We are going for a challenging route which at the moment no one had tried the round trip except for the infamous adventurous and daring Mr Steve Chia on his TDM900 recently in the month of December 2003.
The Expedition will be a challenging one as we are doing a loop around Cambodia. Going in by Poi Pet border to Siem Reap to Phnum Penn to Sihanoukville and coming out from Cham Sean which is Krong Koh Kong and visiting Rayong and Pataya. Estimated distance is about 6000 km a
nd road condition is very challenging. Longest distance to cover is about 1,400 km which is on the first day that is from Singapore to Hatyai for a 2 hour massage/sleep and continue the ride to Chumpon and the shortest ride which could be our longest ride is about 200 km and 320 km consist of badly potholes with granite dirt road from Aranyanprathet to Siem Reap and Siem Reap to Phnum Penn.
All participants will be given a Limited Edition Sticker for your bike on that day we leaves and a Map Certificate which will be personalised to your name and with your pictures when you complete the journey.
Below is the tentatively planned route which are subjected to changes according to situation. The route initially planned have been changed due to some changes in the riders and some other details.
Meet at ESSO Gelang Patah at 0130 hours on Sat early morning and moving off at 0200 hours.
17th (Sat)= Sin(900 km)-Hatyai(600)-Chumpon (app. 1400 km).
18th (Sun)= Chumpon(190 km)-Prachuap Khiri Khan(160 km)-Bangkok(295 km)-Petchaburi(290 km)-Aranyaprathet(app. 935 km).
19th (Mon)= Aranyaprathet(50 km)- Poipet(45 km)-Sisophon(103 km)-Siem Reap(app. 200 km).
20th (Tue)= Siem Reap.
21st (Wed)= Siem Reap.
22nd (Thu)= Siem Reap.
23rd (Fri) = Siem Reap (145 km)-Kompong Thom (167 km)-Phnom Penn (app. 320 km).
24th (Sat) = Phnom Penn.
25th (Sun) = Phnom Penn.
26th (Mon) = Phnom Penn (223 km)-Sihanoukville (223 km)-Krong Koh Kong (app. 450 km).
27th (Tue)= Krong Koh Kong-Hat Lek(90 km)-Trat(65 km)-Chantaburi(114 km)-Rayong (app. 270 km).
28th (Wed) = Rayong (34 km)-Sattahip (48 km)-Pattaya (310 km)-Petchaburi (app. 400 km).
29th (Thu) = Petchaburi (160 km)-Prachuap Khiri Khan (190 km)- Chumphon (550 km)-Hatyai (app. 900 km).
30th (Fri) = Hatyai.
31st (Sat) = Hatyai(900 km)-Singapore (app. 900 km)
1st (Sun) = extra day.
2nd (Mon) = extra day.
The confirmed participants are as below and as I speak, their VISAs have been approved and done up at Cambodia Embassy. 6 bikes 7 adventourers from Storm Riders Motorcycling Club. Malaysian no need VISA...can go in any time without a VISA.
Alex/Ah Ma-BMW 1150GS
Wee Jin-BMW 1100GS
Cas-BMW 650GS
Robin-BMW 650GS PD
Shaji-Yamaha Diversion 900
John Tang-Yamaha Diversion 900
Kevin Teo-Yamaha diversion 900
We are sad that Vincent and Suh Fang could not join us for this Expedition but we will share with them the Photos and I am sure some of them will be one of our bikes in the padi field...ha..ha....Remember! When one of the riders drop the bike, stop and ask if he/she is alright and if he/she is ok, take photos while in action.
There are gifts for the participants that does not drop his bike for the whole journey. Last trip to Golden Triangle, the winners are Lee Kum Wai on his Varadero and Robin on his ST11, the riders on GSs were put to shame.
Riders, please learn from your mechanics on your suspension experts on how you can tune your suspension and preloads when you ride on the tarmac and riding on the dirt roads. Pre loads and dampings will have different tuning cause we wouldn't want any bikes to have a dented rim or a broken spook.
Some interesting articles and websites to share with the participants contributed by various people;
Came across this article. Here is an excerpt from an article that I found on the net.
" While driving and counter-balancing the monk, I remember Lonely Planet's advice to consider all Cambodian drivers as "visually
impaired psychopaths". The rules, which I have found out in an empirical way, are as follows:
1) Only look what's going on in front of you. Everyone is doing the same.
2) Never make abrupt changes in your movements. Everyone supposes you continue doing what you are doing.
3) The bigger the stronger. Truck, big car, small car, big motorbike, small motorbike, bicycles and cyclos, and God bless you if you
are a pedestrian."
The complete article can be found at http://www.stoessel.ch/cambodia.htm . Although its a bit old it does give some insights into
the Cambodian people and their culture. Good to share with the team.
From Shaji.
Websites worth looking into:
http://www.kohkong.com/kohkong/
http://www.cafecaliforniaphnompenh.com/motorcycle.htm
http://www.kohkong.com/kohkong/note1.html
http://www.ecosea.com/eco/HTM/Cambodia.htm
http://www.donalbain.de/Fotos/Cambodia/index.html
http://www.canbypublications.com/miscpages/overland.htm
http://www.cambodia-travel.com/information/cambodia-visa.htm
http://www.rayongresort.com/hotellocation.html
Hope the informations helps and there are a lot of work in the organising for me to gather more informations from all sources and do share with us if you have any useful or interesting articles.
Please feel free to contribute to the topic whichever you find relevant.
Last but not least....."OR KHUN" means, Thank you in Cambodia.
_________________
Thanks and best regards,
Always Ride with FOCUS..remember, safety first!
Alex BT Quah, proud to a storm rider, a club we call our own....
Storm Riders Motorcycling Club
1st Org Secretary of 1st & 2nd Mgt Com
Mailing address: Blk 103 Bkt Purmei Rd #02-40 S(090103)
www.storm-rider.org
Mobile : 9685 9995
