Cambodia Dirt Bike Tour Question

[Fanum]

Open invite trips Planning a big trip and want other GSers to join you?
***(Please note this section is not for promoting commercial tours)***

 

[Red Leader]

Sorry, went

Am really after answers to the the 3 questions in the OP!!

How about you Fanum? Can you put any more answers up here for us?

I thought it might generate some great travel related banter, and so far we have learned that YOUR most friendly nations to tour in are:

Mongolia
Cambodia
Laos
Thailand
Chile
Argentina
Himalayas
Liberia

How many countries can we get to? Lets keep this forum topic going eh folks?

 

[jtw000]

Well. I'm from London and rode overland on a G650x and I'm now living in Cambodia. I know the guy who runs the Dirtbike tours. I've got to tell you, I love my life here, I rent bikes, I work as a teacher and love doing both. However, as a country, Cambodia is a pretty poor excuse and has no real culture of its own, just convenient little clumps it's borrowed from other local countries. You've got to remember that there was a cull of all intelligent and professional people and it's left the gene pool a bit of a mess. I can understand the tourists thinking it's a charming little place but the expats who live here tend to avoid the locals as they're pretty horrible. They lie, steal, rip you off, are lazy, rude and well.... plain stupid. Now don't get me wrong, I have a girlfriend here and like a lot of them, she has no time for her own people. There are some good ones but the majority are not worth knowing. There's some great riding here and the people out in the province are far nicer than those in the city. Driving is a joke and the only worse place is India. I see accidents daily and even got hit myself. I've not had a drop in 20 years, even offroad and then Cambodia, SMASH, a car rammed right into the side of me from a side road and then left me for dead in the road. I literally don't know anyone here who's not had an accident.
Friendliest nations I've been in are Nepal, Poland and Iran. Worst is India by a long way. Second worst was Thailand which is an awesome place to visit as a tourist but scratch the surface and it's really horrible. I wouldn't pay anyone to run a tour for me, that's crazy and never heard of the magazine. I wouldn't read it anyway.

 

[karlp]

Sorry, went

Am really after answers to the the 3 questions in the OP!!

How about you Fanum? Can you put any more answers up here for us?

I thought it might generate some great travel related banter, and so far we have learned that YOUR most friendly nations to tour in are:

Mongolia
Cambodia
Laos
Thailand
Chile
Argentinaŷ
Himalayas
Liberia

How many countries can we get to? Lets keep this forum topic going eh folks?

So what is the point of this thread.

Seems to me you are expecting answers so that you can set up a tour etc

'cos so far you have gleaned information but offered nothing

 

[Elle]

Thanks for your answers Elle.
a) Was it something you ate?
b) When were you there?
c) Bike hire is cheap everywhere in Asia, but the support when things go wrong definitely isn't.
d) Maybe you should get back out there and face your demons on a dirt bike!!
Will try and hook up with you on ABR in due course.

a) Had been travelling for 3 weeks with no ill effects from street food. Got breakfast at Angkor Wat & within the hour I was seriously ill. Fortunately, had hired a scooter-taxi so returned to the hotel & for 24 hours (better out than in).
b) Dec 2007
c) true but I don't look for the negatives
d) I did go dirt riding - the roads were completely dug up for several miles around Chiang Mai, right down to the rocks! Made it very interesting 2-up on a custom-styled bike....
It's not for everyone, but my daughter and I purchased helmets from Tesco's at £12, took our own m'cycle gloves & wore sturdy walking boots. My only regret was not wearing a jumper when we rode up Doi Inthanon

 

[Mutley]

1. Heard of the magazine but I don't read it

2. If I was going to pay for a long haul holiday I'd definitely be taking my wife with me so it's unlikely I'd pick a dirt bike riding trip. We have looked at some of the tours offered by others but I don't want to ride 2 up off road and she doesn't fancy a week in a 4WD driven behind a group of bikers

3. Every culture is friendly if you approach it the right way. Even the U.S.A.

 

[Red Leader]

