AceCafe

The gauntlet is down!

Hahaha...... abso-bloody-lutely NOT! I know when I'm beaten without even trying!! Reckon you ol' boys could shave 1.5, maybe 2 hours off easily!! (Hmmmm..... now is the gauntlet down? )

Have you got the Rocket III Touring? Good looking bike now they've got rid of those silly twin headlights (IMO) and added some chrome here and there but unfortunately it still manages to look plasticcy (Hah! New word invented for the mo'cycling fraternity!) enough to be a Honda! If the Touring had some of the class of an Electra Glide I'd have one in a heartbeat!

Dunno about "buying into the H-D lifestyle" though....... I always think those types have only bought the bike to join a particular lifestyle as opposed to the other way round.

^ ..... and absolutely welcome to it!!

^ Is that all? Bl**dy 'ell, I'd be almost catchin' you up on the Big White Pig then!!

Just get the visa online from the Cambodian gov't easy...

Much more interestin is the road condition, last time I was there it was really in a bad shape. So they fixed it up a good bit now? Sounds like a Cambodian trip when I get back home then. Yohoo...

Some of us don't 'ave plastic..... Anyone know of a travel agent who'll get it on-line for you? Pretty unhelpful in Pattaya.

The road was badly potholed early January...... all repaired by late Feb. Me and the Pig knocked out an 8 hour return so I'd love to see what you and those SSR nutters chaps can blat it in!!

Hi Ace, sounds like an interesting little trip. Although me thinks a Street Glide would allow more air flow around the body.

Yes. it's not really a tour by any means of the word...... for me it's a days ride on my way to a long weekend with mates, plenty of beer and fun...... but of course what makes it interesting is getting out of Thailand and into Cambodia. The trip itself will probably become "old" fairly quickly....... a bit like nipping up to Udon for the w/end..... 331, 304 & 2, yawn yawn!

Street Glide? We both have the batwing fairing so the only diff is no fairing lowers on the Street...... I have mates with Electra Glides with no lowers and yes, they get a bit of a knees breeze but no biggie for me...... sometimes I'll be in heavy MotoX style boots, most times I'll be in leather riding jeans so I'm gonna get hot anyway...... just makes that beer at the end soooo much more refreshing!!

By the way if anyone wants the full trip report, warts 'n' all, just PM me...... I don't think this forum is the right place!

^ Sat on one of those today...... a mate of mine bought one at the newish Pattaya showroom at their unbelievable promo price of around 230K. Didn't take up his offer of the key as I'm still drying out from a biggie, and flipflops would not have been sensible! But a really comfortable sit up and beg riding position, and plenty of room to tuck my knees (I'm 6ft & 95 kilos) into the tank cut-away. Nice seat height too, although I did read on another thread someone described it as "low"........ not my perspective.

Yep, I'd very much like to do one of those northern loops (Samoeng loop? ) on the Kwack...... quite a good choice, if you're reading, Xuberant.

Good report.

Any more pics?

Oh yes! Sorry but I don't have the savvy to post 'em any other way so you'll just have to click on each to open up to a bigger pic!

Not very scintillating but you get the drift....... the best part of the journey is the 170km blat from the Cambodian border to Highway 4, the Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville highway.

The most recent trip, we left Snooky at 6am....... not really the cleverest of strategies as by 7 the road was chock-a-block with millions of little folk going to school and bigger ones using the road side markets! Still, worth it to see a true SE Asian vista....... the early morning mist rising off the paddy fields, buffalo, wooden shacks etc...... the sort of sight you used to see up Issan way but where now there is invariably a Western style bricks 'n' mortar house with attendant SUV somewhere in the middle distance!

Snooky is also well worth it for those who like a bit of nightlife and miss the fun and fresh attitudes you used to find in LOS........ but maybe this is not the place to discuss!

Brilliant report! Thank you for sharing.

Just one question from a noob who's not yet been to Cambodia but really wants to go- You need a visa, yes? Did you arrange the visa before the trip or are you able to get it at the border? (I'm guessing that's what the 1200 Baht was for?)

Would love to try this ride before the rainy season starts- sounds like a blast!

Happy Trails!

Tony

Hi Tony,

Yes, you can get your visa at the border, 1200 baht, or however much they are deciding to scam you at the time! I do believe that if you get your visa elsewhere it doesn't cost as much, but it'll only be a couple hundred baht!

