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Thailand Xmas 2010
Stooopid F&#@%ing Falangs!
Pounce For an off the cuff planned trip, everything seemed to come together. Every day was different, fun was always had. Thanks to the other 4 for making this a very memorable holiday. No report to come. You can't put 11 days of the best riding, people, scenery, food etc into words. We discussed it & as no one can write that much, instead there will be a selection of pics added here with a short note about them to try to explain what's going on. Mick Pounce is right too hard to put what we did, where we went how we got there and every thing else that happened to us into words unless we wrote a novel. Basiclly if you werent there you missed out!!!! This was another Adventure I will never forget We had no whingers 5 guys who all had a great time and got on well Todd Back from 4 weeks in thailand and im burn't out. Its been weddings, partys, anything and the ride, yes the ride, dont know how you would put a price on a trip like that, Just 5 blokes with huge smiles in the land of smiles with a bike, a map, a fat wallet and not a care in the world, the weather, roads, trails, food, beer were all perfect. Thanks mick, jeff, mike and pounce for ya homework and GPS skills, it was a blast Jeff Hard to rejoin real life after the trip.it was bloody fantastic, great crew.every day just got better. Pounceexcellent shotsit sums it up perfectly a couple of blokes from work will come at the drop of a hat. Well led is an understatement.. ROTD. You can download the Google Earth kml files HERE to see where we went each day. I've added some waypoints with short descriptions for a bit more detail. Open with GE, top left of the map, click on the spanner & slow it down for a time lapse of the route. 21/12/10  Morning of the off. Line up at the Boonthavon Hotel. Great rooms for only 300bht ($10) a night  Not lost, just consulting the map :-)  On our way to the first bit of dirt in Muang Khong. These narrow winding concrete roads can throw up a few surprises when damp.  I mapped out this road before leaving. It looked good but was better than expected, until...  ...we came to this bridge. A local told us not to cross it. There's a crossing under it but it's too deep. He says (gestures) there's one a bit further along.  This one looks a bit deep too. There's been above average rainfall this year so it's running higher than normal. I wade out to the middle but it's up to my knees with a deeper bit to come.   As it's about 3pm, this road goes for about another 30klm's & we don't know what's past this & not being equipped to spend the night outdoors, we decide to backtrack back to Chiang Dao for the night & tackle it from the Wiang Haeng side tomorrow. 22/12/10 The road to Fang   Well, we get to Wiang Haeng, find the road going the other way & about 5 klm's along it, we're stymied again by the bloody river. No bridge at all (it's been washed away) & its up to the girls (in the pic) fanny deep. She waded across to show us.   Jeff was the only one wanting to carry the bikes over, but with a lot more crossing along the road, we decided against it, this time. I may go back one day to conquer it.  Not all was dirt. Northern Thailand has some of the best winding mountain roads in the world. You'ld be amazed at how far over you can lean a KLX250 with knobbies on it before it wants to slide out from under you.  Apart from the mornings dirt escapade, the rest o the trip was gorgeous winding mountain roads. We took a wrong turn & ended up at a Burma border crossing so we had to do a quick retrack to find the right road. (1178)  23/12/10 Today was a tourist day around the town of Fang   Markets for breakfast  Fang Hot Springs  Giant arsed Buddha on a hill 24/12/10 I hoped today we would find some good dirt, & wasn't disappointed. We leave Fang & head up towards the Lahu Hill tribe village where we spent their New Year last time       We're trying to find our way north to the great road that runs along the border of Burma. Must learn a bit more Thai before trying to ask directions.      We take a couple of side tracks for a look but get beaten this time by bamboo & a gate     We lost Mike so I backtrack & find he has a flat. The hire company gave us spare tubes but none of us thought about taking a pump. According to my GPS, there's a village 2klm's u the road, so Mick & Jeff take the wheel hoping they have a pump.   While there, the guys cunningly arrange for the villagers to supply us lunch.    One young guy spoke limited English, which helped. The supplied us with a soup, ommlette & fresh brewed tea (they grow it) We thank them, pay for the meal then blindly head northish again trying to find the road. We come across it eventually & head onto Doi Mae Salong for the night.   Where no one wanted to share my Luxury Hotel Room They all settled for something more upmarket.  Xmas Eve dinner Xmas Day Xmas day see us heading up into the hills to find a back road from Doi Mae Salong through to Thoed Thai    The track I had found on Google earth looked like a semi wide trail. When we actually got there, it has overgrown & in places totally dissapeared.   Going down a very steep bit where the trail has gone, Mick hits a hole & topples over. If he'ld have done that a bit earlier, he would have gone down the mountain. The track was tyre wide with a steep drop either side & very hard to follow.     