Well. I'm from London and rode overland on a G650x and I'm now living in Cambodia. I know the guy who runs the Dirtbike tours. I've got to tell you, I love my life here, I rent bikes, I work as a teacher and love doing both. However, as a country, Cambodia is a pretty poor excuse and has no real culture of its own, just convenient little clumps it's borrowed from other local countries. You've got to remember that there was a cull of all intelligent and professional people and it's left the gene pool a bit of a mess. I can understand the tourists thinking it's a charming little place but the expats who live here tend to avoid the locals as they're pretty horrible. They lie, steal, rip you off, are lazy, rude and well.... plain stupid. Now don't get me wrong, I have a girlfriend here and like a lot of them, she has no time for her own people. There are some good ones but the majority are not worth knowing. There's some great riding here and the people out in the province are far nicer than those in the city. Driving is a joke and the only worse place is India. I see accidents daily and even got hit myself. I've not had a drop in 20 years, even offroad and then Cambodia, SMASH, a car rammed right into the side of me from a side road and then left me for dead in the road. I literally don't know anyone here who's not had an accident.
Friendliest nations I've been in are Nepal, Poland and Iran. Worst is India by a long way. Second worst was Thailand which is an awesome place to visit as a tourist but scratch the surface and it's really horrible. I wouldn't pay anyone to run a tour for me, that's crazy and never heard of the magazine. I wouldn't read it anyway.

My word. How can you be happy there when you seem to have such disregard for your hosts?

Agreed, there is endemic corruption, but I assume you live in PP, though you sound like you live in PoiPet.

For the record "the cull" as you put it, was an attempt by Pol Pot to eradicate educated Khmers. He didn't actually succeed, as being intelligent, a lot of people eluded the regime. Its a shame that in a country thats filled with a great majority of sincere, conservative and warm-hearted people that you seem to have been surrounded by all the worst elements. Its also a real shame that what was one of the worst human genocides in living history you refer to as a cull.

What is a further shame is that you seem to be in the unfortunate position of sticking yourself firmly in the expat community where rather than adopt the ways of the country you are living in, you have clung bitterly on to your british cynicism. If you live in a country that has had such a horrifying recent history, surely you should show a bit of compassion, rather than writing the whole nation off as genetically challenged? I am amazed you didnt sign off with the Hitler emoticon.

Thanks for your enlightening responses though.

And finally, yes, the driving there is pretty terrible. But considering the country only had its own currency from 1998, and was one of the poorest in the world, the focus of the rebuilding of the nation and healing the suffering it experienced has not been concentrated around developing a highway code!

 

[Red Leader]

So what is the point of this thread.

Seems to me you are expecting answers so that you can set up a tour etc

'cos so far you have gleaned information but offered nothing

Yes its a bit of a fact finding exercise for me. I have posted similar questions on a lot of bike forums.

Really wanted to get an idea of riders' experiences of different countries and their perceptions of the people they met.

I find it really interesting so far, that most riders here have not read ABR too as its all about adventure bike riding.

Anyway, I thank you all for your continued contributions, and look forward to hearing more of your views? They are all appreciated.

 

[Red Leader]

1. Heard of the magazine but I don't read it

2. If I was going to pay for a long haul holiday I'd definitely be taking my wife with me so it's unlikely I'd pick a dirt bike riding trip. We have looked at some of the tours offered by others but I don't want to ride 2 up off road and she doesn't fancy a week in a 4WD driven behind a group of bikers

3. Every culture is friendly if you approach it the right way. Even the U.S.A.

Thanks for your answers Mutley. With regard to tour, would you consider a tour where you did your bike thing, and your missus got day trips out too, and you both hooked up at the end of each day to compare adventures? Or would you want to be together all day?

 

[Crapaud]

I read first five editions of ABR as I bought them all at Touratech in Wales. Never seen it since in any newsagent and I'm too lazy to subscribe.

It was a reasonable read but I felt that is was a bit bandwangon jumping on the whole Adventure Biking thing.

I hate anything organised and prefer to ride on my own and do my own thing. My son went out to Thailand, Camboaia etc on an independent trip and hired a bike and enjoyed himself.

How you interact with people in any country is down to learning a bit about their customs and showing them politeness and respect. Works anywhere.

To me, having a bike "tour" organised by someone else is my idea of hell.

