Trip Report from Cambodia - Via Poi Pet

Dec 13, 2007
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Ok First my apologies to all you contributors out there for NOT having filed my Trip report for Thailand.. I have now covered about 6,500 k/s on my trusty Honda Phantom.. purchased from the GT Rider web master in December last year.. That I finally managed to get transferred into my Name in Phuket.. the only province where the documentation I had for both myself AND the seller.. finally lined up.. hence my now trip to Cambodia..

One of the reasons .. apart from just having too much fun to stop and do a trip report.. was that I have only just managed to find a PORTABLE program that I have on my U3 Pen/USB drive .. that will will do a Batch resize of photos from my camera.. which means I can now upload to Photobucket at 10 times the speed it used to take.. only a few of the internet cafes had the ACDC program that had that function..

So here is my photographic trip report.. and while I dont have tiime right now to add too much info .. I will try and get back to do that later.. so check back in if you are interested..

I gotta go .. but will add more later .. if anyone wants to know anything.. just PM me..

I Entered at Poi Pet on the 15th May after waiting a couple od days in Aranyaprateth for the rainn to stop.. I was even thinking it was too late to come here .. becauase of the rainy season.. but it has now been too much of a problem ..

Itinerary so far..

Day 1 Poipet to Siem Reap - 16o ks and about 5 fu*#ing hours of pain.. twice down in the mud.. going like 5 ks hr at the time.. more bruises to ego than body or bike...

CONTINUED #1

ROAD CONDITION.. I didn't note exactly which bits were the worst or for how long.. but the first part to Sissapon was definitely the worst I recall.. and from there it got better .. in parts.. pretty much it is a crappy road all the way to Siem Reap.. I mean a carrier who flies 5 flights a day to there would not really want it to be otherwise huh...

My advice to anyone considering going to Cambodia is just go.. the main roads in the rest of the country are great.. even the secondary roads are OK .. usually hard packed dirt .. or with some gravel on top...

With the raod from Poipet.. I made the decision that if it was really bad I would just flag down a truck and hitch a ride with bike on board.. but it never came to that .. I should have left earlier though.. I didn't get to the border till about noon.. and towards the late afternoon I was panicking about running out of daylight.. and NO WAY was I riding that road in the dark... also the weather was starting to deteriorate.. In fact 15 mins after I checked into the first Guest House.. I found in Siem Reap .. a great place I would recommend .. the name is Bou Savy.. It is on the left past all the big Las Vegas style hotels.. There the sign is quite small.. but look for another bigger sign saying something about Cambodia .. a tourist promo I think.. $6 night for a VERY clean big room I think Air was $10 or $12.. I prefer the fan. and its cheaper...

Anyway as I was saying.. leave earlier and just take your time... rushing.. towards the end.. was not a good idea on that road.. Often even when the road is generally in good condition, a huge pot hole.. or worse.. a rut/channel that would cross the entire road.. would suddenly appear.. and shake the crap out of you if you couldn't brake in time..

TIP" Check all the nuts and bolts on your bike are tight before you leave.. I lost the lens off one of my new spot lights.. just rattled loose..

Day 2
Siem Reap to Kampong Thom - a similar distance as day 1 that took me almost as long = but for completely different reasons - because it was soo delightful.. I kept stopping...

Day 3 Kampong Thom to Phnom Penh 165 ks

Day 4 Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville 224 ks

Day 5 Sihanoukville to Kampot 100 ks

Day 6 - today - Kampot to Takeo ??

Actually I have been in Cambodia days so far .. so those are just riding days..

Gotta go sorry .. will update later..

Welcome to Cambodia Aranyaprateth - Poipet border

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Is this all they have been talking about.. easy peezy...
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Can it get worse?

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Oh yeah...

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Getting better..

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Well at least we don't have corners to deal with as well.. Or bends even..

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Oh yeah .. now we are talkin... bring it on..

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Oh yeah .. now this is what I call a road..

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Oops spoke too soon...

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So much for my nice clean bike/

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Almost there...

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Ha Ha// this sign appears when you are almost at Siem Reap.. but fcaing you as you enter .. and no there was not another one for drivers heading TO Poipet...

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See next posting for pics Siem Reap to Kampong Thom
 

Dougal

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Dec 18, 2007
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Good photos Stephen.

Could you give some indication of how many km of bad road to Siem Reap?

Look forward to your next installment. Have a good ride.
 

DavidFL

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Chiang Khong
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StephenNZ
Good to see you posting on the board with photos. Please keep them coming, the webmaster might even miss his old bike, but then again his new 1100 has him smiling pretty well nowadays.
Your reports will inspire other Phantom riders to get out & tour as well.
 

DavidFL

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How's it going over there? You all ok?
How's the webmaster's ex bike going?
Just met Harvey in Cnx, with 8,000 kms touring North Thai & Laos on a bike under his belt. And with a promise to write it up, so I think you might have some competiton in the trip reports soon.
Take care, & please check in to let us know you're ok.
 
Oct 1, 2005
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Now't wrong with the phantom for a trip like this. Comfy. You don't want to go too fast on those roads anyway. I did a similar trip around Cambos recently on a boss which is pretty much the same thing..... Mind you, you are confined to the tarmac mostly. But that's ok these days since there is quite a lot of it.
 

burnjr

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Dec 28, 2005
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stephen,
good ride report bro..will c u next report,cos in this december,i will be riding to combidia as follow ur route...waiting ur next report.. :arrow: :arrow: :lol:
 
Jan 16, 2008
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Just got back from 3 weeks in Cambodia myself and will echo the Poi Pet-Siem Reap road.
Its about 150-160 km's and about 45-50 of them are paved, the last 30 km's before Siem Reap is the longest stretch.
Lots of detours on the road too due to construction.

I did it in 3 hours on my F650 tho...No crashes ;)