27 days in Thailand

[MustakimQZ]

I recently toured Indochina for 51 days, spending the most time in Thailand. Here's a bit of my ride report.

I just arrived in Huay Xai after coming from Luang Namtha. Fell a couple of times as it rained and there's mud on the surface. Hey...it's all part of the adventure.

on the barge crossing over to Chiang Khong. I arrived there as the sun was coming down so overnight in Chiang Khong. Found this newly opened hotel called Green Inn. Guys trust me, for 500baht, it is bloody awesome.

After all the shit that the bike went true, and I do mean literally as I went thorugh quite a few cow dungs on the road, the bike could do with a wash. It's easier to find a car wash in Thailand.

From Chiang Khong, I made my way up to Mae Sai via Chiang Saen

it is such a change to ride on the left side again after so long on the right having gone thru Cambodia/Vietnam and Laos. The roads in Thailand is awesome as well.

There's a resort about 20 minutes from Chiang Khong that has pretty much the best combination of good food and awesome scenery. You sit on there looking out at Laos that's just over the Mekong.

I didnt ask the room rates, but I dont think it'll be cheap. But as a stopover, this place is brilliant.

onwards to Golden Triangle.

Upon reaching Mae Sai, that's my first time there, and was surprised that it is a pretty big town. I didnt cross in Tachilek, Burma this time around, something I rectified the next time I went, which in itself another story altogether.

I made my way into Chiang Rai via Doi Thung and the scene that awaits me is nothing short of breathtaking.

Stay tuned....more to come.

 

[KTMphil]

Looking good moosey, for your 1st post quite outstanding, thanks so much!

Looking forward to reading more.

The Green Inn looks great.

 

[MustakimQZ]

I was in Chiang Mai for a few days, needed to get my bike serviced at BMW. That's where I met Phil of Riders Corner who suggested some routes that I can take for good riding. So this ride report covers Chiang Mai to Nan to Loei

I headed up Phayao to have lunch by the lake. This was where I had the cheapest Chicken Fried Rice i had in the whole of Thailand. A Princely sum of 25baht. Almost fell off the chair when he told me how much.

I then continued to make my way to Nan via 1148

I couldnt get a room in Grand Mansion the first night so slept in Dhevaraj. It's an ok hotel but a bit worn out i'd have to say.

I made my way to Loei after that, and this part is actually one of the best and loneliest riding, route taken was 101 - 1026 - 1083 - 1268 - 2195 - 2294 - 203

the above road heads up to a fishing village

Met Chris in King Hotel in Loei, we got superstar parking when they cleared the storeroom for our bikes.

That's Chris there....he had a rental, but did the job.

from Loei i took a ride to Pakchoem, you pretty much see the Mekong on your left, though I'm somewhat saddened to see the water levels are down. You can see all these sandbars propping up.

 

[KTMphil]

ok moose, so that's 3 days --24 to go.

What camera is that? Nice pichers

 

[Steve Canyon]

Nice one Moose.....

It was good to meet you on route..

Take it easy...

will post some photo's later...

 

[MustakimQZ]

Phil,

I know...lagging behind. So many things cropped up, like riding to Krabi and spending a few days in Phi Phi island...haha. Just got back last nite and this Fri I'm going up to Southern Thailand for some mild off roading from Golok to Betong, so I guess that's another ride report. Met a couple of Chech guys heading up to CM, gave them your place. They say they'll check it out

Chris,

Yup, good to have met you as well.

Oh ya, the camera is a Canon S90.

Mus

 

[Marco]

Good one Moose

and in your pictures i came to question

Why people washing they bikes so often when doing long rides?

I have done lot of trips on my bike

Sorry not this kind of riding

This kind of bike

and it has been very dirty and i found out that specially in Thailand if BMW bike is dirty,,they wanna wash it immediately and i usually say NO WAY,, and they not understand why BM(thai way to say) is so dirty and i tell them it's way of showing bike that it dos a lot of kilometers around thailand and even what ever kind of weather....lol

Cheers
Marco

Phil,

I know...lagging behind. So many things cropped up, like riding to Krabi and spending a few days in Phi Phi island...haha. Just got back last nite and this Fri I'm going up to Southern Thailand for some mild off roading from Golok to Betong, so I guess that's another ride report. Met a couple of Chech guys heading up to CM, gave them your place. They say they'll check it out

Chris,

Yup, good to have met you as well.

