Snakeboy - I say .. If you ( OP ) buy a bike in Malaysia then, then, then .. I will ask my Malaysian friends, who ride into Laos ( not too sure if they have visited Cambodia )

But .. Yeah! Camping !!

I'm loving camping at the moment, it's b@$tard hot, i have no work, the O&G industry is in a state of turmoil - no corporate training happening and I'm skint, but I have lots of time and a little money for gas.

Remind me again, Mat, when are you coming ? It will be rainy season soon, a bit cooler, maybe a little more comfortable.

Camping .. It's an interesting subject here, I'm trying to design a blog site, that will help you but I'm trying to compile from personal experience and not doing too well.

Malaysia
Malaysia is great for camping Malaysians seem to have embraced the concept, also hotels in Malaysia are pretty grotty and overpriced .. there are signposted camp sites on the main roads, maybe you pay a fee, i don't know. I'm also discovering logging tracks / plantation rides / national parks .. I have tried a couple of routes, I just rode until it was dark and threw up my $15 tent on a piece of grass and got cooking. Its been great fun.

If your interested we should talk to plan some routes and i can introduce you to some Malaysians. I have met some cool guys, who pointed me to some good waterfalls / areas of beauty with organised campsites.

National parks in Malaysia just seem to be protected areas, technically your supposed to have permits but seems like you can just ride them, if you got busted, I'm sure they would be more interested in you than interested in prosecuting you for trespass.

Its all a good experience, mate. I didnt know there would be huge areas on the Peninsular where aboriginal Malays live their relatively unchanged life - hunting with blow pipes and living off the land. There lands are disected by logging tracks which run for 100's of KM .. There is plenty of off-road fun there. The tribal people all ride small displacement bikes, they do better than I do on my 650 with ABS and metal panniers.

The bro's also seem to rock up at any beach and put up their tent too without any problem.

Bahasa ( malay / indo ) is the easiest language in the world to learn, it won't be long before you can say "hey, where you been ?","can I sleep here?" "Do you speak English ?" .. I am really excited about Malaysia at the moment, sure some things are expensive and it can boring at times - but, the roads are safe, no visa fee and the petrol is peanuts .. its all good.

Thailand
Camping is strange, the concept is alien to them.

I just got back from viewing a 'sea of fog'. We rode up a mountain, set up camp and in the morning looked out on a sea of fog below ( ? ) The mountain was on private land, its not on the western tourists route - but some guy still popped up and charged me 100B for the tent.

I have seen some people set up on certain beaches, not in tourist destinations. There are scores of deserted picture postcard beaches in Thaland that don't get visited. I would imagine these not being a problem to camp on.

This would be a bit of a hardship, waking up to this .. right ?



But you are going to attract attention, either from the police who will prolly tell you its illegal ( (all) beaches are owned by the king as far as I have been told ), to locals who will be really confused .. they will say, why not go get a hotel for 300B. Some would also argue its not safe, and i think there maybe some truth. Also, if you have upset anyone, you won't be articulate to argue with them.

We have organised campsites here, but on national park land or the high "mountains" - here you will be expected to pay entry about 500B and some 200B to pitch a tent .. so its not really cost effective.

You need to know the secret places to where you can set up camp really, which is why I'm trying to set up a site.

Laos

Not really, its pretty alien to them. I live in the South of Thailand, so Im not too clued up on the North, I have visited Laos but the southern parts.

The rideasia.net guys seem to be rocking the trails this riding season and are coming back with some amazing posts .. they ride the jungle trails, and pitch up hammocks at night or use bivvy bags.

Hotels in Laos are supposed to be cheap, but I don't find them that cheap - still $10+ a night, some places $30-$40. It all adds up.

----------------------------------------------------

The great advantage with camping in SE Asia .. Food. You find roadside restaurants/stalls you can get food-in-a-bag, mom n pop shops will sell you half a kilo of rice, you can buy fish or meat from the markets to BBQ, you can catch fish yourself if your good enough, $1 worth of charcoal and you have dinner.
Just find somewhere suitable, throw your tent up, get the kettle on, cook up some food, if theres a group of you, have a chat, if your in tribal areas, people will come and try and communicate with you - invite you to their house .. Its all good fun. And not like you can BBQ some local sausage in a hotel room .. it all makes the experience way cheaper.

Im also trying to compile a list of trail food, stuff that will keep for multiple days in the heat .. How and where to buy stove fuel .. etc.

When you stay in a hotel, theres not much interaction other than the hotel desk staff and the person in the restaurant up the road. Camping is great. I don't always want to check into a hotel, shower, put on some clean clothes and walk about town and let people point at me, it becomes really boring after a while.

Hope this post isn't too garbled .. Im tired, after 4 days riding and I got back, the wife thinks its great when I'm not here and wants me out of the house next week so suggested i ride Malaysia after the weekend for a week. Life is good.