Tagged: motorbike

Asian backpacker - Thailand motorbike accident

11 Jun, 2016

My motorbike accident in Thailand

The accident Yes, the accident. I spoiled the ending already, but that’s ok. Not a lot of people know that I had my first motorcycle accident. Not even my mom! Didn’t wanna worry her for nothing. The entire story is rather long so be warned. During my many visits I’ve seen numerous young folks walking around with bandages and scars from motorcycle accidents. Each time I would shrug and laugh a bit, but I guess karma finally got to me as it feels like I’ve finally been baptized as a wreckless backpacker. 🙂 So we met up with Sander the next...

Cambodia / South East Asia

8 May, 2014

Battambang bats, caves and volunteering

Battambang Many people don’t know it, but Battambang is Cambodia’s second most populous city. Youwouldn’t say however when wandering around town. Not that it was deserted, but one wouldexpect the place to be packed with Khmer people. My busride from Siem Reap to Battambang took 4,5h. Alex instead took the slowboat. A ridethat ‘should’ take 7-8 hours, but because the water in the river was too low, the boat got stuck on the sandbanks several times. All men had to help to push it back into the water which made it only arriving after 12 hours! Well, it was hot,...

Cambodia / South East Asia

1 May, 2014

Pre-Ankorian capital city of Kompong Thom

You won’t see crowds of tourists in Kompong Thom. When our bus stopped there for a break and we told the driver that we needed our luggage as we were staying for a night, I’m sure he was laughing behind our back.But it’s actually not SO crazy to make a stop here. The most exciting thing that this town has to offer, are the hunderds of large fruit bats living in 3 old mahogany trees. If you have problems finding the trees, just follow the high sound that the bats are making. Wait till dusk, when you can see them...

Cambodia / South East Asia

1 May, 2014

Phnom Penh and its Killing Fields

Phnom Penh is Cambodia’s capital and the place to know more about the most barbarous, cruel crime committed by the Khmer Rouge during 1975-1979. One of the main museums about the genocide is the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, former Office S-21 during the Khmer Rouge regime. I recommend visiting this museum first before heading to the Killing Fields for a correct cronological order of the events. It’s hard to imagine that this place, where in only 4 years more than 20.000 people where imprisoned, interrogated and inhumanly tortured, used to be a school with happy, playing primary school children. Many...

South East Asia / Vietnam

6 Feb, 2014

Cat Ba Island and limestone mountains in Halong Bay

Going to Hanoi usually means making a trip to Halong Bay as well. Everywhere in Hanoi you’ll find agencies and hostels offering multiday tours. We instead went by public transport to Cat Ba, rented motorbikes on the island and cruised around for a day, stopping at it’s National Park and playing beachsoccer. I totally sucked but still managed to make 3-4 goals 🙂 It was supercool! We did book a daytrip to Halong Bay throught our hotel. It was the uncle of the hotelmanager himself that guided us that day. We cruised around the karst limestones for 2-3 hours. It...

South East Asia / Vietnam

22 Jan, 2014

Biking around with easyriders on the Ho Chi Minh Trail

I never thought of doing it but once Tuya told me about it, I knew I would go for it!Easyriders..I don’t know if you have them in other places but Vietnam, but here it is pretty well known. The idea is to drive through (a part of) Vietnam by renting a motorbike and an easyrider, whome will also be your guide during the easyrider tour. You can choose to drive the motorbike yourself or to be the passenger on the easyrider’s bike. We went for the 2nd option. We initially planned on a 1 day tour Hoi An-Hue, but than...

South East Asia / Vietnam

23 Aug, 2012

Last battlefield in Vietnam Dien Bien Phu and Hanoi aka “The Noise”

The first Vietnamese experience was even before I got off the bus. The motorbike touts. They surrounded the bus as we were driving into the bus terminal, already handing out their business cards and asking where you, their new best friend, would want to go. I’ve seen pushy touts before, but none of them can compete with the ones in Vietnam. That said, Vietnam has really shocked and suprised me in the next couple of weeks during my visit. But lets start off in Dien Bien Phu. Dien Bien Phu – Last battle field with the French There’s no real...