Author: Carl (Page 1 of 3)

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Malaysia Thailand Trip – Continued

February 10, 2026 / Carl / 1 Comment

Baan Phii Resort

Today is the seventh day of my trip and I’m leaving the posh Laguna Grand hotel for a day on the road and a more humble accommodation. The ride today is 400 kms and I will ride northward, first on the east side of the hornish looking area north of Songkhla along road 401 before hitting the main nortgoing highway, road 41. The morning is quite nice with a cooling breeze from the ocean but later on it gets really hot.

I notice that the check engine light of the motorcycle has come on.. After checking everything I can’t find anything wrong and the bike sounds and rides like normal so I decide to ignore it and carry on. There are so many sensors on any engine these days and if one is failing it’s typically not serious. I hope. 🙄😔

I arrive at tonight’s lodging right after 2 pm and the landlady shows me the room and informs me dinner is served at 6pm.

After the usual unpacking I go for a walk to the beach, about 300 meters away. When I get there I find it to be horrible, so much trash, empty plastic bottles etc. Discouraged I walk back to my cabin.

At 6pm the landlady’s daughter informs me that dinner is ready and I make my way to the dining area. I’m served noodle soup with fishballs, not fantastically delicious, but it does the trick and I feel full.

As I finish the soup the landlady gives me a tube of cream, she has noticed my skin problems and somehow managed to get me this tube while I was eating. I feel very touched and thank her profusely.

The bed in the cabin is rock hard and I fear I won’t sleep much, I’m too used to a comfortable bed with nice springs and good support. However, I manage to get a good night’s sleep and at 7 am I’m given a bag with two nice sandwiches for breakfast!

Prachuap Khiri Khan

Some nice small roads take me through small villages before hitting the main northgoing road. I stop to get fuel and coffee at the Amazon café that seems to be present at every PTT petrol station.

As I’m ordering a British man starts talking to me and he explains he is really keen to have a conversation since he doesn’t get the chance to speak much English. As it turns out we have a lot in common… He lived in East Grinstead and worked in Crawley at the Manor royal industrial estate (both in West Sussex, England) during his career, and, unbelievably, so did I! What’s the chance of that?! His name is Roy and he now lives in Thailand… Amazing, the happenings on a road trip!

Along the way as I get close to Khiri Khan there is a golden bird stretching its beak over the road. I came up this road many years ago and the bird was there at that time as well, but I think they must have refurbished it because it looks so pristine now.

I arrive at Khiri Khan early afternoon and find the hotel I’ve stayed in several times before. It’s right by the sea and I can hear the waves from my room. Soo relaxing.

Nice balcony with comfortable chair… Perfect for relaxing and reading

Khiri Khan is a small town about 100 km south of the much more touristy Hua Hin, its got a 3 km strand promenade with scenic views towards small islands. It’s at the narrowest land part of Thailand which is only 13 kms between the sea and Myanmar.

Sure, there are tourists in Khiri Khan and there are several hotels but it still gives the feeling of a local Thai town. Not far from my hotel there are several nice cafes serving lattes so you never need to go without your daily caffeine shots.

The 2nd day I walked the 3 kms to the northern end of town and climbed the steps up to the Buddhist temple.

It’s very high up and the number of steps is considerable! The stairs are filled with monkeys and before starting the climb I “rented” a bamboo stick from a lady across the road to stomp on the ground to ensure the monkeys didn’t get too chummy.

I stopped several times on the way up to catch my breath and talk to other climbers. In the blazing sunshine and the 30c temperature I was exhausted but felt great that I was still able to accomplish this tough climb. Phew!

View from the buddhist temple at the top of the hill

Hat Yai

After four nights in Khiri Khan I started on my trip back to Singapore and the first stop would be Hat Yai, a border town in the south of Thailand, about 80km from the Malaysian border. It’s the fourth largest city in Thailand with 200,000 people.

The road from Khiri Khan to Hat Yai is the major highway from Bangkok, road number 4. It’s a dual carriage road so should be a good and safe road, no? The problem is that the road goes through towns and villages and there is very little, or no, separation between the road and the people living close to the road, there are also U-turns every kilometer and quite a lot of traffic lights with very little warning or reduction in speed limit. With large trucks plying the road in combination with slow local traffic, you must always be fully concentrated so it’s quite a tiring ride.

I started around 7 am and arrived around 4 pm at my hotel in Hat Yai. It was a long day in the hot sun and dusty road! At one stop along the way a guy asked me about my motorcycle, he hadn’t seen the Cfmoto brand before, so we started talking and I immediately recognized his norwegian english accent. After that we switched to swedish and norwegian and he told me scandinavia this time of year was horrible and that he spends the wintermonths in Thailand. He had a Thai spouse and they were on the way from her Hua Hin place to see her parents in Phattalung. Interesting the conversations you have when you’re on a bike and on your own!

I was knackered after the 8 hour ride but had enough energy to walk around town. Being a border town, with lots of Malaysians coming to visit, there are a lot of street vendors of clothing and often copies of famous brands of varying quality. However, some items are great, and shirts I bought 15 years ago here I still use! The town is a bit of a party town with quite a few bars and clubs. There are also a lot of massage places, feet and body as well as more seedy ones.

I was looking for a place to eat and found a nice street vendor, where I had a nice pork mince dish with rice. Deliciuous!

Dinner at a street vendor in Hat Yai – nice!

Kuala Lumpur

After a pretty good nights sleep I got up early and was on my way to the border by 7. Google maps led me through small backroads to get out of town and then back to road 4 towards the border. The road goes through several rubber tree plantations and small towns and after 80 kms reaches the border town of Sadao.

After coming through Thai and Malaysian border controls

Border formalities are very quick early in the morning at this border and in less than half an hour I am in Malaysia where I stop and chat to a group of Malaysian riders and we have quite a long chat before I get going. The North-South Highway is a “proper” and very well maintained motorway and it’s easy to keep a constant good speed with the only snag being some queues in the GeorgeTown area. Once I hit Kuala Lumpur Google Maps leads me on a convoluted route to my hotel but I finally get there at 4pm.

Singapore

Next morning I’m up early, again, and after breakfast I quickly get going to beat the morning traffic. Again, Google Maps leads me on a very circuitous route to get on the highway, although I’m fairly familiar with the road layout, I don’t feel confident enough to disregard the app. Once I get close to the highway there is a complete stop with a very long queue, I manage to manouver pretty close to the front and see several police motorcycles blocking the highway entrance road. After some time there is a procession of government looking cars speeding along the highway and after a while the entrance road is opened. I see later on the news that the indian primeminister, Modi, is visiting, so perhaps the procession was taking him somewhere.

