GIVI Magazine - Maggio 2018

Givi Explorer Tour - Text and photos by Pietro Ambrosioni GO TO THE WEBSITE 34 Givi Explorer Tour GOLDEN TRIANGLE ADVENTURE THE FAR EAST HAS ALWAYS PROVED TO BE A SOURCE OF CURIOSITY AND INSPIRATION FOR TRAVELERS. FROM MARCO POLO AND BEYOND, THE MAGIC OF ASIA HAS CONTINUALLY BEEN AN IRRESISTIBLE ATTRACTION TO THOSE WHO HAVE AN ADMIRATION AND INTEREST IN BOTH ADVENTURE AND ENIGMATIC CULTURES. EVEN GIVI IS FASCINATED BY THIS PART OF THE WORLD, ORGANIZING THE GIVI EXPLORER TOUR IN LATE 2017 VISITING THREE OF THE MOST SEDUCTIVE COUNTRIES IN SOUTHEAST ASIA: THAILAND, CAMBODIA AND VIETNAM. 1st and 2nd day Sunday 12 November - Monday 13 November 2017 400km - from Pattaya (Thailand) to Siem Reap (Cambodia) The trip officially began on the evening of Sunday 12 November in Pattaya, Thailand, with a dinner, official briefing and distribution of helmets and technical clothing to all the participants. The next morningwe set off: it is sowet in the early hours that we can barely make the usual group shots without the camera lens fogging up. After a brief stop in the middle of the morning for some motorcycle checks and adjustments, according to individual rider’s personal preferences, we quickly head towards the Cambodian border. The long straight road, the overcast skies and the humidity all combine to make the route rather unpleasant ... but the wonderful archaeological and religious sites that await us ahead provide just the right motivation to endure the journey. After crossing the border, we discover that the guide for our time in Cambodia was very different to our expectations but also, nobody could have prepared us for the final 150km. Along the way we meet cows, every type of cart imaginable, pedestrians, bicycles, cars, huge trucks, but particularly swarms of scooters that emerge from nowhere when least expected. In reality it is a continuous obstacle course! Immediately after nightfall we reach the hotel in Siem Reap. Crossing the border between Thailand and Cambodia was certainly an interesting moment of our day. Having to park all the motorcycles at the Thai customs, register our documents and then go to the Immigration Office to take a passport picture and have our documents checked. Surprisingly, the formalities in Cambodia proved to be less cumbersome than we anticipated: the border police gathered us in the courtyard of the customs building and after ten minutes we were given the authorization to continue our journey. 3rd day Tuesday 14 November 2017 Break time for the GIVI Explorer team, with the itinerary including a visit to the magnificent Angkor complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The entire history of this area is an intricate tangle but as a general reference, Angkor was the seat of the Khmer Empire and from 900 A.C to 1200 A.C over a thousand temples were erected in the region. Today, what remains of many of the temples is simply a pile of rocks and rubble in the middle of the jungle, however, others are famous all over the world, like the three we are due to visit: Ta Prohm, of Hollywood fame thanks to the first film of the “Tomb Raider” series starring Angelina Jolie; Bayon, also known as the smiling Buddha temple and finally the majestic Angkor Wat, built by King Suryavarman II as the main temple of the empire and his future mausoleum. More than three million people a year visit this complex and during the Vietnam War, Jackie Kennedy made a surprise visit to “crown the dream of a lifetime”. Angkor Wat, the single largest religious monument on the planet, was initially dedicated to the goddess Hindu Visnù, but gradually became a Buddhist temple when King Jayavarman imposed Mahayana Buddhism as the main religion. Today, Angkor Wat represents the whole of Cambodia and its effigy is present on the national flag of this young country within Southeast Asia. But as already stated, being an explorer does not just mean travelling by motorcycle and seeing wonderful places. It is impossible to forget how the brutal genocide carried out in Cambodia by the tyrant Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge, between 1970 and 1980, left an indelible mark on the population and in the collective memory of the nation. Even today it remains difficult to establish exactly how many deaths the regime really caused as there is no previous data that can be used as a comparison: the UN and the Khmer themselves speak of 2 to 3 million victims, while recent studies and some activists point to a number ranging between 5 to 8 million. Cambodia only opened its borders to tourism in 2001 and right from the start, a huge effort was made to welcome visitors from all over the world. 