Don't forget if you have an annual retirement, or spouses visa etc to get a re-entry permit (1000 baht one trip or 3000 baht multi) before you go...... if you don't you'll be treated as a tourist and be given a 15 day "visa on arrival" when you re-enter Thailand!

It was a total blast..... only a 600km trip from Jomtien to Snooky but terrific riding and scenery..... I've done it twice this year so far!! Plus they have their first ever Cambodian Bike Week(end) next weekend, for anyone who's interested.

Cheers,

Martin

Normally I soak my undershirt and balaclava in water before I ride when it's hot, keeps me cool, if it's really hot I pour some water over my mesh jacket as well every now and again at fuel stops etc. Drink a lot of water and hydration salts people when it's hot as now. wet balaclava helps the core temp a LOT as the main arteries passing through the neck get chilled down and keep you from heat stroke.

Interesting with the thingy you bought ray23 keep testing and post results when you feel confident in it. Surely makes a lot of sense.

Cheers Bard

When on a long hot trip I buy "pai yen" cold cloths at petrol stops....... it's really nice to have a cold rub down with one, and then wrap it on the back of your neck under your jacket collar! And when you're done with it.... great little cloth for cleaning headlight & indicator lenses!

For really hot sweaty tours, nothing beats a bottle of water straight from the chiller and poured over your head!!

(And a sheepskin seat cover goes a long way to preventing a sweaty arse! )

^ 555! Would you believe the Pig also has a cigarette lighter!! Which is useful for plugging the iPod into!

I used to tour Thailand on a GPZ1000RX and a GSXR1100 but nothing beats the Ultra for absolute comfort! (Plus as I age I'm sure my reflexes diminish somewhat, so I now leave the sports jobbies to the young bucks!)

I've had so much fun on long (10 day, 3-4000km) road trips on the Harley I would reccommend it for touring this country in a heartbeat...... and those who reckon a big bagger is only good for straight lines should try one up the Thai/Burmese border road..... superb!

Thanks for the info.... will try to make it. Good to see The Paddock will have a stand..... need some new gloves!

i'm heading to chang mai in a few weeks and i would like to rent a bike once there and head up to pai.

how long's the chiang mai - pai trip?

and what's the minimum CC's you'd recommend? my girlfriend would be on the back

i drive a CBR 150 in bangkok but i imagine i'd need a bit more power.. plus it would just be more fun to drive a bigger bike for once any thoughts?

oh and also, do shops require you to show them a motorcycle licence before they let you rent a big bike? or do they just not care.. i only have my canadian car licence

I've done the Pai-CM leg a few times..... a terrific ride which I always budget a whole day for. What will you do after Pai? Turn around, or on to Mae Hong Son? The whole loop..... CM-Mae Taeng-Pai-MHS-Mae Sariang-Hot-CM or from Mae Sariang on to Mae Sot-Tak-CM is probably my favourite ride in this country. You could hire at minimum a 250cc trials bike but that'd be uncomfortable for your girlfriend....... there are literally hundreds of switchbacks and hairpin bends with steep drops etc. I wouldn't recommend the ride on a sports bike so for comfort I'd go for a mid-size cruiser. Steed or Shadow etc.

Most rental places will ask you for a copy of your passport as opposed to a license. Do you have time to get yourself an International Driving License? Your Canadian one will not help if you're in a bind...... a 1000 baht note would be taken more seriously!

Happy riding!

After a few months of false starts I finally got around to doing the road trip down to Sihanoukville on the Harley, with some pals from HOG (Harley Owners Group) Thailand…… 5 bikes in all so good ‘n’ noisy! We left the Ace Café at 7am and headed off cross country down to Rayong, then on to Highway 3 and down to Klaeng, by-passed Chantaburi, on to Trat and then down the 318 to Khlong Yai and the border. This leg took 5 hours mainly because the guys I was riding with used petrol stops as an excuse for half hour food/coffee/cigarette/chat breaks and we could’ve shaved an hour off the Thai-side journey but what the hel_l, we were on holiday!

The process of getting the bikes across the border couldn’t have been simpler, and the Thai officials were extremely helpful. All you need, at this time of writing, is your Thai vehicle registration book. People will tell you the book has to be in your name but not so….. if your vehicle is registered in another name, all you need is a letter from that person giving you permission to take the vehicle over the border.