As I stop to refuel I encounter swarms of small motorcycles, revving their engines and being a nuisance in general. Later, on the highway, swarms of 15 of these bikes come past me with minimum space to spare, they’re doing 130 kph and leave a smell of burnt fuel, perhaps even methanol. They swarm the highway overtaking on the left or right of vehicles with nothing more than a few meters between themselves. They then slow down and after a while repeat the process. I read there is a subculture called “Rempit” and a quote from Google says:

“Mat Rempit refers to young, predominantly male, street motorcycle racers in Malaysia who engage in illegal, dangerous, behaviors in urban areas, typically on weekends. Associated with modified, noisy, underpowered bikes, these groups engage in stunts like the “superman” causing significant public disorder, vandalism, and safety hazards.”

After a long stretch they disappear and I feel safe again! I reach the border around noon and, although, there is a big line of cars waiting for passport clearance, for motorcycles there is no queue.

Cars queue for Malaysian passport control

After a speedy Singapore clearance I reach home in half an hour.

As I think back on my trip and close to 4000 kms, I feel I had a very relaxing trip with no bad incidents and many nice expriences. There is always some reluctance to start a trip and give up on comfortable home life but once I do go, I feel really great when I get back home and think about everything that happened on the trip.

So where do I go next?

Thanks for reading!

Malaysia Thailand trip – the beginning

January 31, 2026 / Carl / 4 Comments

It’s Monday morning and I’m deciding whether to go on a trip to Malaysia and Thailand. I haven’t been feeling well for a couple of weeks and have been delaying and delaying going ahead. But today I’m feeling not too bad but can’t decide… Finally at close to 10 am I decide to go and get my arse in gear. After another hour I’m finally on my way. First day’s goal is Kuantan, a ride of 450 km.

I get through Singapore and Malaysian immigration as usual. There are never any problems with this border crossing and if you time it right, no queues.

I ride the north-south highway until the exit for Renggam and ride small roads until I hit road 50 towards Mersing. I normally go to the Kluang exit but want to try the smaller roads to avoid Kluang. And it turns out to be a great choice! The “small” roads are fantastic with nice surface and many sections with sweeping turns. I feel pretty pleased with myself for trying something new.

When I hit the Mersing road it’s a beautiful ride, as usual! I get there around 2pm, fill the tank and stomach and get going on the 200kms left to Kuantan. I feel very tired but manage to get to the Swiss-Belhotel without incidents. I’m really tired as I check in, they have a room and quotes me a price which seems OK. I unpack, have a shower and buy a cooling beverage in the hotel convenience store which I indulge close to the beach in a lovely sunset and cooling breeze. Life is fantastic! After dinner of fish and chips and another cooling beverage I retire early.

The following morning I have breakfast in the hotel. It’s an impressive spread of dishes, but not being a big breakfast person, it’s kind of waisted on me. I have a few cups of coffee, some sausages and two pancakes.

While eating I look at the price for the hotel on booking.com and find it’s 100rm (usd 25) cheaper than what I paid. I complain at the check-in desk but they just smile and says that’s the hotel policy.

I hadn’t decided whether to stay and recover for another night after yesterday’s 7 hour ride, and me not being 100 percent, but their response gets to me, and I decide to go Kuala Terengganu, a ride of around 250 kms.

Kuala Terengganu

So I pack my stuff and decide to take the much slower coast road towards the north. I start on this but after an hour of very slow going and no view of the ocean, I realize I made the wrong choice and after many wrong turns I find the highway. It’s fast but extremely boring even though the surrounding landscape of jungly, rolling hills is quite nice. I stop at a rest stop half way along and have a frozen mango smoothie – very tasty! I then stop at the Shell station and after filling the tank I find they have nice coffee and rolls so that becomes my lunch for the day.

After a further hour I check in to the Arena boutique hotel in Kuala Terengganu. I often wonder what boutique means? Small or special in some way? Beats me, I can’t find that it’s special in any way.

I walk around town and find a restaurant in China town to sit down and quench my thirst. I sit there for quite a while starting on this blog.

Gerek

I did not sleep well at all but get up before seven to hit the road early while it’s still cool. It’s a 300 km ride along a normal non expressway road pushing through towns and villages. About half way I stop for petrol and hope to find something for breakfast. But the place advertising coffee and cake don’t serve anything so I get a cold can of latte and some chocolate brownies.

I hop back on the bike, pass exits for Jeli and get to the granit plug “Gunung Reng”. I stop and struggle to walk up the steps inside. After this effort I feel hungry and find a place for lunch of nasi-lemak ayam. Freshly cooked and very nice!

The road after lunch is beautiful! I start at around an elevation of around 80 meters above sea level, and through twists and turns end up at more than a 1000 meters. It’s a beautiful stretch of road and I really enjoy it. At the peak there is a rest place with great views of the hilly landscape towards Thailand, today it’s a bit hazy so there must be some burning to clear the land somewhere nearby.

While there I meet 3 guys on a motorcycle trip from JB and we chat about the riding and the cameras we’re using to record our adventures.

After our chat I get going on the downhill road towards Gerik. It’s, again, a beautiful stretch of road with turn after turn. Going downhill I must be a bit more careful, it’s much more challenging to slow down but my brakes are pretty ok, so no real problem. I catch several log trucks, carrying many enormous tree trunks, going very slowly and I can smell the brakes working overtime to slow the equipage down! On the very twisty road it’s not so easy to get past, but with the acceleration and strong brakes of a motorcycle, it’s a lot easier than with a car, and I make a quick process of getting past.

Finally I get to Gerik and find the hotel I booked. It turns out I’d have to park the bike in the street, so I tell the receptionist I don’t want to do that and decides to go to the Cottage Inn hotell where I stayed before. It’s more expensive and further away from the center of town but worth it with secure parking.

Gerik is a bit of a dump but I decide to stay two nights to recover from the last three days of riding. There are no restaurents so I find a roadside stall in town and buy a burger which is, surprisingly, quite tasty. 🍔

SONGKHLA

After a 3 toast breakfast I set off on the road towards the Thailand Betong border crossing. It’s a beautiful morning with crisp air and cool temperature. The landscape is quite hilly giving a nice undulating and twisty road. There are hardly any cars on the road so the 55 kms go by very quickly.

