First of all when I arrived home in high anticipation for the tour, I literally jumped on my XR and tried to kick it to life… 200 kicks later there were no way this would happen, I was in a very down state in just 7 days we would go on a major adventure ride and my bike would not even start… SHIT…
The very next day the pulling apart the bike to figure out why it would not start started. The carburetor was pulled apart and wow it was completely clogged with yellow hardened crap… Last rider obviously used Gasohol on it, well a major cleaning was done, checked the valves, which were off. And kicked it, success she started again. Rode it around and was happy, then the job started to change the damaged rims, new IMS 4 gallon fuel tank, and air filter to a new “twin air” wow the filter inside had dried up and cracked so was no good what so ever. Other preparations were done and the bike was ready for the big day.
The planned tour we wanted to leave the 23rd was so well ahead (in our opinion) that we decided to start up one day earlier. So the 22nd we towed our bikes to the Thai/Cambodian border at Pailin, that crossing were not used to big bikes came through so it took a while to get over. Finally over Cambodian immigration rocks as it took us minutes to clear it and be ready to go.
I am done, and my XR is keen to get going
The bikes from Thailand ready to roll, Johnny with his KLX250, Harri’s XR650 (twin lamps) my XR440R, Franks KTM 690 SM (black in background) and Justin’s KTM 525
We were supposed to go to “hotel 99” and wait for the bikers from Phom Phen to show up same day, then go towards Osom (or Ou Soum as per Gecko Map), we rode up and found the “hotel” it was a disgrace and a corporate decision was made to go somewhere else. Harri had sourced out Bamboo Hut, which was beautiful rooms with h/c water and even A/C for those who want that, also a great restaurant and bar where we were chatting at while waiting for the guys from Phom Phen over a few Anchors. Late at the evening we got the message that they were in Siam Reap… A WTF and a glance at the map worried us if they even knew where Pailin was; anyway we made up a new arrangement to meet them at the intersection where we would take the trail towards Osom and the Cardamoms at 09:00 and told them to leave no later than 06:30 to make it. We had a few more beers to celebrate the tour had started.
The next day feeling fresh and full of go-get for adventure we were all up ahead of time keen to go. We left and then stopped in Pailin so Frank could change to Dollars for the tour and a look around, then rode down to the intersection and started to wait. After 10:30 we did another corporate decision to leave so we would have a chance of hitting a village in daylight. We sent a text message to the guys that we were heading for Osom and that they should meet us there.
Dusty road crossing where we waited, luckily they sprayed some water to kill some of the dust for us.
Then the “real” ride started after thumping on a road for a while we came to our first river crossing it was wide and about 2 feet deep with good traction, and we went through with big smiles, finally some fun.
Harri is thumping over on his XR
A bit after we came to a small village where we stopped for some red bull, a rest and some food. Harri had some small toys he handed out to the kids there who were incredibly friendly.
Friendly and curious kids around us
Frank and me have a proud moment around our bikes.
After the stop we headed on into the bush, Justin has lot of pictures from our mud splashing adventure there, to say the least it was physically challenging and we were getting pretty knackered as we went along.
We meet our first challenging bridge, well in hindsight this was just a small taste of what was coming, that was much more challenging.
Right there I found this spider, don’t have a clue what type it is, but it was big, around 2.5 inches and looked a bit evil so I took a picture of it.
After this we or at least I was really tired and we did a corporate decision to camp out on the trail and continue the day after. Got a bonfire running erected camp, me, Johnny and Harri had MRE’s so we ate well, Justin carried food but Frank forgot his MRE back in Thailand and had to do with my brekkie (mama noodles) My biggest memory from that night was the cold, it was freezing and we all (except Harri) woke up stiff and with almost no sleep due to the cold. I swore next time I would have something more warmer with me to sleep in.
The camp with bonfire, cold night but a nice time with friends.
The day after we felt much better, and continued on the trail. We stopped at a village for some red bull and fuel and rode on.
We were still a tad low on energy and we stopped in a shaded area for some local bananas and a laugh.
Then we hit Pramaoy, had a meal and got hold of the other group who was then in Battam Bang, we agreed to ride to Pursat and meet them there. Johnny was not in shape so we left him and Justin behind and went down to meet them.
They just wanted to go home so we rode back again, (only a total of 270 km) on pothole hell of a road. Frank bent his front rim due to this one.
The day after we did Bike maintenance, and prepared for the Cardamom ride.
Then the big day was there, what people gave us a 30% chance of doing, predicted 3 days to get through and so on. We started early and rode towards Osom, the entire trail there now is a nice logging road.
After Osom there were a nice shallow river crossing, and still a logging road going on, so it’s a pretty fast blast until the deep river crossing.
At Osom
The deep river crossing was 5 feet deep and strong current went through it, luckily for us the Cambodians had finished a makeshift bridge 30 minutes before we arrived.
Still after this it was a logging road for a wee while, then you could either turn and follow the logging road or go the Cardamom trail (what’s left of it)
We followed that and hit this slippery and a tad tricky crossing
Then there were areas with ruts we rode over
Lots of smaller ditches to cross
Some rather surprising bridges
Some nice places to ride
The Cardamom ride still have about 60 km left, of these 30 km is still hard, with rutted hills and a battle with mind and body. It’s not what it was anymore but there are part left of it, if you want to experience it before it’s gone forever you better do it soon.
Cheers Bard
That sounds like a dream (of extreme biking) come true. I envy you. Thank you ever so much for sharing this. And, with the photos to go with it it is so much easier to just understand a little what it must have felt like 
