4WD-ing through Cambodia & Laos (hopefully)

[KTMphil]

A spur of the moment 4WD trip was planned in a matter of hours & 4am the next morning Matt & Mr. Sneds were off to the Laos border in 2 pickups. Jonny's truck being so new, he only received the registration plate a few days ago.

We had known of several cars/ pickups getting into Laos without the purple "car passport", but at Chong Mek, they weren't letting Jonny's truck out of Thailand without it. No fixer or tea money was going to change the situation, one option was to try the Savannakhet border crossing into Laos the next day. This was a Friday, the land transport office wouldne be open again until Monday, where Jonny could then get the purple car book.

They opted for giving Cambodia a try the next day at the Aranyaprathet, Thailand / Poi Pet, Cambodia international border crossing and managed to enter Cambodia. You have to agree with the Cambodian officials that you will not be leaving the local province.


Onwards to Siam Reap/ Ankor Wat region and some celebratory beverages for a nice save on the trip



Look like it was cocktails time starting with Margarita's

Mai Tai's

Felling very relaxed now, time for some "frozen vulva's"

 

[KTMphil]

Making new friends, apparently his Cambodian nickname was "spit-roast"

Bannana daiquiri's

 

[KTMphil]

Whiskey Sour

Looks nasty

 

[KTMphil]

Nice when a few loosen you up to the point where you lose your inhabitions

Taking the riding relationship to a new level

Matt giving Jonny his cherry

Not sure who's cherry Matt's wife has here

 

[KTMphil]

Looks like they're headed into Laos ...... more to come

 

[The Bigfella]

Geez, if I'd known the lads were going to do this.... I could've paid their fuel bill if they'd brought the 525 back to CM for me... but, speaking of paperwork... I've got that here.

 

[KTMphil]

Hungover as hell from the 20 different cocktails the night before

A stroll around Ankor Wat, nice shot Mr Sneds!

 

[KTMphil]

Not much 4 wheeling yet, arriving at Mr H's bar in PP

Looks like they liked Mr Sneds'

'

Nothing like a good kiss goodnight in Cambodia?

 

[johnnysneds]

Going to RPG a cow today

 

[BWG950S]

Johnny...

Are you financing your truck or has it been paid for?

Curious if it is possible to get the Purple Passport for a vehicle that is being financed.

 

[BWG950S]

The one in the "red dress" sure has big hands. Do they have Lady Boy Bars in PP now? 555

 

[Frank Smith690]

55555 you's look wrecked

 

[KTMphil]

Got some more photo's through from Jonny. They ended up on the wrong side of a river and all had to sleep on a Cambodian farm house's veranda

By Matt's face looks like warm beer

Some tricky stuff the next day crossing the river - Matt's 2WD Vigo stuck



[video=youtube_share;Jf8PYOwmenE]http://youtu.be/Jf8PYOwmenE[/video]

 

[KTMphil]

A couple from Matt, they're now in south Laos

Tow rope at the ready

 

[KTMphil]

Jonny just texted me their co-ords, this is where they are right now

 

[Midnitemapper]

Hey guys you are really blasting through, did you manage to see some of the sites around the Ho Chi Minh trail?


downed chopper

Archive photo


Legend of the Ho Chi Minh Trail

 

[Loop]

^ vid says it`s private and wont play?

Hopefully it wasn`t from the night they were drinking slippery nipples and gin chizzers or whatever they were!

 

[Matt]

We are at the gold mining town now, heading north tomorrow towards Phonsavan. Is there anything interesting that we should look out for tomorrow? GPS coordinates would be great.

 

[KTMphil]

Stupendous photo's as usual Don - Give them some more teasers (they've got your map)

 

[johnnysneds]

The trail we did early yesterday had a couple of wee tank icons on it, but nothing was found! these locations were quite steep and difficult, the tank symbol maybe indicated you needed one to get up it?!?
Hopefully we can see some of the interesting sites today. To be honest we were enjoying the off road experience that much we forgot about the history. The villagers were timid but very friendly. Matt had about 20 of them in the back trying to achieve some much needed extra traction- good use of your surroundings!
i would imagine not many Pickups nor bikes have been through the route we took yesterday. The gnarly section was around 70Km and would be awesome on a dirt bike for sure. Both of us were astounded we got through in the pickups, very challenging indeed.
so stroll on today up the HCM trail.......

 

[The Bigfella]

There's some lovely trails in that area. I'm pretty sure that's where I had to knock on a door and stay with some farmers too. Not far from here



Took me 20 minutes to get up that hill (slippery as... and I did try and do it without letting the tyres down)

There's another rough bit north of the reservoir... but they were pushing a new road through 9 months ago, probably done now.

NE of Phonsavan is the field of bomb craters. Well worth a look. I rode through it, but it hasn't been cleared. Might not want to do that in a ute.

 

[johnnysneds]

Our final destination will be Phonsavan then back into Thailand (time against us after having to divert to Cambodia)

 

[The Bigfella]

Crater field is only a couple of hours all up.. as is doing one of the Jars fields (pick one of sites 1, 2 or 3)

 

[KTMphil]

Our final destination will be Phonsavan then back into Thailand (time against us after having to divert to Cambodia)

Try and see the Mig fighters around the back of the airport.

 

[The Bigfella]

Go to the main airport terminal / entrance.... there's a rough track leading off to the left along the boundary fence. Down it (take the 4WD)... then turn right and follow the airport boundary. Past the army base, around a left hand corner.... and get far enough away from the base to jump out and grab a couple of quick snaps, if that's your thing.... because the soldiers WILL come over and rouse on you... followed by an officer who will say "no photo". There is, of course, a risk in all that.

