On The Road: Kampong Cham and Kratie

As a we wanted to spend a big part of this holiday motorbiking, we decided to hire a professional motorcycle touring company to rent the bikes and a guide. After some research, we went with Stray Dog Adventures (http://www.sihanoukville-cambodia.com/sihanoukville-businesses/new5/stray-dog.html). Run by two guys, Daniel and Shiran, this is a small but cozy operation. Daniel, a laid back, easy going American, was our guide for this trip which started in Phnom Penh on December 22nd and ended in Sihanoukville on December 30th.

Here is a map of our tour, which took us through Kampong Cham, Kratie, Sen Monoram, Suong, Takeo, and Kampot before arriving in Sihanoukville.


View Cambodia Trip in a larger map

Day one of the tour took us mainly on road (and a ways off road along the Mekong!), up to the town of Kampong Cham.

We were originally scheduled for only one night there, but the following day, Daniel was too ill with (violent) food poisoning to ride, so Brian, Chris (a fellow rider) and I took the bikes for a self-guided 90 km trip to Prey Vang and back. Kampong Cham was a really nice little town right on the Mekong - no problem staying a second night in such a nice place.

[caption id="attachment_1442" align="alignnone" width="430" caption="Brian Crossing a Rickety Bridge"][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_1445" align="alignnone" width="430" caption="Rest Stop"][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_1443" align="alignnone" width="430" caption="Breakfast at Kampong Cham"][/caption]
By day three, Daniel was back in the saddle, and we made our way on a great dirt road along the Mekong all the way to the town of Kratie. Part of the journey required a ferry ride - bikes and all. This was, I was to later learn, just the first of many ferry rides we'd be taking on this trip.

Brian, Chris and Daniel:[caption id="attachment_1444" align="alignnone" width="430" caption="Ferry Ride across the Mekong"][/caption]
As you can see, these bikes were really great - Brian got a Honda Baja and I had a Honda Degree (aka MD26). These are both 250cc big dirt bikes; they had great handling, and they proved extremely capable on all the off-road and bumpy bits we had to cover (although mine had a bit of trouble once in Kratie!).

Like Kampong Cham, Kratie is a cute town on the Mekong, with great riverside dining and a decent selection of restaurants and guest houses. One big attraction in this town is the now endangered Irrawaddy Dolphins. We of course wanted the chance to see them, and we not disappointed.

[caption id="attachment_1446" align="alignnone" width="430" caption="Irrawaddy Dolphins near Kratie"][/caption]
We again were only scheduled for one night here, but on the morning we were to leave for Mondulkiri province, my bike would not start. We tried everything - from draining the float bowl to eventually rebuilding the carb - but no dice. Finally, Daniel found someone, who knew someone outside of town, with a reputation as a big bike master. Sure enough, the guy got it working after soaking the spark plug in some industrial cleaning fluid and some other tweaks, but we'd already lost the day and so stayed in Kratie for a second night.

We stayed at Balcony Guest House on the first night, and it was okay. Not bad value - a cute room with hot water was only $6, so no complaints there, although I could have survived without the howls of mating dogs outside my window! For the second night, Balcony was booked, so we made our way down the road and stayed at a slightly more upscale but still affordable hotel that even had cable TV.

The next day we were ready to roll. We were on our way to Sen Monoram, in the mountainous province of Mondulkiri...