Road conditions in Laos/Cambodia?
 

Hi all,

Am currently in Bangkok, heading towards Laos/Cambodia.

1. Can anyone give their thoughts on whether I can ride these countries without too much hassle on road tyres (Metzler Tourances on GS1150)? Jurgen told me Laos is no problem but Cambodia will be muddy duck stuff.

2. Does anyone know whether I can find knobblies here in Bangkok (150/70 and 110/something)? No luck so far.

Regards

George

Probably not is my answer, but I expect that u know this bye now http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/smile.gif

Route 13 in Laos is entirely paved and new. Other than this the roads are mud and range from atrocious to non-existent - I managed to do it at the beginning of the rainy season on a Yamaha 250 TTR carrying minimal luggage and it was bloody hard work. Involved being washed out in villages a couple of times when bridges went down - dont fancy your chances of getting an 1100 cc bike on a tiny longtail across a fast flowing flooded river.

Cambodia has a couple of paved roads , notably the one from Sihanoukville to Phon Penh - u could get a boat from Koh Kong to Sihanoukville. Poi Pet road may well be impassable to you in the rainy season. Road from Koh Kong to Phom Penh is a laterite that u will probably be able to get down.


Good luck , but probably the wrong time of year to do this unless u have a dirt bike and experience.

Thanks Pee Ba. The route 13 in Laos was indeed excellent. Mud track from Laos border to Stung Treng was bit of a nightmare, but got there in the end. Goose gave me a pair of knackered TK80's (cheers mate), on road tyres would have been impossible (mud up to cylinders and water up to exhaust pipe). Actually got the old girl in a tiny longboat across Mekong, rather traumatic experience! Agree, road from Siem Riep to Poipet awful - lost all oil in my WP rear shock. Great country though!

Regards

George