Trip report to the most South Eastern part of Thailand. ( Khlong Yai, border Hat Lek)

Together with other TV member Ryanwiley I made 2, 3 and 4 august a nice 3 day trip to Khlong Yai next to the gulf of Thailand and the most South eastern part of Thailand.( border Hat lek)

The bikes: Ryan on his Lifan Cross 200 and me on my Kawasaki KLX 250.

Since those kind of bikes are not made for high speed cruising on main roads I set out a route mostly on those 4 figures roads and always staying close for the Cambodian border.

We left at 6 am from my house ( somewhere between Buriram city and Nang Rong)

And we took the: 2073> 348> 3486> 3393> 3485> 3198> 3395> 3405> 3193> 317> 3299> 3157> 3271 and finally the 3: the coastal road leading to Khlong Yai and the border Hat Lek

Day 1 A long day but such a nice one, Buriram province is flat but just after 60 km’s from my home the landscape start to change with hills coming up and a small mountain pass at the 348, after turning onto the 3486 it’s all quiet roads, not always in a good shape , but perfect for off road bikes, when you see a pothole you can’t avoid just stand a bit on the pegs and the bike flies over, no problem.

At about 2 PM the rain kicked in but riding in the rain isn’t that bad ( when you got good raingear) it’s a special sight those rainclouds hanging around on those hills.

On the 317 we missed our turn and had to backtrack to find the 3299, That 3299 was road in a terrible shape but sooo nice, we made a extra loop around a big lake just 5 km from the Cambodian border ( Khlong Kaeo waterfall national park)

Because of all those extra km’s it was starting to get dark and since we decided we wanted to reach Khlong Yai it meant we drove 3 hours in the dark, but it wasn’t busy and we just were extra cautious,but we where happy to reach Khlong Yai at 9 PM were found a simple hotel in the centre of town and after a snack at the local 7 eleven it was bedtime.

Day 2: a easy look around day , in the morning we had a walk around town and Khlong Yai is a nice Town, no tourists at all , part of it is build on poles with the sea coming in and out, a harbour full of fishing boats and smiling Thais all around.

At 1 PM we hit the road again, first to the Border at Hat Lek ( the most south east point of Thailand) and passing the narrowest part of Thailand. Then backtracking on the 3 checking out one of the numerous very quite beaches and to one Cape where we could drive our bikes on the beach ( great fun and nice pics)

After that a sort ride to Trat where we found a almost new hotel for just 580thb, had a good meal at the MK in the Tesco, followed by a delicious ice cream at Svensons. and we called it a day.

Day 3 : Left after coffee and breakfast at 7 AM and did the same route as we came except after the 3299 ( great road) we stayed on the 317 ( we wanted to arrive before dark this time) until Sa Kaeo where we took the 3485 ( passing Pang Sida national park)

At the last stop we had an encounter with a group of Thai Bikers with BIG bikes a few Goldwings and others big cruisers) they came from Pattaya ( pattaya Seagulls) and where on a trip for a tribute for the King nice those roadside encounters.

During those 3 days we only saw 2 other “big” bikes two Guys ( Farangs???) passing us on the 317 with at a good speed ( I think one of them was a Ducati Multistrada) for the rest all the bikes we saw where Thais on there faithful waves, clicks going about.

I think that part of Thailand is not infected with all those tourists ( most of them all going to

Koh Chang) but it’s a real nice area to explore. I’m sure I will go ride there again.

We reached my house at 4:30 PM where fresh spring rolls and a cool drink was waiting.

Ryan still had to make his last 40 km stint back to Buriram city.

Even on those small displacement off road bikes you can make a nice longer on roadtrip, (we covered 1200 km's) and with some of those roads being in a bad shape, it’s more relaxing to drive a off road bike, even with the rain they performed well, just take it easy in the corners.

Ryan’s Lifan still didn’t had his plate, Ryan and me went once on a day ride and where checked 3 times over 60 km’s….. this trip dozens of checkpoints ( mostly militairy) and we didn’t had to stop once.

.

Ryan is going to write a report as well and post it on the Lifan cross 200 thread , together with some links with the route on Google earth and some video’s I took ( my internet connection is way to slow for that)

Happy Trials

Dutchbike.

Dutchbike..........

Thanks for the great post and pics.

It's posts like yours that make me start thinking,again, about buying myself a MotorBike.

Thanks again.

I read this yesterday but forgot to post... Looks like a nice trip... Good report though...

looks like great fun guys.

I have been on Hat Lek area before, nice place really. Especially the Casino on Cambodian side there:) - you do not need a Cambodian visa to go.

congrats.

Nice report

Nice ride, I will have to try it

I also am a numbers guy, Average speed ? KPL ?

How often did you have to fill up ? range ?

Nice report

Nice ride, I will have to try it

I also am a numbers guy, Average speed ? KPL ?

How often did you have to fill up ? range ?

Ryan still didn't wrote his report on the lIfan cross 200 thread, he had a nice App on his phone ( my tracks) which recorded all the data.

My (oldschool) statistics:

Day 1 550 km

Day 2 160 km

Day 3 450 km

I filled up 8 times, ( mostly around 3 / 4 liters the fuel thank of a KLX holds 7.7 liter) I could have done with less, but those stops,where multi purpose

The KLX 250 did on this trip an average of 35 km a liter, we cruised between 80 and 90 km/h.

I've uploaded the Google maps and the pictures. You can see them here. Make sure you zoom in on the maps and use Google Earth or the Satellite view (map view is kind of boring).

Here are the numbers from "My Tracks." This is just one way, on the way there.

Total Time: 15:53:58

Moving Time: 9:57:31

Total km: 559.93 km

Average Speed: 35.22

Average Moving Speed: 56.23

Max Speed: 94.34 km/h

Cheers

Ryan