As I get close to the border there are several stores selling road insurance for Thailand and I stop at one of the shops and get the necessary papers that I must show when I go through immigration and customs. I’m also told that phone roaming does not work in the districts I first will be passing through so I get a sim card as well. Very reasonable at S$8 for a week and unlimited data.

After getting through the malaysia exit control I ride a few 100 meters to the Thailand immigration and park behind a group of Singapore bikers. They had ridden through the night from Singapore and are having a rest before getting to Betong where they’ll spend the day.

Singapore bikers resting after all night riding.

Many bikers from Singapore ride through the night to Thailand, it’s cool, not much traffic and no speed checks, they’ll go at tremendous speed and reach the border early morning. However, riding in the dark is much more dangerous, there are often slow going trucks with faint rear lights making it very treacherous.

Anyway, I digress… Immigration with passport stamp is very quick and I’m given a 2 month stay. This is surprising, normally you only get a 2 week stay when entering through a land border crossing. The motorcycle is temporarily imported and I get a 1 month stay. All good so far! The whole process took less than half an hour, very quick!

After all that I hit road 410 going north towards Yala. If the morning road was great… The this road is incredible! Turn after turn as the road snakes its way through the very hilly landscape.

It’s very challenging but very satisfying riding but in the heat I get quite exhausted and stop for a rest.

I drench my t-shirt with water and carry on and with the wind evaporating the water I feel much better. It takes me more than an hour to get to a town where I stop at a Amazon coffee place to recover and lower my heart rate and blood pressure 😂

After the coffee stop the road gets straighter and after passing through Yala it turns into dual carriageway which makes for fast passage to my hotel in Songkhla.

As I finally get a draught beer at the hotel bar, I think about the day and how amazing it was. It will be difficult to beat!

Peninsular Malaysia roundtrip

October 14, 2025 / Carl / 11 Comments

I was bored in Singapore and felt like doing a trip somewhere. Since the wife didn’t object I set about planning and decided to make a 5 or 6 day trip in peninsular Malaysia. After a lot of thought (ha, not really) I decided to go up north on the east side and cross over as far north as possible,and came up with a route: sgp->kuantan->Kuala Terenganu->Gerik->Frazer’s hill->Sgp.

So I set off on a Monday morning getting out of Singapore at the Tuas crossing. No queue at 10 am so I was quickly in Malaysia.

A note about Singapore/Malaysia border crossings; there are 350,000 people crossing the border and of those 50,000 are motorcycles going into and out of Singapore every day! Quite amazing.

Anyway, back to my trip… I rode north on the north-south hwy until I turned off for Kluang, a town on the cross peninsula route to Mersing. After suffering through the town – very slow going with lots of traffic lights, each one taking ages, I came out on hwy 50, which is famous for motorcyclists because of the nice and twisty road. Interestingly, there are warning signs for elephants along the road, not something you commonly see. However, I have never heard of anyone encountering an elephant along any road in Malaysia. Nevertheless, there are 5 or 6 groups with 20-30 elephants in each in the southernmost state of Malaysia, Johor. Of course, with an elephant weighing 4-5 tons you don’t really want to hit one, it would be like running into a concrete wall!

I made it to Mersing early afternoon and stopped for lunch at the jetty food-court and after a nice portion of chicken-rice I got going on hwy 3 northward toward Kuantan. It’s a nice road with fast sweepers in places and I was really enjoying the ride. After the first half hour, or so, the road goes through many towns and villages and I was passing as schools were getting out so a a lot of traffic. At some stretches the road is right by the coast and you can see fishing implements, clearly, fishing is part of the economy.

When I was close to Pekan, a town about 50km south of Kuantan, I braked for a traffic light and the front brake was not working! Luckily I was going slowly enough that I could stop in time with the rear brake only! Scary! I got off the bike and found the problem to be in the actuation in the master cylinder. As I was standing beside the bike a car stopped and a guy got out wondering what was wrong, I explained and he offered to show me the way to a mechanic! What a nice guy!

So I followed his car and after 5km I turned into the mechanic shop just beside the road. Unfortunately, the mechanic couldn’t fix the problem but gave me the name of a shop in Kuantan that should be able to. So I gingerly made my way to the hotel in kuantan, a 50km ride without front brake! Since I’m used to doing most or all braking with the front brake I didn’t feel comfortable at all and kept a good distance between me and anything on the road. Well, I made it to the Swiss-Belhotel without incidence and felt very relieved! The hotel is located by the beach, but quite some way from the center of town. I checked in and settled into my room which was on the 19th floor with views towards the center of Kuantan.

View towards center of Kuantan from my hotel room

I decided to stay an extra day in Kuantan. First I rode to the bike shop I had been recommended and the mechanic quickly found the problem. I had installed an aftermarket brake lever and the rod that pushes the piston that pushes the fluid to activate the brake is adjustable by twisting it, and it had somehow gotten shorter. Possibly, because of the rather bumpy road, but who knows? Anyway, he quickly made the rod the correct length and used Loctite to make sure it wouldn’t get short again. Phew😅! All for the princely sun of rm10:- (about usd 2.50)

Mechanic who quickly diagnosed and fixed the problem

Wednesday to Kuala Terenganu

After a day of recouperating, fixing of the bike and getting the stuff I forgot at home I set off for Kuala Terenganu on Wednesday, It was looking to be a hot day with blazing sun and the usual humidity so I wanted to make it as short a day as possible in the saddle, so I decied to take the fairly new motorway. After the usual traffic light holdups I reached it and set off at a good pace. This road is numbingly boring with nothing but palm tree plantations along it. Halfway I stopped for a mango-smoothie which was nice and cooling and kept me going to the town and my hotel. I could not check in until 1500 and after changing into shorts I found a restaurant by the hotel and had a lunch of sweet and sour chicken, being in the muslim part there was no sweet and sour pork…

After checking in and a short nap I set about exploring the town. I walked towards the river and soon found myself in Chinatown.

As I was leaving the hotel for dinner I asked some hotel employees having a smoke outside the hotel where I could go for a beer and a chinese guy walking past happened to hear me and said I could follow him to Chinatown. So I did and we got talking along the way, he was a traveling salesman for powdered milk and had driven from Kota Bahru furhter north on the east coast, actually almost in Thailand. He guided me to a restaurant which turned out to be very nice and with a good choice of alcoholic drinks. I was expecting the menu to have typical chinese dishes but it was predominantly western and I choose to have fish and chips washed down with a beer.

