Cycle Wallah
Member
I had a couple of weeks with nothing to do so I decided to go on a short tour of northern Thailand. A friend of mine was going back down south so he dropped me off in Pong. From here I started the ride along 1188 road gradually starting the ascent to Ban Santisuk. Eventually turning on to an unnamed concrete road.
Unnamed concrete road.
The climb was quite hard but being a good road helped. But only having some oranges and bread for breakfast didn’t help. There were no villages until I got to Ban Santisuk. *So I spent the rest of the morning going up.
The only way is up.
Eventually made it near the top and came across a ranger station and stopped to top up my water. The rangers were surprised to see me and invited me to lunch.
Lunch with the rangers.
Thanked the rangers and continued on upwards finally making it to the top. There was a good view from 1000m despite the haze.
View from 1000m.
There was also a helicopter landing pad at the top.
Helicopter landing pad.
From the top it was a short descent down to Ban Santisuk. I bought some food and greedily drank a coke before back tracking a little to find the trail in to Doi Pha Chang Wildlife Sanctuary. Crossed a small river where some locals were washing their motorbikes and was soon on the trail. Immediately starting another ascent.
Trail heading in to Doi Pha Chang.
Continued up until I came across a strange looking monument in the middle of no where off a small trail.
Monument.
I later found out this was a communist monument from when some communist forces attempted to come in to Thailand and were defeated by the Thai army.
By this time it was after three o’clock so I decided to camp near the monument for the night.
Camping near the monument.
Next morning I was awake early and soon back on the trail going up again.
Although I was going up again it was a pleasant ride. In parts the trail turned in to some nice single track.
Single track.
Then in to double track.
Double track.
Met some locals in a pick up who kindly gave me some water. Got the thumbs up and encouragement from a few people on motorbikes. Most of the locals I saw had homemade guns reminding me of when I was in southern Laos where every man and his dog seemed to have one.
The going soon got pretty tough and I took a few short breaks.
Taking a break.
Making it to the top I started,much to my relief,to go down. Going down really makes up for all the hard work going up and I soon forgot about the climb up. Going down you really have to concentrate because of the ruts made in the trail by motorbikes. I got caught in these a couple of times and was thrown off the bike. But no damage to me or the bike. Just a bruised ego.
Ruts in the trail.
Found abandoned red ants nest.
Red ant nest.
I was almost out at the end of the trail when I came to another ranger station. Here they gave me water and water melon. One ranger showed me a photo of some crazy Thai guy on a big motorcycle. The man in the photo was a friend of mine! Small world.
From the ranger station I climbed a little more until I came to a small village. Had noodle soup for lunch and started another ascent but on a paved road this time. Bought food in a village and took a long break at the top of the climb. Found a cool spot to camp.
Camp for the night.
Relaxed for a while. Then cooked a good meal for dinner and it was soon time for bed.
Dinner.
The next day I cycled to Nan to stay in a guest house. All in all it was a good couple of days riding. I would recommend this route to anyone who likes a challenge. Take lots if water!
Sent from my HUAWEI CUN-L22 using Tapatalk
Unnamed concrete road.
The climb was quite hard but being a good road helped. But only having some oranges and bread for breakfast didn’t help. There were no villages until I got to Ban Santisuk. *So I spent the rest of the morning going up.
The only way is up.
Eventually made it near the top and came across a ranger station and stopped to top up my water. The rangers were surprised to see me and invited me to lunch.
Lunch with the rangers.
Thanked the rangers and continued on upwards finally making it to the top. There was a good view from 1000m despite the haze.
View from 1000m.
There was also a helicopter landing pad at the top.
Helicopter landing pad.
From the top it was a short descent down to Ban Santisuk. I bought some food and greedily drank a coke before back tracking a little to find the trail in to Doi Pha Chang Wildlife Sanctuary. Crossed a small river where some locals were washing their motorbikes and was soon on the trail. Immediately starting another ascent.
Trail heading in to Doi Pha Chang.
Continued up until I came across a strange looking monument in the middle of no where off a small trail.
Monument.
I later found out this was a communist monument from when some communist forces attempted to come in to Thailand and were defeated by the Thai army.
By this time it was after three o’clock so I decided to camp near the monument for the night.
Camping near the monument.
Next morning I was awake early and soon back on the trail going up again.
Although I was going up again it was a pleasant ride. In parts the trail turned in to some nice single track.
Single track.
Then in to double track.
Double track.
Met some locals in a pick up who kindly gave me some water. Got the thumbs up and encouragement from a few people on motorbikes. Most of the locals I saw had homemade guns reminding me of when I was in southern Laos where every man and his dog seemed to have one.
The going soon got pretty tough and I took a few short breaks.
Taking a break.
Making it to the top I started,much to my relief,to go down. Going down really makes up for all the hard work going up and I soon forgot about the climb up. Going down you really have to concentrate because of the ruts made in the trail by motorbikes. I got caught in these a couple of times and was thrown off the bike. But no damage to me or the bike. Just a bruised ego.
Ruts in the trail.
Found abandoned red ants nest.
Red ant nest.
I was almost out at the end of the trail when I came to another ranger station. Here they gave me water and water melon. One ranger showed me a photo of some crazy Thai guy on a big motorcycle. The man in the photo was a friend of mine! Small world.
From the ranger station I climbed a little more until I came to a small village. Had noodle soup for lunch and started another ascent but on a paved road this time. Bought food in a village and took a long break at the top of the climb. Found a cool spot to camp.
Camp for the night.
Relaxed for a while. Then cooked a good meal for dinner and it was soon time for bed.
Dinner.
The next day I cycled to Nan to stay in a guest house. All in all it was a good couple of days riding. I would recommend this route to anyone who likes a challenge. Take lots if water!
Sent from my HUAWEI CUN-L22 using Tapatalk
on doing this trip on a bicycle.
