Pui Nawaluck

Travelling by bike, especially a stylish classic one like a Royal Enfield, makes the journey for me as rewarding as the destinations I visit. I just got back from a three day tour of the south of Thailand on a gorgeous retro-motorcycle and I’m still tingling from the experience. He lent me one of his immaculate retro-classic motorcycles, an army green Royal Enfield Classic 500. It was great to be led to places I’d never hear or know about otherwise, let alone get to visit on a super cool, retro-classic motorcycle.

You will be surrounded by many other people who feel the same, who like to be around other tourists (especially those that share your language), have access to western food, western nightlife,  and don’t mind places crowded with other tourists or having to endure long queues to popular attractions and venues. It’s a general rule that those places that are most popular with tourists offer the least authentic travel experiences, as they slowly but surely become irreversibly changed by their sheer popularity with mainstream or mass tourism. Mass tourism also presents environmental challenges to popular destinations, litter on beaches, damage to fragile coral reefs and inappropriate resort developments for instance, can all harm local ecosystems, sometimes irreversibly. Fortunately, many of these off-the-beaten track destinations will never appeal to the majority of mass tourists as they are too quiet, accommodation options too limited and frankly, just plain boring for the stereotypical backpacker more interested in partying than experiencing authentic local culture.

It was a real pleasure and honour to spend a couple of days riding around Surat Thani and Phang Nga province with Sylvain, showing him my favorite back roads, restaurants and places to relax after a long day’s ride. His can-do approach to international moto touring, and absolute minimalism in packing, along with his loosely planned itinerary, were all incredibly eye-opening and inspiring, and left you feeling like riding around the world is not as daunting a concept as you might originally conceive. All but one visa (India) he has obtained upon entry so far, and with all the appropriate paperwork in hand (valid bike licence, International Driving Permit, Carnet de Passage, Registration documents and insurance papers) have made his international border crossings relatively painless. He wired in his own external USB power source, added heated hand grips and bought cheap hand-guards from ebay that have held together across desert sand, jungle dirt tracks, ice and snow.

Les paysages que j’ai traversés lors de ce roadtrip totalement hors des sentiers battus étaient au moins un million de fois plus spectaculaires que tous les « must see » de la région vus et revus sur les comptes Instagram des voyageurs récurrents. Ces merveilles, je les ai découvertes à bord d’une magnifique moto vintage, le moyen de transport local le plus répandu J’ai traversé villages ethniques et vallées de fermes traditionnelles, rencontré marchands souriants et faune sauvage majestueuse, Liberté totale et symbiose sincère avec ces décors de bout du monde !