Thursday to Gerik

Today’s ride was going to be the highligt of the trip going on windy roads to the highlands and back down again. I started at 0700 without having breakfast and quickly found my way out of Kuala Terenganu towards the north. After 100kms I stopped at a petrol station for something to eat and had an unhealthy breakfast consisting of a bread roll and a Snickers bar together with some 100+. It’s OK, once in a while I told myself. After another stretch I arrived at Jeli and started on the fantastic part of the road going from 150m to 1050m above sea. Nice asphalt with turn upon turn brought on a big smile inside the helmet, mind you, I wasn’t pushing it 100 or even 70 percent, just enjoying the road and views without taking any risks. After 60 km I reached the plateau and stopped at a rest area, Amiza Titiwangsa, to enjoy the view and lower the adrenaline content in my blood.

View from rest area towards the north and Thailand

Half an hour later I was back on the bike now going downhill towards Gerik, again a lovely road for a motorcycle! As I was going downhill along the twisting road doing about 90kph a guy on a chicken-masher (moped) was keeping well up with me and after a while he passed me. Must be a local who knew the road very well I told myself 🙂

I arrived at the Cottage Inn hotel in Gerik around 1300 and was told, as usual, that I couldn’t check in until after 1500. I kept pestering the receptionist asking for a place I could change into “street” gear and after a while he told me I could check in and gave me the roomkey.

I was hungry after the unhealthy breakfast and no lunch and I found a stall just by the hotel, spring rolls and samosas turned out to be very tasty!

Samosas and spring rolls at stall outside hotel

Later I strolled in to town, about a km away. Gerik, certainly does not look like a prosperous place, and with the economy shifting from historical logging and tin mining towards a future centered on eco-tourism and rainforest conservation the town is, perhaps, in between with not a lot of money to fix the place up.

I mentioned elephants previously and found an article of wild elephants deciding to stay on the Gerik-Jeli highway for three hours and blocking all traffic in both directions in June this year.

See: https://www.motorist.my/article/4710/elephant-pair-cause-massive-traffic-jam-in-gerik-perak

For dinner I found a place 100 meters from the hotel serving a variety of food. I chose to have a few chicken satay pins and a huge hamburger.

Friday to Kuala Lumpur

I decided to skip Fraser’s Hill and go to Kuala Lumpur instead, a distance of about 300kms. I got up early and was on the road by 0700, it was nice and cool that time of the day. The first 100kms was along a nice country road going through a few small towns. After an hour and a half I hit the north-south highway which at this point goes through a mountaineous area making it the most interesting part of the highway. Before reaching Ipoh the road leads up quite a steep hill zig-zagging across the landscape and goes through a long tunnel at the top before zig-zagging down the landscape on the other side to reach the exits to Ipoh. It’s a very nice section for a motorcycle! A bit further and I was starting to feel hungry so I took the exit to the next rest area. It turned out to be very large with a great selection of eateries, I must admit that I wasn’t very adventurous in choosing a Subway outlet. After a 6 inch BMT, coffe and a biscuit I felt ready to tackle the road to KL.

I reached the outskirts of KL right after 1100 and after filling up with petrol I mounted the bike for the last stretch on the fairly confusing road-system of the city. I made it without any wrong turns and got to the hotel by 1130. I was given a room straight away and went for a short rest before exploring the city.

I haven’t been to KL in more than 10 years and the skyline has certainly changed a lot in that period with new buildings everywhere. As I was walking towards KLCC, the area with the twin-towers, I heard my name being called and to my surprise saw that it was an old colleague who happened to be in the city! Incredible! So after the initial greetings we decided to have dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe that evening. After finding my way to KLCC and walking around the area with the obligatory pictures, I finally found a coffee place where I had a tiny bit of lunch and a coffee.

We later had a very pleasant dinner at Hard Rock, reminiscing over our times in the seismic industry. At 2200 live music with a very good local band came on. What a nice evening!

Saturday back to Singapore

I woke up feeling terrible on the Saturday and realized I’d had too much to drink the previous evening. I was considering staying an extra day but after some breakfast I felt well enough to ride back to Singapore. It was quick to get on the motorway going south out of the city, must be a new road since I was here last. I missed a turn but kept going south but more towards KLIA, the airport. No big deal and I was soon back on the N-S Hwy towards Singapore. I reached home at 1630.

Back to Santiago

February 10, 2025 / Carl / 4 Comments

After returning from the Uyuni trip to the hostal they only had room for one night so I decided to start the trip back next day. I also decided I wanted to return as quickly as possible to get the ride through the Atacama desert over as quickly as possible.

So on the first day I skipped Antofagasta and rode straight to Taltal, a distance of 520 km. It was a long day and I arrived mid afternoon. Next day I rode all the way to La Serena, even further than the previous day and I was finally out of the desert!

After filling up in Taltal two vicious looking dogs ran after me as I was leaving the pump and one jumped up and bit my thigh. Not through my pants but enough bite pressure to rupture my skin. I stopped after a while and applied some first aid. Ouch!

There are a lot of dogs everywhere in Chile and they love to chase motorcycles. And especially at petrol stations there seems to be large vicious looking dogs. Even as you ride along in towns at speed around 50kph dogs will chase you and you could have a bad accident. Luckily that didn’t happen.

The ride to La Serena was long and arduous. There are long distances between petrol stations and at one time I misread the map and had to go back 30km to fill up. Motorcycles don’t have the same fuel range as cars and you’re often worried that you’ll run out of gas. Quite the nightmare in the hot arid Atacama desert, with very few cars along the road, if you were to need help.

Well, I made it to La Serena without too many problems but I had screwed up with the hotel booking and spent some time trying to find the place. In the end I found another hotel with safe mc parking off the street. Of course, then booking.com complains that I didn’t check in and wants to charge me. What a palaver!

Hotel according to given address. Doesn’t look much like a hotel…

So after 1150 kms in two days I took it easy the following day to Los Vilos where I stayed for the next three nights. Relaxing and preparing for the last stint to santiago and the flight back to singapore.

The last day of riding went without problems and I arrived back at the hostal right after lunch.