The boys have a bit of trouble when we finally emerge from the scrub onto a walking path that the local use to plant their crops on the side of the mountain.   There are track going in every direction, so we pick what looks like the most used.  Where we finaly come out on a sort of main track. This has DMS enduro arrows posted on trees & poles so we follow it into Thoed Thai.    Our waitress for our Xmas Lunch. We take over the retaurant Ting Ting. She was a delightful girl that was very entusiastic to help us. She loved getting her pic taken & looking through our photos  One of, if not the best Xmas lunch I have ever had.  Well fed & happy, we head onto Mae Sai on the Burma border over some great mountain roads along the border.   We pull up at the hotel in Mae Sai, but there's no room at the Inn. (sound familiar?) We hop back on the bikes & start looking for somewhere else, when this lady runs out to us & asks if we need some rooms. Follow that arse! Nuan turned out to have some new rooms, cheap but only 3 of us had our own bathroom. She turned out to be extremely helpful.   We hit the town for dinner & a look through the markets. All in, today was the best riding off the whole trip in my opinion. Boxing Day Today we would cross the border into Burma to do some tourist stuff.     The markets in Teckilek, where you can buy all sorts of everything. "Viagra, you buy Cialis, 10 Bhat, 10 Bhat!"    Our ride for the day.    We all try to increase our Karma.     Damn Tourists! 27-12-10 Today, we decide to head east following he Mekong & see where we end up.  The Hall of Opium. Not a bad museum on the history of the opium trade just before you get into Sop Ruak    The Mekong at the Golden Triangle. Where Thailand borders with Laos & Burma. We do the tourist bit then decide it's a bit early & quiet here to stay the night so we push on through to Chiang Khong We find a hotel, or Noi the day manager finds us really. It's the Green Inn, which has great rooms for 500bht a night.      Scenes of the river at Chiang Khong 28-12-10 Today, we ask Noi if he can organise a boat for us so we can spend a few hours just cruising down the Mekong having a few beers.        We end up getting our boat driver half pissed, not realising that he's the guy on night shift at the hotel who will be trying to stay awake all night guarding our bikes that are parked on the street. 29-12-10 Not a good night! I wake about 2am feeling a bit crook. I go for a crap & while that's pouring out I vomit into the sink. Up a few more times during the night too. I start taking all the pills I have trying to get myself sorted & wake up in the morning feeling great, just tired. Get downstairs & here that Mike & Jeff have been doing the same, but they're still sick as. I get to a pharmacy & get some anti biotics which sort of help the other two out, but not much. Today we'll cover a few klm's as we head from the Laos border all the way back to the Burma border crossing the country.  We need to stop for a bit as they are pretty crook.  I have a bit of a snooze in Chiang Rai waiting for the sick guys to rest again.         Once we leave Chiang Rai, we follow the Mae Kok river back to Tha Ton. This track is a brilliant trail for an of road bike in parts. We get to Tha Ton & get a really dodgy guesthouse on the river for the night. I had a VIP room (which was really crap) so I hate to think what the other guy's were like. 30-12-10 Today, our only plan is to do the border road between here & Fang. We did it last year so thought the guys would enjoy it as it takes us up the second highest peak in Thailand. We do backtrack a little from our route on Xmas Eve, but it's all good. For those there that have trouble getting through the checkpoint, just tell the you're gong bird watching.      Just before the washout, my GPS reads 2113m, just shy of Mt Kosciusko here in Australia.     The washout is still passable, but care is still needed.  When we came through here last year, this camp was controlled by the Shan State soldiers. Now it's a Thai Army base.    We head on down & decide to have a break above the reservoir. DON'T PARK ON THE HELIPAD! Stoopid foreigners. We get shouted at & shooed away by some soldiers. Where to now? It's still early so we decide to push through to Mae Kachan & stop at the Cabbages & Condoms Inn for the night. 31-12-10 New Years Eve We're heading back to Chiang Mai today. I get a small tear in my eye at breakfast as I realise that these last 10 days have gone too quickly. There's some last dirt roads/tracks to try on the way though. We head down through Mae Kachan & go east towards Chiang Mai.           My GPS said these roads are "Not for the faint hearted" Bollocks! They are an easy ride with brilliant scenery. I was hoping to head through to Long Kord via these dirt roads, but took a left somewhere when we should have gone right & ended up coming out on the 118 instead of the 1001.  My front tyre, which wasn't great to start with after 1600klms in 11 days. We get back to Chiang Mai around lunchtime, get sorted, showered, shaved ready for a big night to see in the new year. I couldn't have done this trip without the help, laughs, stories, friendship, & everything else the other 4 provided. Thank you. Pounce PS I'm giving myself ROTD! |
