He rode his bike to Long Cheng

[Grathiam]

"Where the 'Secret War' Never Ended" is a three part story
of a riders journey to Long Cheng. It is good reading and available
as the lead story in the May, June and July issues of Cambodia's Bayon Pearnik.

Unfortunately, no direct links are available, so those interested
in reading the article need to go to Bayon's website and download
the 3 monthly issues which are in Adobe Reader format.

Welcome to the Bayon Pearnik Magazine Website : Your One Stop Cambodia Expat, Travel & Tourism Guide
The link to the copies is located in the site's upper right corner.

 

[Lone Rider]

Interesting read and interesting observation that the military guys thought he was one of the first foreigner to ride into Long Cheng. They probably haven't been there long as otherwise they would have know that Mac of the TLCB goes there on a regular basis for the last 3-4 years and I have been there now 3 times. However, we normally have permission beforehand to go there and ride through Long Cheng onwards to Phonsavan but even then it does not always work out properly.

In December we had been told that we could enter but when we arrived and were enjoying a bowl of noodles, two police guys showed up and wanted to know why we were there. They were not happy when we told them that we were looking at schools and planned to travel onwards to Phonsavan and we were ordered to go back after having a look at the school. In case you have seen my short video of a "Ride through Long Cheng" you will see a guy on motorbike in front of our car and he had to make sure that we did not stray from the approved way. Unfortunately, at that time we could not reach the regular contact person as we arrived in Long Cheng on 2 December (National Day celebrating that Lao PDR was established in 1975) while at the same time it was also Hmong New Year so the powers that be were a bit jumpy.

Like I said in my trip report http://www.rideasia.net/motorcycle-forum/laos-ride-reports/5890-laos-long-cheng-thai-lao-cambodia-brotherhood-tlcb.html the area is opening up but at the moment there are still travel re-restrictions. Hopefully next year, when it will be "Visit Xaysomboun Year", things will be more relaxed as Long Cheng has become part of the new Xaysomboun province.

 

[KTMphil]

When and if they open it, can you imagine the amount of visitors they will get?