Oh ya, the camera is a Canon S90.

Mus

 

[MustakimQZ]

Marco,

Out of the 51 days the bike was washed 3 times only, I think a bit more than the owner....haha

Moose

 

[MustakimQZ]

In Loei, my friend came and joined me and we continued the touring. I enjoyed the road from Nan to Loei that I backtracked using the same route. So we basically went up to Nan and from there used the 1081 up to Chaloem Phrakiat passing by Boklue. This part was a bit tough coz the roads are really broken up. My guess is the recent floods did most of the damage.

The excellent King Hotel, damn good value for the money. For 500 baht it was awesome

always a good idea to start the day with a good brekkie

damn right!

it's mainly gravel on 1081. I hope they fix this soon

Bokluea resort up a hill which is a brilliant stopover.

that's the place if you were to look up from the main road.

children of the corn moment

let's jump this.....NOT!

Chaloem Phrakiat border to cross into Laos. Really quiet, unlike other border towns

the paddy fields are just beautiful

more of 1081

 

[KTMphil]

Nice report Moose ..Thankyou

 

[MustakimQZ]

This series takes us through Mae Sai to Chiang Rai, via Doi Thung and Mae Salong. This is amongst my favourite routes because the scenery just takes your breath away. The route is 1149 that hugs the Thai/Burmese border.

You pass by a few military checkpoints, not a problem, yu just tell em where you're headed to.

The road to Mae Salong was no piece of piss as it's a bit slippery, but again you're rewarded by awesome view, beaitiful cool weather, food and friendly hospitality.

I'm not much of a temple person, though made an exception with the white temple in Chiang Rai. It's a modern temple and totally unlike the rest of the temple's in Thailand.

I love Chiang Rai and it's laid back nature. Up there as 1 of the possible places that I may want to retire in.

 

[KTMphil]

I agree Moose, Chiang Rai has just the right balance of beautiful riding and a city not too overwhelming for the evenings.

 

[MustakimQZ]

I agree Moose, Chiang Rai has just the right balance of beautiful riding and a city not too overwhelming for the evenings.

I fully support that!

 

[nikhuzlan]

Nice Mus, need to retrace your routes in April.

 

[MustakimQZ]

Capt, can do this and more!

Anyways, let's continue with the journey. We were not sure where we'll be for New Years as we havent sorted out our accomodation and trying to do so on 31st Dec morning is no easy task but by sheer dumb luck we found a place in Mae Hong Son. So we left CM about 10 to MHS via Pai.

said our goodbyes to Phil
The ride from CM to Pai was treacherous with the amount of traffic that was on the road that day and also due to the mountainous road. One of the toughest that I've done so far actually. When we reached Pai, we're glad that we didn't get a place there coz it's just an explosion of people. They're everywhere. There's even a traffic jam for god's sake.

Good thing the ride to Mae Hong Son was better, wider roads, slightly less twisty and most importantly, less traffic. CM to Mae Hong Son 252km

You can't help but to fall in love with the blue skies and layers of mountain that pretty much signifies North Thailand.

It's nice to do something different for New Years, and I like seeing people would light up these lanterns that would float very high up into the night sky. The higher the better your year would be it seems. We went up to a temple on top of the hill as that is an excellent vantage point to see the town as well as fireworks. It was a bit weird though at first coz there was some sermon going on being blared through the loudspeaker and it got louder as the fireworks started, but only for a short while. I think they want to enjoy the fireworks as well...haha.

We made our way down to Mae Sariang from MHS the next day, a total ride of 168km, a nice sleepy town by the river. In fact plenty of Hotels and Guesthouses fronting the river. I don't mind chilling out here, just laze around, read a book and just do generally.....nothing.....now that's bliss.

the river a bit low though.

Next stop is Mae Sot, 236km away. The thing is, we had an agenda at Mae Sot as this is another border into Burma. The plan was to do another visa run so that we can extend our stay. Unfortunately, we only discovered when we reached there that the border has been closed for the past 3 months due to fighting over the Burma side. Fighting that escalated after the recent elections, so there goes our plan of another extra couple of days. I had really wanted to hit a beach as it's what Thailand is famous for as well. Looks like I have to plan another trip then....hehe....mai pen rai.....

The guesthouse in Mae Sot is really nice though, Ban Thai. Cheap and good for 350baht it's brilliant.

 

[KTMphil]

Nice story moosey!