me for the night  and I am thankful for that. I met them on the outskirt town of Chiang Dao National Park after exiting the park. Bought  a quick bite from them (Make shift Road Stall) as there was no proper food stall.
They knew I was lost, after they saw me going past them a couple of times.

Stopped by the World War II Memorial Bridge in Pai. Its a historical bridge built by the Japanese in 1942 during World War II to transport weapons and others to Myanmar. Located on highway 1095, Mae Malai Pai Road.

Pretty ordinary there, and there are are rows of shops that sells touristy stuffs. The bridge hangs over a river with a soldier dressed for tourist photo taking opportunities. No entrance fee.

I noticed a matt black Honda Cb 500x parked pretty close to me. Little did I know that I will be staying with this guy in a day or two. haha!

As I was heading towards Mae Hong Son, I went through a mountain peak (Ban Pha Mong). As the altitude was higer than lower levels, the temperature got much cooler. Since it was about another hour to sun set, I decided to sleep here for the night, as the environment looks perfect for a tent setting. A bloody AWESOME Shelter to pitch my tent to shelter if it rains, a food stall, toilet to wash up my clothes. Did not want to risk not being able to find a spot when darkness sets in soon.

MAN AM I GLAD TO FIND A SHELTER for my tent! Really! I do not need to worry about a flooded tent for the night!