A few Cambodia questions

B

bigntall

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 1, 2011
It's been a couple years since riding offroad in Cambodia and going to be doing a trip the beginning of December for a couple weeks. Couple questions for those in the know.

Years ago California Jim had a website with all his temple info posted but for the life of me I can't find it. Does anyone have a link to his info as he was a great source?

For the first time ever I'll be driving to Cambodia in a pickup (bikes in the back) instead of riding. What paperwork will be needed for the truck as I've never crossed a border with a truck before.

Border crossings: Starting point for the trip will be Siem Reap so was going to enter O Smach as I heard there was less hassle through this border than say Poipet. Is this still currently the case and have there been any recent border issues I should be aware?

Rough itinerary will be as much off road as possible: Siem Reap - T Beang Meachey - either north to Strung treng or southeast to Kratie - if we land in Strung Treng then north east to Siempang, Banglung and then down to Sen Monoram. Ideally I would like to get over to Sihanoukville for Smugglers route and head north through the Cardomons.

If anyone has suggestions to link Sen Monoram to Sihanoukville/Koh kong/kep or Kampot I would be grateful. i also have to come up with a nice way to link Pailin back to Siem Reap. If anybody has any GPS suggestions I'm all ears.

Unlike Laos, Cambodia is topographically a bit flat but if anyone has some pretty waterfalls not to miss or other interesting sites please post up.

Thanks in advance for all the suggestions.
 
Since the track from Strung Treng to T Beang Meanchey has now been graded into a smooth fireroad from great singletrack I was looking for another option to connect the two cities. Has anyone taken the boat from Strung Treng and instead of getting off across the river in Thalabirivat to head to TBM, instead taking the boat north and getting off close to the Lao border on the West side of the river opposite Sralau? Then heading to TBM from there? If so what was it like?

I see places on the maps but wonder if there are recommendations for or against any accommodations in any of these locations. : Kratie, Sen Monorom, Banlung, and Srae Amble?
 
I made good friends with the guesthouse owner at Kratie. Ended up out at his mate's place, with a group of us. I'll have to try and find the name of the guesthouse. It was good. I took the boat over at Stung Treng last year.... and it wasn't a smooth trail for most of it, lots of wet season damage, but not much single track.

I have an English friend who lives in Kampot. I'll check with him too
 
Magic Sponge GH in Kampot comes recommended by my friend who lives in Kampot. Good security for the bikes too, he says. Failing that, Pepper GH is in the same street.

In Kratie, I'd thoroughly recommend the Balcony GH, where I stayed.
 
Justin

Feb 2013, in Banlung I stayed at the Lakeside Chheng Lok Hotel.
Colonial era place. Big rooms, Fan $10, A/C $15.
Nice restaurant overlooking the lake with wifi.

lakeside.chhenglokhotel@gmail.com

Tel 012957422, 0978683989

N13 44.824 E106 58.900

If you want to go upmarket, have a look at Lodge Terres Rouges - Ratanakiri - Cambodge

In Sen Monorom

http://www.naturelodgecambodia.com/ is nice and quiet. Good food.

I stayed at some no name bungalows up on the hill on the right as you approach SM from Phnom Penh. $15/night.

Coming down that hill on the left is an Offroad tours and bike repair shop run by Reiny. Good source of info or if you need to do some servicing etc
 
Some waterfalls

I do not know if any fits the "do not miss" description however.

E103.6088418 N10.6746768 Kbal Chhay Waterfall
E102.6153087 N12.7967119 Pailin Waterfall
E104.2994356 N10.4998397 Sreytal Waterfall
E103.0971407 N11.5874218 Tatai Waterfall
E104.1082692 N13.5691022 Waterfall1
E103.1693458 N12.0185923 Waterfall2

View attachment some_cambodia_waterfalls.gpx
 
Phnom Bokor and another waterfall

Phnom Bokor is where the end of the movie City of Ghosts from 2002 took place. In the movie the crooks were about to build a new casino next to the old French colonial casino. Now they have built one, not designed like in the movie but I think it is a funny coincidence. Or is it a coincidence at all? The road up there is also a fun drive/ride.