If doing this then use a bit of grey matter and get copies of that persons ID card and get the letter, in Thai, to state their name, your name (in English so they can compare it with your passport), the vehicle registration number etc etc. If your registration book is in your name then you have no worries and do not have to show any license or insurance documents at all. The vehicle does have to have current tax..... one of the bikes had run out so a quick blat back to Trat to tax it was called for!

At the border go to window No.5 round the back of the right hand side booth and collect forms TM 2 (2 copies) and TM 3 (4 copies) and fill out the basic details, engine and frame number etc plus your passport details. The people at this booth were very helpful and filled other parts of the form in for us, the whole process costing the princely sum of 10 baht! In fact the lil darling who helped me was so helpful (and cute!) and was missing lunch I told her to keep the change from my 100 baht note and buy herself lunch on me….. the rest of the guys promptly did the same so we had a very smooth hassle free vehicle transfer from Thailand to Cambodia and she had a good day at work!

After sorting the bikes we went through passport control, totally by-passed Customs (more of that later!) and rode through no-mans-land to Cambodian Immigration. Again very smooth, no hassles, stamp stamp “1200 baht please” and we were on our way!

Now the route could not be simpler: remembering to drive on the wrong (ie. right) side of the road just keep straight on! You’ll go through Koh Khong and the first thing you’ll see is a very misleading sign telling you to turn right onto Highway 4 for Sihanoukville and left for Phnom Penh…… what it does not say is Highway 4 and said turns are about 170 kms further on down the road!! Just keep straight on!

The road, which by Khmer standards is very good (being a highway) is actually a single lane carriageway of unsealed tarmac so be careful…… there are some very deep potholes, the only saving grace being the road was laid on bright red dirt so you can see the potholes from a distance and avoid ‘em! We rode at about 110 kmph….. I dare say if you’re in a big landcruiser you can get a fair lick up but we were taking it cautious and easy.

So, 170 or so kms down the way you’ll come to a fork in the road (landmark: there’s a school on the right hand side)…. take the right fork and after 100 meters or so you’ll hit Highway 4 and be on your way to Sihanoukville. Again this road is single carriageway but there are two differences: the good one is the tarmac is sealed and so much easier on your tyres and the bad one is this is the main container truck route from the capital city to the main deep harbour port…….. overtaking is fun!

Anyway, we’re getting to the end of the journey here…… the total journey from the border to Sihanoukville is just about 260kms…. as you get into town keep an eye open for the left hand turning (Soviet Street) with two petrol stations with huge concrete forecourt aprons (you really can’t miss ‘em!) either side of the turning……. drive down there and you’ll come to the main drag called Ekareach Street….. turn left for downtown (Freedom Bar!) and the Golden Lion area (many guesthouses, bars, Serendipity and Ochheuteal Beaches etc) or right for Victory Hill, Victory and Hawaii Beaches.

(On my return I was directed to the Thai Customs Office to have my papers checked...... when I pionted out that I had totally by-passed Customs on the way out I was given a smile and a "Mai per rai" and sent on my way!)

PS. The potholes on the 170km stretch from the border to Highway 4 in Cambodia have now been repaired.

If its the Jomtien mob then yes its time share touts.

They operate out of the Ace Café, not suggesting they are involved with the owner, just that they use it as a base. They hunt in packs and can get aggressive. None of the falangs involved have work permits.

They also run the Thais that hang out on Beach Road near the first Starbucks.

Its the usual. Promise you the world to get you down to Jomtien for an hour and then a VERY HIGH PRESSURE sales pitch.

They are backed by a high profile Costa villain who I'm sure you've all heard of but I won't name him here.

He himself has never been to Pattaya to my knowledge but some of his lieutenants have been spotted here.

I occasionally have breakfast at the Ace plus one of the Thais on Beach Road is an old friend so they don't bother me as they know I am not buying.

Best response to 'Do you speak English' is 'yes go away'.

Tarquin you are so off base with that observation it's (almost) funny.

The Euro time share touts who were in Jomtien high season '06-'07 and the Indian guys doing the same thing high season '07-'08 operated out of their full time base Paragon Properties, next to the Family Mart near the Ace Cafe. They used to re-group at the Ace for morning coffee between 10.00 & 10.30 before hitting the streets again.

Yes you are right the owner (me) had no involvement with them and no you are wrong that they "operated" out of my cafe, or even used it as a "base."

Thank you for listening.

Martin

Ace Cafe.