Been leeching off on good information from GT-Rider community for years. Finally got something useful to contribute.Last month (Jan 2013), my friend and I just rode the track dubbed "the missing link" by Mike Hohman and Rob Hiekel. We went northward from Sungkhla to Umphang. One of the obstacles we were expecting was the crossing of Suriya River in Burma section. But to our pleasant surprise, we found a brand spanking new wooden bridge waiting for us.
From the look of it, the bridge is built to accommodate vehicles up to the size of kubota-drawn cart. (hand-tractor carts are the lifeline in that area) So, 4x4s will still have to tread the water. Us bikes can ride two-abreast.Full trip report coming up.Cheers,