4th day Wednesday 15 November 2017 315km - from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh (Cambodia) We cross a flat region of the country which is literally covered by rice fields, the main food in this part of the world. The day does not start very well: immediately after our departure at 07:30, a tropical storm completely catches us by surprise and it is not the least bit amusing. Considering that most of the secondary roads in Cambodia are unpaved with the foundations being made of red clay: a surface that initially turns into a foamy glass sheet with the first few raindrops. Even the main asphalted roads are affected because of the clay, dragged by the wheels of the vehicles coming in waves from the side roads which just adds to the mud patch. To the “fun” we are already having, just add the ubiquitous holes, cows, stray dogs and the smell: the “road odors” we encounter impose a heavy toll on our noses. After about twenty kilometers, the rain stops falling, giving way to the sun and sticky humidity. Immediately before lunch we turn onto a dirt road to visit the millennial Preah Tis Bridge, near the village of Kampom Kdei. We stop for a couple of shots with the drone and then continue towards Phnom Phen, where we arrive in the late afternoon greeted by completely “crazy” traffic consisting mainly of scooters carrying up to as many as four passengers at a time! As we anticipated, the capital of the country is a combination of the ancient, the modern and the mundane. Buddhist temples stand amongst glass and metal structures and unattractive, sagging buildings from the ‘70s. After dinner, the most curious explorers try the local taxis, the famous tuk-tuk, and head downtown for a stroll along the riverfront where much of the nightlife is unleashed, the nightlife that is accessible to tourists that is. 5th day Thursday 16 November 2017 290km - from Phnom Penh (Cambodia) to Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) The first part of the day in Cambodia is not particularly memorable, with the usual rice fields, unpredictable vehicles on the roads and the damp, sticky heat. We enter Vietnam very quickly. It takes just 20 minutes to complete the forms required by the two Customs and then we are back on the road. The first few kilometers in Vietnam are pleasant, with a verdant landscape and picturesque villages built on the banks of many lakes and rivers. The real nightmare awaited us further ahead. Vietnam does not allow access to foreign motorcycles and the only way to enter is to request the services of a government guide to accompany the group. In our case, at the border, a young boy was waiting for us with a shotgun CBR600RR with no rear- view mirrors. He had no idea where we wanted to go. When we arrived in the vicinity of Ho Chi Minh City, the lad enters the only side road that we had previously told him to avoid at all costs, but in view of the fact that he did not have any side mirrors, he could not see that we were struggling in the harsh traffic (but more of that later) and we became lost. We managed to reach the hotel on our own but later, we almost made him “feel” our dissatisfaction at what had happened earlier in the day. The problem is that the “guide” had dragged us into the most intricate, unpredictable and upsetting traffic jam we have ever witnessed. I then learned that this situation is practically caused daily and mainly by the 7.5 million scooters that circulate Ho Chi Minh City. Getting out of it was tough: 2 hours in the saddle to cover less than 25km. There are no traffic lights, intersections, construction sites or accidents that can stop or at least slow SEE MORE PICTURES RIDING FOR READING Being an Explorer is not just about traveling on a motorcycle and visiting remote places. It’s amindset, a commitment to open our eyes and hearts towhat is around us, embrace different cultures, expand our horizons and try to helpmaking the world a better place, for everybody. The participants to the 2017 GIVI Golden Triangle Adventure joined with enthusiasm the very special initiative launched by Givi Vietnam, and called “Riding for Reading”. The project raises funds to help Vietnamese children in primary school, from the basic needs like notebooks, pens and pencils, to longer lasting investments, like health insurance coverage and full scholarships. On Friday, November 6, 2017, while the GIVI Explorer Group was visiting the headquarters and production facility of GIVI Vietnam, near Ho Chi Minh City, a small event took place to give further exposure to this important initiative. The young scholars of one of the several primary school that the project is supporting, came to meet in person the travelers of the GIVI Golden Triangle Adventure. In their cute uniforms and accompanied by their teachers and an emotional principal, the kids were individually awarded by HendrikaVisenzi,CEOoftheGIVIGroup,andJospehPerucca,GIVIOverseasOperationalDirector. Right after, they all joined Roberto Cajati, Italian Vice-Ambassador to Vietnam and Michele D’Ercole, president of ICHAM (the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam) and all the travelers for a group photo on the small stage prepared for the occasion. The school was also given a further US$800, donated at lunch by the GIVI Explorer travelers through an impromptu fund raiser.