The following evening I bordered the flight to Houston with onwards connection to San Francisco and Singapore. The San Francisco to Singapore flight is the longest united airlines flight at 17 hours the stewardess told me. That is a very long and boring time. 😭

Bolivia routa lagona and Uyuni salt plane

February 4, 2025 / Carl / 2 Comments

At the 6am pickup I met the five persons that was joining me for the Bolivia adventure. There was a young couple from Germany, a mixed nationality couple from Ecuador and Spain and a lady proffesor from Rio de Janeiro. So a very nice mixture of people with different backgrounds. I was the least fluent in Spanish but as it turned out people in the group were very willing to translate for me to english. So, fantastic for me!

After the pick-up we were quickly brought to the border with Bolivia and were soon served with breakfast. The border is at more than 4000 m height and with a temperature of 3C with a strong breeze it felt bitterly cold and I didn’t eat much.

After immigration we swapped to a Toyota land cruiser, 6 people plus driver, and set off for the first lagoon, laguna Blanca. The white color giving the lagoon it’s name is because of the high mineral content dissolved in the water. The lagoons are well known for the pink flamingos who like the plankton rich water and we saw lots of them during the first day where we stopped by a number of lagoons.

Perhaps, the most impressive lagoon is laguna colorada with its red water coming from the borax rich mineral ground.

There were a lot of pink flamingos at this lagoon.

We stopped for lunch at a place where there were hot springs and people put their bathing suits on and went for a swim.

There is an animal from the lama family that is prevalent in the area, the vicuna, and we saw many of those throughout the trip.

After a very long day, 16 hours, we arrived at the night’s lodge at 10pm. It’s at more than 4000 m height and after a quick shower and dinner I went to bed but sleep did not come easily due to the low oxygen content of the air. With less oxygen the heart beats quicker and the brain will not come to rest.

So after a really bad night’s sleep we had breakfast at 0630 and set off for the 2nd day of exploring. This day was dedicated to exploring lava rock formations. I didn’t really find this overly interesting and felt it was included to make it a 4 day trip.

The 3rd day was to be the highlight of the trip when we visited the Uyuni salt flat. First in the morning at sunrise, setting off at 0500 from the salt hotel. The salt plane has in some places water on top making for a mirror like surface and with the sun coming up made for spectacular viewing.

We were than taken to an area where the salt looked very white and I could imagine being in the mountains of my home area in winter times.

While on the salt plane our driver and guide had fun with taking photos using props and geometrical wizardry producing fun looking images.

Next stop was the first hotel of the salt before later going to the famous train graveyard in Uyuni.

After another nice lunch we were brought to the office and were re-located to different cars and started the long drive back to the same lodge as used for the first night.

In summary, the trip was very memorable but really hard work. Distances are very large, 500 km in total?, so a lot of time is spent in the cars driving quite slowly on the very poor “roads”. This gave very long days of around 15 hours and because of being over 4000 meter of altitude very tiring.

I end this blog with a picture of the group hanging off the Toyota land cruiser and a breadcrumb map of the route.

Follow in the next blog: Back to santiago

El Norte Grande

January 25, 2025 / Carl / 5 Comments

Back to going north in Chile

El norte grande is the northern most area of Chile and includes cities such as Antofagasta and San Pedro de Atacama. It’s a large area, with few people, and dominated by the Atacama desert.

As I was riding I passed the 1000 km mark from Santiago and later saw a sign saying the distance to Iquique was another 1000 km, and that’s not the northernmost town in Chile! It’s really a crazy long and narrow country!

The hotel had no rooms for a third night so I decided to leave Taltal after two nights. There was no food at the hotel so I went looking, but on a sunday morning I couldn’t find anything open apart from the neighboring supermarket where I went to buy stuff that would constitute breakfast. The typical chilean round bun, butter and 3 slices of salami would have to do.

I then set off along Ruta 1 which runs along the coast with fantastic views of the shore line and dramatic waves, almost like hwy 1 in California. After 55 km I turn on to b-710 which looks like a newly constructed road that goes upwards in switch backs and reaches more than 2000 meters in altitude. The area around the road is truly desert and the driest place on earth.

Why is it so dry? You’d think being so close to the pacific would give plenty of rain, so what’s going on? The coastal range mountains are quite tall and blocks rain from the west while the Andes blocks rain from the east. Furthermore, the pacific close to Chile has quite cold water and does not produce much rain in the first place.

After 120 km the b-210 road meets Ruta 5, but instead of going north to Antofagasta I turned south to see one of the highlights of the trip. After 20 km I could see a magnificent and tall sculpture in the desert.

Mano del desierto

I’ve seen this on the cover of guide books and now I was finally able to see it for myself! The sculpture, which is 11m tall, was completed in 1992 by Mario Irrazabal and references the human rights violations by the Pinochet regime. I guess the big hand of the government was always able to get you?

Antofagasta

After spending some time admiring the monument I rode the dirt road back to Ruta 5 and turned north to reach Antofagasta. At about the turnoff from Ruta 5 you ride through a terrible looking, huge, industrial area that looks like it could have been a set in the mad max movies. After turning off Ruta 5 I was soon in Antofagasta and found the Wyndham hotel I had looked up. It’s the most posh hotel of the trip so far!

Antofagasta is a town dominated by people working in or for the mining industry. The industrial area I rode through yesterday is mainly to do with enrichment of copper and lithium ore.

I walked in to a movistar shop to see if I could unblock my phone and was told I was no 12 in line. I didn’t want to wait that long so I started walking out when I was asked by the shop manager if he could help me. Then he spent the next hour and a half getting my phone fixed up! He was very patient and wouldn’t give up but in the end couldn’t fix it. He did send me an email with links and I was later able to submit the application to register the imei of the phone. I did get two 40 GB Sim cards and one of them is already working in my GPS navigation phone.

People here are amazingly nice, willing to help, and don’t get upset. It’s the same in traffic, drivers are very courteous and non aggressive.

Back to Antofagasta… It’s got a long beach promenade and a lagoon for people daring to enter the water.

The day temperature stays at 23C and often with quite a breeze making you feel cool. So better be careful and put a lot of sunscreen on.

After three nights I decided it was time to leave and go to San Pedro de Atacama, a distance of 300km. First getting out of Antofagasta, then onto Ruta 5, 25, and 23.

While on Ruta 5 the road was blocked by an enormous metal scoop traveling at 60kph on a big truck. It was so big that it covered two lanes plus the shoulder! After some time there was a long queue of cars behind. I couldn’t get past until a road toll Plaza. I have no idea how they would get the humongous scoop past the Plaza.

