Richyba

I'm thinking of adding a trip to Pailin Cambodia to our tour from Pattaya to Koh Chang soon, question is has anyone taken a Thai reg bike into Cambodia lately? It's a Stallions 400 registered in my name with green book. Also do you still get 30 days on re entering Thailand?

We never saw it but you wouldn't believe how much has closed, I really recommend Bangbao for a chilled old school vibe. This is the bay.

Actually we missed that because we came in past the strip at BC but we did seem to miss most of the lights, Rayong was much improved to.

Just back from a great trip from Pattaya to Koh Chang with my good lady on my Stallions (Matchless now) CT400 so just a quick report, first of all the bike. The CT400 doesn't seem to be held in high regard on here ie Chinese <deleted> etc but I love it, I bought it with 15K on it and it's now well over 20k, I've had no issues with it, I do most maintenance myself and use quality oil and genuine Honda filters. The bike is still great and lovely on a run, it's slightly under geared but pulls superbly 2 up with luggage, I tend to cruise about 90kph but do 100 if the road looks good. The only mods I've done to the bike is to remove both catalytic converters which hasn't affected the fueling and certainly makes it run cooler, it also sounds better without being stupidly loud, a nice thump though. I had the seat extended and had pannier racks made, on this trip it has been a joy and fabulous on fuel. So the trip, we left Pattaya and took highway 3 towards Sattahip but headed for Silverlake and Ban Chang to cut a corner then rejoined highway 3 towards Rayong then pressed on to Chanthaburi for a night. I loved Chanthaburi, its really old school Thai but has a lively nightlife but beware not much English is spoken. We stayed at a lovely hotel by the the river which was great value. Next day we pushed on to Trat before heading for the ferry, it was so easy on a bike but it would have taken a while on the bike. On Koh Chang we headed for Bang Bao beach, the roads are amazingly steep and slippy but the bike felt great. Bang Bao was stunning, we spent 3 nights in a Bungalow but the real gem is Khlong Kloi which is the village behind the beach, just a dusty dirt road and a few bars and restaurants but an amazing chilled vibe. Next stop was lonely Beach for a night of excess but I have to report it is now a shadow of its former self with loads of places closed but strangely I preferred the laid back party feel. Onwards to White Sands for 2 nights, again very quiet but some great bars and restaurants with the inevitable fire shows on the beach, great fun though. We reluctantly left the Island and headed back to Highway 3 to just outside Chanthaburi where we took the coast road through Laem Sing to Mae Phim, its a stunning drive with some great sweeping bends which were good fun with the torquey single. We stayed the night at Mae Phim, its a lovely spot which seems to be loved by Scandinavians, there's some good restaurants and bars, there's even an Irish bar of sorts. We kept to the coast towards Rayong through Ban Phe before rejoining highway 3 for a while, we then took highway 36 back to Pattaya which was better than highway 3 but not much fun with loads of trucks. Conclusions? First of all the Stallions was great, I think the bad reputation comes from Thais who love stupid exhausts and carb conversions which seems to destroy the fuelling and also never changing the oil let alone the filter doesn't help. I also think it's a bike that rewards a bit of mechanical sympathy, the torque curve means it pointless revving it out all the time, it has great stomp for 400cc I find, overall I still love the bike and the only major mod I plan is to fit an oil cooler, it does get hot and I think it would help engine life. As regards the trip, I loved the route but we both so fell for Bangbao that I think we would have a week there but all in all a great trip that was only somewhat spoilt by us both having stomach troubles but there seems to be a lot of that about in general. We both wore ventilated jackets and trousers and it was fine except for stops at lights which were a killer, I did find having protection relaxed me though and I suppose also helped with sunburn, we also wear uk full face helmets which were great. So in short if your thinking of a trip this one is highly recommended, hope you enjoyed the report.

I'm in Pattaya now, it was Chanthaburi I was asking about.

Next week myself and the good lady are heading off on the bike for a few days on Koh Chang, we're sorted with stuff to do on the island but the plan is to stay a night on the way at Mae Phim then do the coast road to the ferry. On the return we were thinking of sticking to highway 3 and maybe having a night in Chanthaburi, question is, is there much there ? We aren't looking for a wild night but a few bars and restaurants would be nice, any thoughts ?

Any outcome on this ? I'm thinking of the same thing for my much loved 2 stroke Phantom, quite a rarity now.

We're delighted to finally get back to Thailand and staying in our place in Jomtien , my 2 Thai bikes are nearly fettled after 3 years off the road but my thoughts have turned to one of my Irish bikes, its a Honda Innova 125i which is identical to a Wave 125i, I'm thinking of getting a decent exhaust either made or off the shelf, only thing is it will probably need to be in 2 pieces to fit luggage, when I bought the bike the exhaust was knackered so I fitted a Chinese one which is about to fall to bits after 2 years. Anyone have any suggestions of a good exhaust place who might stock them, I don't want it stupidly loud just a bit more thump than stock. I use the bike quite a bit as it goes on the back of our camper, pic for interest. I'll post a report on my other bikes later.