Cambodian Bike Week

This was originally written by a friend on a Pattaya forum folks (Martin Smith, owner of the Ace Cafe in Jomtien) so please forgive and gloss over some abbreviations you may not understand.

After a few months of false starts I finally got around to doing the road trip down to Sihanoukville on the Harley, with some pals from HOG (Harley Owners Group) Thailand…… 5 bikes in all so good ‘n’ noisy! We left the Ace Café at 7am and headed off cross country down to Rayong, then on to Highway 3 and down to Klaeng, by-passed Chantaburi, on to Trat and then down the 318 to Khlong Yai and the border. This leg took 5 hours mainly because the guys I was riding with used petrol stops as an excuse for half hour food/coffee/cigarette/chat breaks and we could’ve shaved an hour off the Thai-side journey but what the hell, we were on holiday!

The process of getting the bikes across the border couldn’t have been simpler, and the Thai officials were extremely helpful. All you need, at this time of writing, is your Thai vehicle registration book. People will tell you the book has to be in your name but not so….. if your vehicle is registered in another name, all you need is a letter from that person giving you permission to take the vehicle over the border.

If doing this then use a bit of grey matter and get copies of that persons ID card and get the letter, in Thai, to state their name, your name (in English so they can compare it with your passport), the vehicle registration number etc etc. If your registration book is in your name then you have no worries and do not have to show any license or insurance documents at all.

At the border go to window No.5 round the back of the right hand side booth and collect forms TM 2 (2 copies) and TM 4 (4 copies) and fill out the basic details, engine and frame number etc plus your passport details. The people at this booth were very helpful and filled other parts of the form in for us, the whole process costing the princely sum of 10 baht! In fact the lil darling who helped me was so helpful (and cute!) and was missing lunch I told her to keep the change from my 100 baht note and buy herself lunch on me….. the rest of the guys promptly did the same so we had a very smooth hassle free vehicle transfer from Thailand to Cambodia and she had a good day at work!

After sorting the bikes we went through passport control, totally by-passed Customs (more of that later!) and rode through no-mans-land to Cambodian Immigration. Again very smooth, no hassles, stamp stamp “1200 baht please” and we were on our way!

Now the route could not be simpler: remembering to drive on the wrong (Seppo ie. right) side of the road just keep straight on! You’ll go through Koh Khong and the first thing you’ll see is a very misleading sign telling you to turn right onto Highway 4 for Sihanoukville and left for Phnom Penh…… what it does not say is Highway 4 and said turns are about 170 kms further on down the road!! Just keep straight on!

The road, which by Khmer standards is very good (being a highway) is actually a single lane carriageway of unsealed tarmac so be careful…… there are some very deep potholes, the only saving grace being the road was laid on bright red dirt so you can see the potholes from a distance and avoid ‘em! We rode at about 110 kmph….. I dare say if you’re in a big landcruiser you can get a fair lick up but we were taking it cautious and easy.

So, 170 or so kms down the way you’ll come to a fork in the road (landmark: there’s a school on the right hand side)…. take the right fork and after 100 meters or so you’ll hit Highway 4 and be on your way to Sihanoukville. Again this road is single carriageway but there are two differences: the good one is the tarmac is sealed and so much easier on your tyres and the bad one is this is the main container truck route from the capital city to the main deep harbour port…….. overtaking is fun!

Anyway, we’re getting to the end of the journey here…… the total journey from the border to Sihanoukville is just about 260kms…. as you get into town keep an eye open for the left hand turning (Soviet Street) with two petrol stations with huge concrete forecourt aprons (you really can’t miss ‘em!) either side of the turning……. drive down there and you’ll come to the main drag called Ekareach Street….. turn left for downtown (Freedom bar, Kangaroo Kitchen Guesthouse & Bar) and the Golden Lion area (many guesthouses, bars, Serendipity and Ochheuteal Beaches etc) or right for Victory Hill, Victory and Hawaii Beaches.