Ruta 25 was a brand new dual carriage road with pristine asphalt. The fence at the side of the road was not even finished.

I arrived at San Pedro de Atacama and started looking for a petrol station, there had been none to be seen from the road for the entire stretch and the fuel warning light had come on. It took some time before I finally found it and could breath a sigh of relief.😅

I met some bikers at the petrol kiosk and they recommended me a place to stay, hostal Terracota which I eventually found, they had a room and I went about installing myself therein.

San Pedro de Atacama

After the nice tarmac roads to get here, it was strange to see all dirt roads of the town, a bit like stepping back on time. The town is in an oasis with lots of greenery a welcome change from the brown of the desert! There are also a lot of tourists.

The town is at a height of 2400m above sea level which I find quite noticeable. Waking up at night, a bit breathless when walking fast. Hopefully, this will not last since I’m thinking of joining a tour into Bolivia and the Uyuni salt flats which will go to 4400m.

Valle de la luna is a nearby attraction and I rode to see what it was about. It’s 15 km from the town and as the name suggests it’s a valley looking like it could be on the moon. I walked a trail of about an hour in the scorching heat and the rock formations really looked like a moon landscape.

The heat is so dry, 10% humidity, so the sweat dries immediately and I felt exhausted after the hike.

I met a Singaporean(!) guy at the same hostal and he told me about the trip to Bolivia he had just returned from. It sounded interesting and since I don’t have the ownership papers for the bike I’m not allowed to leave the country with it, so I signed up for the 4 day tour with a local travel company. So after thee nights I checked ut of the hostal and joined the tour at 6am.

Follow along on the exciting trip to Bolivia

Going north in Chile

January 16, 2025 / Carl / 8 Comments

Follow my trip further north in Chile

Going north in Chile

After a week at Hostal Casa Matte I was getting over the jetlag and was starting to get some half decent sleep. Man, jetlag is really terrible and it gets worse as you get older, at least for me. Without proper sleep for many days both my body and mind are affected. Oh well, hopefully, I’m on the mend.

The hostal caters for bike travelers and when I left there were people from many parts of the world, ok, perhaps, mainly Europeans and Americans. It’s a great place to stay with many interesting conversations all through the day, and often as people work on their bikes. So it was a bit sad to leave. 😭

I decided to go north because last year I went south and I saw and experienced most of that part of Chile and Argentina.

Getting out of santiago is a challenge trying to avoid the automatic toll roads and, of course, I failed again. So, more fines 😩. I’m taking Ruta 5, the highway that goes from the north of Chile to the south, it’s also called the pan american high way. It was rather hot at more than 35c before getting to the coast where the temperature dropped to 25c. But also quite strong winds.

The bike is running really well, and I’m very happy with it. It was a reluctant buy since I really wanted another brand, however, it was not available so I had to settle for the Royal Enfield Himalayan 450.

Los Vilos

I stopped for the day at a place called Los Vilos after 250 kms. I found a hotel with the fancy name of Lord Willow. Sounds very posh but it’s rather basic, but the shower is hot and the bed clean and comfortable.

As I go along the roads of the town and sitting looking out of the restaurant window I notice the love affair of chileans and trucks and suv’s. It’s almost as if I was in Texas again! What’s the point of driving around in a 2 or 3 ton truck? I can’t figure it out, obviously marketing of these behemoths have been very effective.

Los Vilos is a typical small seaside town and it’s really nice to be away from big city santiago!

After a good night’s sleep I have a lazy morning and decide to stay for another day. Walking along the beach I hear the thunder of the waves, the smell of the ocean and seaweed and I feel really happy and relaxed. 😁I realize the trip has been quite stressful so far and it’s so nice to feel relaxed and calm again.

In Santiago it got very hot in the afternoon, 35c, but at night a lot cooler at 16c. So it was hot going to bed, of course no ac, but in the morning quite nice temperature. Here in Los Vilos the temperature at night comes down to 12c and I need blankets not to freeze! There are no heaters in the rooms so I assume the winter temperature doesn’t get a lot cooler.

In the end I stayed three nights at the place. I really enjoyed my time there. Apart from the last night when loud music was played until 5am! Earplugs did help a bit but the bass tones come through anyway so I didn’t get much sleep that night.

The next goal is La Serena, a much larger town 250 km north. The temperature was around 20c but with strong wind it felt much colder and I had to stop to put more clothes on. After stopping at a service area the sun burned through the clouds and it became a lot warmer.

I turned off Ruta 5 to visit Parques nacional bosque Fray Jorge, a detour of 30km each way. This park has unusual vegetation for the area because of a unique microclimate formed by a peculiar geometry of cliffs rising from the pacific ocean giving lush greenery.

The man himself with the cloud covered green hills in the background

Unusual large trees for the dry surrounding area

La Serena

I arrived afternoon time at La Serena and set about finding a hotel. This time booking.com found me a nice hotel and showed an even lower price than what the receptionist asked for. It’s located close to the center of town.

I walked around the very busy town today. The streets are narrow and there’s cars queuing everywhere, it’s almost like a grid lock. Streets are layed out in rectangular fashion so it’s easy to navigate around the streets. There are nice looking old buildings along the streets everywhere and several really large squares. It’s quite a beautiful town!

After two nights in La Serena, I felt it was time to continue my trek north so after breakfast and packing I set off around 9am for a 400 km ride north to a town called Caldera. Some days I wonder why I set off on this trip and today was one of those days. The surroundings of the entire ride was like moon landscape.

I only passed by one town on the 400km stretch and that was also the only place with a petrol station. I went passed it without stopping and realized I could run out of petrol so I had to turn back and fill up.

Caldera

I reached Caldera mid afternoon and set about finding a place to stay. Caldera is a busy place and it took me a while to find a free hotel room.

Another posh name hotel… There was only one room available and it was facing the street, I didn’t think much about the room location, but I should have!

After dinner with watching European football (all of south America is football crazy) I went for a walk in the beautiful golden hour light.

Later after going to bed I realized the street outside was not going to be quiet with loud cars and music! Earplugs helped so I did get some half decent sleep but next morning I pleaded with the hotel receptionist for another room away from the street and after more pleading I got another room at the other end of the hotel.

There’s a Paleontological park south of the town called Los Dedos and I rode there and took part in a guided tour. Kind of interesting showing fossils of various fish and animals.