 

[Red Leader]

Thanks for your response Crapaud.

Love your tips on interacting with foreign cultures. Never a truer word spoken.

In fact, Cambodians say:

"Navigate a river by negotiating its bends, enter a country by learning its customs!"

Have you ridden anywhere specifically that you felt most happy?

As for the "hell", I appreciate fully the words "organised" and "tour" can bring panic to some bikers faces, but to be honest our rides are in no way like a typical escorted tourist tour.

Our groups are between 5 to 12 riders max, and people ride at their own pace. We just add the support vehicle, so you can have a few luxuries ferried from A to B, that way you can travel the dirt properly without having to carry loads of weight, and we sort your accommodation.

Riders get to purely focus on the ride and the country that way, rather than having to plan routes, stress about fuel stops etc. Its not for everyone, but we aim to take the stress out of such a brilliant adventure.

Our guides are local, and its just the best way to travel and get to see the real country. And to be honest, you really need to have a decent guide out there.

Appreciate its not for everyone, but have you actually been on an "organised tour"? Is there a specific bad experience you have had?

Thanks again for your answers.

 

[scrubs]

Not heard of the magazine, but sounds great. I did The Extreme Rally Raid with Ben around Cambodia few years back, real test of endurance. Pleased to say I managed to finish it and had great fun in between the blood, sweat, swearing and tears.. It was the 'illegal crossings' enduro, so we.. 'ahem, 'briefly visitied' Laos

Also had a nice relaxing ride around Vietnam on the Minsk for a few weeks after the rally, to wind down. Very beautiful country. Was nice to swap the dusty Orange for some nice greenery.

 

[Red Leader]

Not heard of the magazine, but sounds great. I did The Extreme Rally Raid with Ben around Cambodia few years back, real test of endurance. Pleased to say I managed to finish it and had great fun in between the blood, sweat, swearing and tears.. It was the 'illegal crossings' enduro, so we.. 'ahem, 'briefly visitied' Laos

Also had a nice relaxing ride around Vietnam on the Minsk for a few weeks after the rally, to wind down. Very beautiful country. Was nice to swap the dusty Orange for some nice greenery.

Great stuff scrubs. The one and only Ben Laffer I presume.

Our tour is geared similarly but not as extreme as the one Ben organises. We have tried to make the ride as enjoyable to as broad a spectrum of ability as possible!

Glad you loved your time out there though. Fancy coming back for a "slightly" less extreme ride?

We are pleased to announce we have secured backing so we can 100 percent guarantee riders money!

We only have 6 days left to get a minimum of 4 riders that are up for the tour!

Also we are letting riders have it at cost as we so passionately believe n the offering, and we want to establish it as annual event starting this year!

Cost is just £1599.

Please click our Red Dirt Tour banner in the left of the UKGSER home page for more info.

Come on guys, help us to get this this event established, and take part this year at cost!!!

 

[Fanum]

Our tour is
Glad you loved your time out there though. Fancy coming back for a "slightly" less extreme ride?

We are pleased to announce we have secured backing so we can 100 percent guarantee riders money!

We only have 6 days left to get a minimum of 4 riders that are up for the tour!

Also we are letting riders have it at cost as we so passionately believe n the offering, and we want to establish it as annual event starting this year!

Cost is just £1599.

Please click our Red Dirt Tour banner in the left of the UKGSER home page for more info.

***(Please note this section is not for promoting commercial tours)***

 

[Red Leader]

Apologies, presumed as we have a banner on the UKGSER forum home page, and that as this is a total one-off plea in this thread (as we want this to become a regular event) that even you oh Fanum and other forum users alike, would not take offence.

I thought you would be supportive of a new enterprise, that seeks purely to promote real off-road events the world over, to provide sustainable livelihoods for those who need it most, and to see such social enterprises succeed!

We will not appeal again for riders, but would like to get everyone back on to answering the 3 questions we initially posted this thread for.

1. Where's the most friendly place you've ever ridden?
2. Have you/ do you read ABR magazine?
3. Would you consider riding anything but your beloved GSERs abroad?

Arcun cheran (thank you very much).