The photos below show various stretches of the first part of the Cambodian leg: the run from the border to Highway 4 plus some local scenery and the new bridges. The photo with the signs on a gantry over the road is where the road forks and you take the right fork for Sihanoukville.

So, Harleys pulling up and half a dozen leather clad hairy arsed bikers falling off! Yes we were tired after a long day in the saddle, but the sight of those glasses of Anchor Draught are a very appealing sight!

We had already booked in to a couple of hotels…… my pillion passenger and myself were in the Kangaroo Kitchen, only a 2 minute walk from the Freedom Bar…. sweet, I’m thinking!

Ok, after check in and SSS we’re back at the Freedom and my memory is a complete blank from there on in! All I know is we certainly painted the town and had a brilliant laugh with a huge amount of people. However, I wake up in my own hotel bedroom at sparrow fart the next day, so we’ve obviously got home ok!

Sunday was a hungover blur with not an awful lot to report, but on the Monday we jumped on the Harley and headed off to the quietest beach, Otres, and spent a great few hours relaxing, eating (I enjoyed a huge plate of chicken and cashew nuts at 4$US/140 baht. The road to Otres beach is off the Golden Lions roundabout…… very easy to get to but a pig of a road…… red dirt and stone track, 1st gear on the Harley all the way, which is why almost all the ex-pats ride Honda AX1 250cc dirt bikes!

The beach itself was full of elderly Scandi or German couples and a few young Euro chicks sunning themselves, but beautifully quiet with no blaring music, no jet skis and very few hawkers…. bliss!

On the way back I popped into a 2nd hand bookshop, went to the “B” section and absolutely immediately found a 1988 James Lee Burke novel I’ve been searching Thailand high and low for 7 bloody years for……. Tell you what folks, this Snooky trip was turning into a blinder!!

Anyway, back to the hotel,  and then out for a night with Tony…… we left his girl playing pool at the Freedom and buggered off to see a few more of the sights around town.

That night, while we were “out ‘n’ about, we popped down to Pacinos to meet new BM Elvin and his lovely missus…… Elvin will be over in Pattaya soon and I tell ya guys, he lives life in the fast lane, so Darksiders….. get ready!

Then it was back to the Freedom to pick up Tony’s girl and head down to a beach disco…. we hit the Dolphin on buggered if I know what beach and buggered if I care as I’m not into techno music and sweaty Euro’s playing bartender and thinking they’re way cooler than Woody behind the ramp on Cheers….. huh, these kids know nuthin!!

Still, the we all enjoyed ourselves and I was drinking ice cold piss on a hot beach in Cambodia at 4 in the morning……….

And on to our last night. We had planned on having a quiet one because, well, you know, 600 klicks hungover on a Harley in Cambodia where I don’t speak the lingo and have no driving license or insurance aint really that clever, is it? The other guys on the other 4 Harleys have buggered off 2 days previously so we have no back-up either. So we decided to have a quiet night in the Kangaroo Kitchen bar with owner Gary (another one from “God Zone”…. Western Australia!) and his delightful staff…………. and of course one thing leads to another.

I buy a round of drinks for the girls who proceed to drink Johnny Walker Blue Label, (will ya just look at the spirits selection he’s got!) his gorgeous cashier starts making eyes at me, Tony and his lovely missus Mom turn up in full drinking mood, my mate starts on the beer, changes to Vodka and then on to Bundy Rum, I’m doing very well thank you on Anchor Draught, Gary and I are exchanging bar souvenirs like nobody’s business and there’s a waitress with the most exquisite eyes with Khmer, Lao, Chinese and Vietnamese lineage making “I want you” communication with me and I’m fuckin’ pissed all over again! What a bloody final night!

Tony, thank you, you are a star and a bloody good pal. Elvin, cheers mate, see you soon. Gary, thanks for looking after us and having that cashier ….. I WILL BE BACK!