The name Los dedos which means “the fingers” comes from 5 elongated sand ridges.

The climate in this desert town is not hot as you might expect, but pleasantly cool with a typical max of 23c, a minimum of 16c, and not much variation during the year. The cool waters of the pacific keep the temperature stable year around.

There is always street art in Chilean towns.

I enjoyed Caldera and stayed there for three nights before setting off for another beach town, Taltal, 250 km further north. Ruta 5 stayed close to the coast for half the distance before going more inland traversing the desert. Actually, there are signs along the road stating the apt name Ruta Desierto, The road is beautiful and with more elevation changes than the previous day’s stretch is quite enjoyable to ride. I arrive at Taltal around 1 pm and found a hotel throough the Ioverlander app immediately, the hotel has locked secure parking which is important when traveling with a motorcycle and I have a large room with A/C!

Taltal

One of my readers, Mike, suggests that I go and visit an Astronomical Observatory not far from Taltal, the Paranal observatory, which is one of the best sites in the world to study the sky. It is set at an altitude of more than 2600 m, with the clear skies of the desert and none existent light pollution it’s set in a perfect place. Furthermore it was a setting for the James Bond movie “A quantum of Solace”!

The observatory has two tours every saturday so would have been perfect for me, unfortunately, the first available slot was in two weeks time.

Taltal has a beautiful setting in between the ocean and high hills:

Fishing boats, the ocean and high hills. A serene setting.

Quite a tame seagull was happy to be part of the picture.

Follow my trip further north in Chile

Arriving in Santiago

January 12, 2025 / Carl / 7 Comments

my next blog – going north in Chile

When boarding the flight to San Francisco in Singapore I thought, is this trip really a good idea and was I really up to it. But it’s too late to change my mind now when all preparations were completed.

I had a bulkhead seat and it looked like there might be an empty seat beside me, but it was a full flight and sure enough, a guy being wheeled down the aisle in a wheel chair, was lifted to the seat beside me. He was a big guy and seemed barely conscious. His partner rearranged seats so she could sit beside him.

I asked the lady what was wrong with him and was told he had cancer and was in severe pain and was given strong pain medication. He spread his legs leaving me with limited space and I was not looking forward to the 15 hour flight. Of course I pitied the guy but I couldn’t help thinking about my own comfort for the long flight.

However, I survived and arrived in San Fran their morning time and had the pleasure of queuing up for immigration into the US, when I finally saw the officer he let me in without much questioning. Then getting the luggage, dropping it off again, and make my way to security for the flight to Houston. Everything went smoothly and I was soon seated in the airplane.

Arriving Houston at 5pm I had time for a quick dinner of fish and chips before getting on the last flight.

Fish and chips Texas size portion.

Santiago next morning there were no problems getting through immigration and getting my luggage.

I used Uber for transport and the driver told me to go to the basement of the parking garage which seemed strange, and he later explained that Uber had not yet been given the permission to pick up travelers from the airport, so it had to appear like I was riding in a regular, private car.

I soon arrived at Hostal casa matte where I had booked a room.

Hostal casa matte

It’s a bikers place and there are quite a few bikes inside the property. It was nice with a shower after the long trip. I arrived on the 9th of January and I would pick up my bike the next day.

I had arranged with a local company to do the paperwork and purchase the bike so it would be ready when I arrived. Martijn had done a splendid job in organizing the whole thing so on the 10th I met him at the bike shop and picked up the machine.

I’m picking up the Royal Enfield Himalayan at the dealer.

I can’t recommend Martin and his company Andes Adventure Bikes enough. They took care of all the paperwork (and there’s quite a lot) as well as purchasing the motorcycle and even got the luggage racks installed. Please consider them if you have the same idea as me to travel on a motorcycle in south America.

https://andesadventurebikes.com/

After a further day of getting over 11 hours of jetlag I set off for a ride up the Andes to a vinter ski resort. Santiago is at 800m while the ski resort is at 3000m altitude so the road was very twisty with more than 50 switch backs with very narrow turns. A challenge to ride and a good workout for the machine testing most aspects like engine, gearbox, brakes etc. We both managed well! Although at 3000m I felt a bit light headed after the fast ascent.

Valle Nevado ski resort

3000m above MSL!

Coastal trip

The new motorcycle needs to be run for 500kms before first service so I decided to ride to the coast and a small town called Cartagena. On last year’s trip I stayed there for a few days while recuperating from covid and I remember the seaside town fondly. Santiago gets very hot in the afternoons, 35C, while the coast is much cooler, another reason for going.

It’s a 150km trip each way so not very far. I’ve been warned about going on toll roads that do not have toll boots but use automatic charging. As a foreigner you can’t obtain the necessary device so when you go on these roads you will be fined and payment of this is not easy because foreign credit cards are not accepted.

Soo, of course, I got on the wrong road and will get a fine 😩, it’s only about 10000 pesos ($10), so no big deal if it was easy to settle.

After all that I arrived at Cartagena and had a nice lunch.

For the trip back I chose another route avoiding the automatic toll road.

After the trips I have enough kms on the bike to do the first service which is being done now.

Local prepaid sim cards are very cheap but when trying to install one in my phone I could not get it to work. After many tries I talked to another hostal guest and figured out why. If you don’t register your phone after the first month it will be blacklisted(!) and you won’t be able to use local operators until you do register it. Well, I used the same phone last year and didn’t do the registration, so that explains it. So I now use an esim which works fine.

The trials and tribulations of traveling! 😂

Follow along next part of the trip

South America 2025

January 5, 2025 / Carl / 0 Comments

Arriving in Santiago

Going north in Chile

El Norte Grande

Bolivia routa lagona and Uyuni salt plane

Back to Santiago

South America 24 : Day 37

March 6, 2024 / Carl / 8 Comments

Go to South America 24: Day 29 Go to South America 24: Day 22 Go to South America 24 Day 1

Day 37: El Calafate

Afer a great day of hiking in El Chalten I rode to El Calafate, the town that is the gateway to the Perito Moreno glacier. A bit over 200 kms between the two towns and tarmac’ed the whole way. I found a hostel that had off street parking for the bike and had a private room available. It’s pretty basic with a minimal kitchen, however, it has heated flooring! Very nice. After sleeping rather badly, I rearranged the loading of the bike for a return trip to the Perito Moreno glacier staying at the same hostel for two nights. The glacier is 250 sqr kms in size and together with the 47 other glaciers in the area holds 1/3 of the freshwater in the world! The glacier is nor shrinking or expanding meaning it is fed the same amount of snow as it is loosing, The glacier grows in the months of June through December and recedes between December and April. Glacioligists debates the reason for the glacier being in equilibrium with other glaciers in the world, often, shrinking.