If you go out to Jars sites 2 or 3, you go past a blown up Chinese tank. Worth a look, but be careful... I ripped the arse out of my trousers there.

Can't see it from the road... keep your eyes open for a sign.

 

[KTMphil]

Plenty to see around Phonsavan

 

[KTMphil]

River crossings in Laos --- doesn't look like much?

Looks easy?

Until you actually get in there and its 1/2 way up the doors

 

[KTMphil]

Water line on the trucks!

Looks like it would be a nightmare on a bike

 

[Lone Rider]

There are boats available for the bikes - did this crossing in March and the water was considerable lower. Bikes were even then using the boats as the water crossing has quite a lot of boulders which makes it difficult for bikes to stay upright.

The same crossing late March 2013

 

[The Bigfella]

Pretty sure that's this one... taken from the other bank. Definitely boat only last October... and we were taking water over the ends as we went across



The guy ahead of me setting off. The ramp was a bit "interesting" and note the open ends on the boat. Can just see the SKS slung on the rider's shoulder too

 

[LivinLOS]

The names have been changed to protect the guilty..

​

And the ladyboy I bar fined isnt here.. I had dumped the camera by then..

For some reason I seem to have many shots of Matts feet !!! I will spare you.

 

[KTMphil]

Some very interesting shots!

 

[The Bigfella]

I'm not sure I want to know what bar-fining a ladyboy entails.

 

[LivinLOS]

I'm not sure I want to know what bar-fining a ladyboy entails.

About this

A small penis shouldnt be a problem in a loving relationship.. But I still wish she didnt have one.

 

[johnnysneds]

Ok back on topic
Yesterday after reaching days threes target early we decided to push onto Phonsavan. Rather than stick to the planned route we opted for the what appeared a "faster" route calculated by google maps. The route to Phonsavan was 376Km in total and we managed to munch into almost 200 cli is of that rather quickly. Then we were instructed to make a right onto an unpaved road which turned into a truck trail. No problem we were still plodding on and making good progress until we arrived at a large puddle covering the trail approx 30m diameter. It looked harmless until I went for it. 5m in and it dropped of suddenly and water was coming over the bonnet. I heard the exhaust note change to a gurgling noise and thought shit. I then floored it as there we all sorts of alarms and noises I hadn't heard before! At this point I was pretty sure I was sailing and the tyres were paddling. All of a sudden it got some traction from somewhere and limped across to the other side. I thought f*** sake that was definitely nearly game over. I shouted over to Matt not to try. He then proceeded around to approach the "puddle" from a different position. In doing so he got stuck in the mud! Realising that I knew there was no other option but to drive that bastard back across the Atlantic Ocean. Right so lines her up, put all the shit on, 4L, diff lock and started playing ACDC hard as a rock. Matt helping out on the other side armed with his video camera! I proceeded to gun it through the puddle. This time that bad boy was taking no pish from that puddle and parted it it like Moses and the Red Sea. A huge bow wave was formed and out she popped the other side no problem, however I will admit I was shitting myself. Matt took an awesome video of the whole proceedings.
ok so just to pull Matt out and were on our way again......wrong. I got cocky after the Wildtaks heroic earlier efforts and got bea he'd trying to get to the front of him to tow him out.....bastard. Awesome so both of us are stuck and its now getting dark!
we tried everything we had including a ratchet wire block around a tree without any success. We then focused on getting Matts Vigo out as it wasn't in the real deep cow shit. After alot of rocking and pushing we got it out....yeaaaa! Easy just hook it up to mines, drag it out and were off again......nope the Wildrak would not budge. A local was present and offered to take Matt to the next village where there was a tractor. In the mean time me and the missus settled down in the truck for a nights sleep, I wasn't very hopeful of a tractor turning up. Ill let Matt describe his tractor adventure as that pretty impressive in its own. So anyway a couple of hours later a tractor turns up, no way I thought, brilliant! Chained it up to the rear of the truck and dragged it out the second time no problem after snapping our 5T wire rope the first! Success at last. Onwards to the village where we found beer Lao and we still had the Johnny Walker from the night before so we were safe.
After a session with the villagers we drove somewhere and managed to get a hotel Around 23:00hrs. Pheeew awesome day yesterday and more to come today. The trucks look like they have been through hell and mines stinks of cow shit inside, that'll be nice for today's proceedings!
more to come

 

[The Bigfella]

Ha! I did mention that bit of track, methinks... back in post 21

There's another rough bit north of the reservoir... but they were pushing a new road through 9 months ago, probably done now.

I guess its not done yet? Just after I did that rough bit was when I ran out of wheel bearings... and spent 5 days waiting for some more in the small town near the hydro.

 

[KTMphil]

From Jonny's account the of the events above, here he is stick in the soup

Jonny texted through his postion, Auke was here at the time & we looked at it on the map "doesn't look good", was a response











Finally out with the tractor's assistance

The valeting service will be busy

 

[BWG950S]

That "New" Car Smell is gone forever now. 555

Looking forward to seeing the video of "Moses Sneds" parting a puddle.

Pretty amazing how the Ranger is handling everything you have thrown at it. Put a good set of mud tires on it and it just maybe UNSTOPPABLE!

 

[KTMphil]

I shocked Matt's 2WD got through all that it has on this trip.

 

[KTMphil]

Into the bomb craters around Phonsavan, actually good to have a reference point to see their magnitude

Plain of Jars

Then the Nisha Indian restaurant in Phonsavan, Jonny texted me that its the best Ruby he's EVER had!!!!!

The Doukkone Hotel, Phonsavan, Ill find out what they thought of it