Flooding in Thailand /Cambodia / Laos
 

Paid for the plane ticket today and the bike will be in KL Malaysia on the 26th of Nov!! Yeeeeehaaaaaaaa! Will work my way to Bangkok before heading to Cambodia, through Laos, back into northern Thailand and south to KL again. Two months in total - shame its not 6!!
The Thai embasy here in Aust is saying no probs traveling into BKK from the South and that I will be able to head East to Popiet on the Cambodian border or SE to Koh Kong (Cambodia again) with only minor re-routing as I go.
The Lao and Cambodian embassies have all said 'no problems' and can travel anywhere.
Anyone been through these areas recentlly, or know anyone I might contact for more up to date info? Have to say, will take the embasy positions with a grain of salt. The photo's and articles on the internet look pretty bad, but they are pretty out of date.
Would appreciate any info at all.
Thanks
Dave

Hi Dave,

We just did your route! We are now in Koh Chang and we did hit the floods. The problem is if you on a bike (of any size) you are not allowed on the expressway in Bangkok. That meant we had to detour and ended up in the floods. At first it was fine and ended up deeper. But we were on Honda Waves and except for losing 5 hours we managed it. Do not attempt with open sores though....

Some pics from when it was funny:

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6236/...aa73afd98a.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6119/...2b9d334a0d.jpg
Day 158: Bangkok Flood by sherrielynnm, on Flickr

and when it stopped being so:

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6119/...a722ece77d.jpg
DSC04704 by sherrielynnm, on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6042/...e88ec5b2b8.jpg
DSC04691 by sherrielynnm, on Flickr

But we got through it, it was about 5 kms total. No one can say for sure what it will be like in a month, but my guess is you will be fine. Or you could always do Indonesia and the Philippines instead!

Hi guys - thanks for your response to my query re fllooding in BKK. Really set my mind at ease. Seemed you managed it all well. I see from your posts below that you will still be in IndoChina over Dec / Jan. It may be that we cross paths somewhere on the road. Let me know if you'd like to touch base.
Travel safely
Dave

I went from saigon to Siem Reap last week on a bicycle.
No problems at all.
There are a lot of cows along the road on the embankment, because of flooded fields but I think thats normal in and after the wet season.
The official Cambodian Mekong site (which I have now deleted) recorded no flooding and falling waters all the way from Laos to Vietnam.

An update of what I saw near Ayutthaya...

I had heard from a few people living here that there is an amnesty on the helmet law at the moment and that bikes are allowed on the expressways in Bangkok for now but there hasn't been an end date mentioned for this yet. I have no official source for that info though, just a few people in a bar!

On the way in and out of Ayutthaya all the major roads are clear of water, but there are still a lot of people camped on the roads as all the surrounding areas are still flooded. I think I was mainly on 324 and 321 from Kanchanaburi, lots of roadworks, a fallen tree, and lots of camps appear suddenly on the road. I headed out north to Lopburi by 32 and 3196 (not quite sure that's the right number) The big major roads are clear but the smaller roads often had one lane under water. There was some damage to the road surface on 32 too, at least my suspension can take that at speed :)

In Ayutthaya itself the temples that were open they were free to access and there are very few tourists around. There's still a lot of cleanup going on mostly in the north and west of the island. Off the island I think there are still a few temples that are closed but I didn't get out to them. The elephant camp is flooded so they are living by the side of the road just to the north of the city. The floating market is also closed too.

Thanks again everyone
Seems there are no major problems now.
Flew into Kl this morning and pick up bike tomorrow
It is absolutely pi**ing down here - have never seen raiin like it!!!!
Oh well - that's what it's all about
All the best
Dave

We're in Bangkok now. They're removing the sand bags and wooden walkways. Life is pretty much returned to normal. I hear there is some flooding down South but that's pretty routine down there. Nobody seems overly concerned. We were stopped on the expressway thought and told to leave so if there was an amnesty it's over now.

These floodings are no big deal!!

Taken this morning in northern Laos. They said the bridge should be ready soon, around 2020.

http://www.the-great-adventure.fr/ph...00x1200%5d.JPG