The height of the ice at the highest point is 70m. The glacier advances two meters every day, and calves every minute and I heard several of these events giving up an almighty roar every time. Very impressive!After spending 3.5 hours at the site I packed the bike and rode back to El Calafate and the hostel.

Day 39: Puerto Natales

After the impressive glacier sightings, I moved on towards the south and Puerto Natales, which is the gateway to the Chilean “equivalent” of El Chalten, Torres del Paine. Along the way I see a lot of Guanacos which is a smaller relative of the domesticated Llama. There are fences 50m on either side of the road but the Guanacos get over them easily and often forage close to the road. They get to be 1.2 m tall and weigh close to 100 kg so you definitively do not want to hit one. I need to relax some more so I will definitively stay two nights at this nice hotel like hostel, Sendero.

I have plans to make a day-trip to Torres del Paine, but unfortunately, it’s raining quite heavily today and the forecast for the next few days does not look promising so I’ll spend my time in front of the Woodburner.

Day 41: Cerro Sombrero

With no good weather in the forecast for the next few days, I got on the bike and rode to Tierra del Fuego. It was a very windy day which made riding feel dangerous with the bike tilted over one way for all of a sudden the wind changing direction making the bike tilt the other way. Not enjoyable riding at all!To get to tierra del fuego you must take a ferry and I chose the shorter and more regular option leaving the mainland at Punta Delgado. While waiting for the ferry to arrive the wind was very strong and I was worried the bike would be blown over. Scary stuff you never think of when traveling in a car.After an hour the ferry arrived and it was really struggling against the wind to get to the loading position. On board the ferry without problems I had an hour for some refreshments before getting off on Tierra del Fuego.

I carried on until I got to Cerro Sombrero where I stopped to fill the tank. I asked the attendant the directions to a hotel and I found a really nice and cozy one, hosteria Tunkelen, and they had a room. I had dinner with a guy who is organizing motorcycle tours in South America. He was returning from Ushuaia after having guided a group of bikers on a 23 day trip. He would soon be guiding a group of Italian bikers organized through Dainese. This was his job! The envy of many bikers, I’m sure!

Hosteria Tunkelen

Day 42: Ushuaia

I was considering staying another day at Tunkelen hosteria and wait for a less windy day, but in the end I decided to go, It’s a 400 km ride, first through Chile and then Argentina. It was very windy until the last 100 kms, with the last 50 kms going through mountainous terrain over Paso Garibaldi, and, of course, it started raining and the temperature sank to 4C. It was so cold on the bike! But I made it 🙂

I rode around town to find somewhere to stay and in several places they were full, I finally found a 2-star hotel close to the center, Hotel Vitalia.

The Yamana people were the first inhabitants of the island and were, perhaps, in some respects similar to Eskimos, in that they lived in a pretty harsh environment. Apart from one difference – they didn’t wear clothes!

They used bonfires to keep warm and when Magellan came there in 1520 he saw the fires and named the island Tierra del Fuego! With more European influence the indigenous people started to suffer, wearing clothes meant that their hygiene got worse and many caught European illnesses such as measles and perished.

Eventually the Argentines settled the area and built a jail for serious criminals, which has now been converted to a museum where I got the picture of the Yamani people. Ushuaia is today a prosperous city of 80,000 people.Weather is mild with average -1 degrees in the dead of winter.Tourism is a big part of the economy with cruise ships often seen in the harbor.

For dinner I joined up with Olav, a biker friend, who I last met in Tibet close to 5 years ago. We’ve kept in touch via Facebook and as it happened we were in Ushuaia at the same time. Olav is here with a group of bikers and his friend Jeff also joined for dinner.

It was a very enjoyable meal where we discussed many world problems as well as the success of Taiwan in chip making and the incredible progress Singapore has made over the last fifty years.

Day 44: Cerro Sombrero

I stayed in Ushuaia for two days and then started on the ride back north. It was cold and very wet for a while, and later on strong winds. When I arrived at the hotel I was frozen to the bone and not even a hot bath could revive the circulation in my feet. Oh dear, the pleasures of adventure riding 🤔At dinner I chatted to a group of bikers and understood that one of the riders had crashed and was at the local clinic being checked out. He had no broken bones but was in some pain. Luckily, the group had a follow-along truck and he would be riding there rather than on his bike. I decided to stay for an extra day to thoroughly warm up and consider my plans.

In the morning I talked to my 8 year old girl and when I told her it was possible to end the trip and come home within a week she said, yeah!I missed you!

I have been told by many that the trip north along Ruta 3 is incredibly boring and 3000 kms in distance.Taking everything into consideration I decided to end the trip in Punta Arenas where the bike will be trucked to Santiago and then shipped to Singapore.

Day 46: Punta Arenas

The ride of the 200 kms was very cold and windy with a temperature at the start of 5c. There was nowhere to warm up until 160kms along the way, and I was really glad to stop for an empanada and hot coffee and warm up by a radiator!

In Punta Arenas I had to find a notary to make a power of attorney allowing my shipping agent to handle customs on my behalf when shipping the bike to Singapore. There are many notaries in every town and it didn’t take long to find one and get the required document.Then off to the trucking depot where I left the bike after packing all my bike clothes on the bike leaving me with only cabin luggage for the flights back to Singapore.

The next day I walked around town for a while before getting to the airport and the flight to Santiago.

The flight is 3 and a half hours reflecting the distance I’ve covered which was 6000kms! Quite a way.

Progress to Ushuaia and back to Punta Arenas.

Day 47: Santiago

I landed in Santiago and found a Best Western hotel in the Centro area. The hotel room is nice but the localtion not so great with no restaurents or caffes anywhere near. Neither is the hotel at a safe area and I was told to stay inside after dark which kind of meant I had to have dinners at the hotel. For the next three datys I did some sightseeing but saw nothing very exciting.

After 3 days in Santiago it was time to get on the plane to Houston, followed by legs to San Fransisco and Singapore. The last leg is a 17 hour killer flight. Not much fun being stuck in a chair for that long.