Upon arriving at the customs (mid day, Cambodian side) we found out all staff was resting and the facility wasn’t opperational. After waiting for 2hrs for the people to recover we were able to proceed to the Thai side. There we were charged 10 Baht (0.30USD) for officer’s overtime payment. Apparently, that day was a holiday so we had to cover the expense. Another unusual surcharge we saw on some bills we got in Thailand is a so-called “crisis surcharge”. While everywhere in the world prices go down as a result of the economic crisis, in this country they go the opposite way.

Another unique fact is that motorbikes are not allowed on the country’s motorways. The reason given by the police is that the motorway is too dangerous. Which contradicts worldwide statistics showing most controlled access roads (like autostrada or autobahn) as being safer than regular roads. They were usually catching us at the toll booths. Usually they asked us to leave the motorway through some side gate but once the officer ordered me to ride back (against traffic) and take the first exit. Which was not that far though…

The traffic pattern differs from what we’ve seen before. It is much better organised, not so erratic like Cambodia or Vietnam. But, for some reason, each day we ride here we see as many accidents as we saw during the whole 6 weeks we spent in the other two countries.