E104.0283608 N10.6200242 Phnom Bokor Viewpoint
E103.5422801 N11.3497567 Chay Khpos Waterfall

View attachment some_more.gpx

Planed fictional casino from the movie built around the real smaller old French colonial casino.
movie_casino.jpg

Old French colonial casino under renovation February 2012.
20120220 174116 - Cambodia.jpg

New casino under construction February 2012.
Not as big and not located as the fictional movie casino.
20120220 174953 - Cambodia.jpg
 
The Bigfella said:
Magic Sponge GH in Kampot comes recommended by my friend who lives in Kampot. Good security for the bikes too, he says. Failing that, Pepper GH is in the same street.

In Kratie, I'd thoroughly recommend the Balcony GH, where I stayed.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip. Last place I stayed in Kratie was nothing special so looking for a change. i'll put your suggestion on the list.

The Strung Treng to T Baeng Meanchey was a lovely single track ride for 70 percent of the ride last time I did it. No sense in going down another truck dirt road if that's all it is now, especially if we can find an alternative way over eh?
 
Bill - Thank you for the hotel suggestions, greatly appreciated. Having two KTM's and a Husaberg on the ride no doubt we'll be needing some bike servicing at Reiney's :).

NightRider - appreciate all the waypoints and suggestions, no doubt coming from all your ride reports I've enjoyed. Not sure if we'll get up Bokor or not. I loved it when it was a dirt trail up to the old remnants of the original Casino. Seems so long ago now.

Thank you all to those helping me out with suggestions. Now the painstaking task of sorting through all the data.
 
Come on, crack to it.... none of this Asian time working.

I need a damn Montana tutorial again.... I just checked mine and there's about 10 enabled maps.... which I don't think is right.
 
bigntall said:
Not sure if we'll get up Bokor or not. I loved it when it was a dirt trail up to the old remnants of the original Casino. Seems so long ago now.
Click to expand...

The first part of the old track is still there I think because the new road does not run the exact same route. The new road is like a race track so it is still fun but in a different way. The nostalgia at the top is long gone, it was a construction area last time I was there. The new kick at the top, I think, is that they built that new casino that was more or less a joke in "City of Ghosts".
 
Is the N68 leading from the border crossing O Smach south towards Siem Reap paved now?

The border crossing in O Smach is so much easier than the Poipet crossing so was thinking of crossing there if we can make good time with the truck loaded with bikes.

- - - Updated - - -

Nightrider70 said:
The first part of the old track is still there I think because the new road does not run the exact same route. The new road is like a race track so it is still fun but in a different way. The nostalgia at the top is long gone, it was a construction area last time I was there. The new kick at the top, I think, is that they built that new casino that was more or less a joke in "City of Ghosts".
Click to expand...

It is ironic isn't it. I remember that movie years ago.
 
coming down from Osmach whe nu reach Samrong rather than head straight down to hwy 6 an siem rep turn and head off to Banteay Chhmer, a great temple that gets very few tourists 110 kms hard packed dirt road,

Leaving surin at 7 u can still make sr by dark allowing 2 hours at temple an rest food stops.
 
Just want to thank everyone for their suggestions. Back from the trip now and enjoyed the riding immensely and got to meet up with fellow posters on the board and make some new friends.

Riding twats that were nice enough to walk me across the dark Cambodian streets at night when i could not see. Harry the Finn and Big Fella.

IMG_1160-L.jpg


Looking a bit fresher at this point on the trip compared to when Harry and I went off exploring. Ended up needing to use a water filter to top up the Camelbaks as our 3 liters was running low and even got to use Harri's Life straw.

IMG_1416-L.jpg


Sadly a lot of the tracks planned for the trip now had pavement, but the dirt done was top notch providing plenty of grins and grimaces.
 
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