Lone Rider
Blokes Who Can
Border road along the Thai-Myanmar border west of Doi Pahompok
While at the Horizons Unlimited meeting I talked with a guy who had done the border road a few weeks ago and he mentioned that he did not see the collapsed part of the road. He gave me his GPS tracks and these showed that indeed he had been there, so what happened with the collapsed part?
Early this morning I set off to investigate - started from Ban Mae Laeng Mai up to the border (Rd. 1314). At the junction I was stopped and asked to pay 50 Baht as an entrance fee by the Rangers of the Doi Pahompok National Park
Map of the route taken along the border
Found the road much worse in comparison to my last visit a few years ago - quite a few potholes but the worst were the ruts in the road - some were quite deep and from time to time they were running across the road so you either had to back up or take the plunge and cross them to find a better piece of road.
Somewhere halfway along the border road the Doi Pahompok National Park has created a place where the bird watchers and others can stay with a campground, toilets, etc. Watch out and drive careful as the roads are quite narrow and there is very little traffic on the road (saw 4 cars of bird watchers and 1 bike) so it is easy to forget that there might be others on the road.
The Doi Lang Campground
View from the Campground but the haze is starting already to "block the view"
A Myanmar Army base on the next mountain ridge
The old road with 2 large gaping holes and only a strip of half a meter wide where bikes could pass if the rider was brave enough
View of the road in 2004 in Google Earth
The road as it is now - they have filled in the holes and built up the sides of the road so a car or truck can pass without any problem. No pavement yet but I assume that it will be added in the near future although all the road builders and their equipment were gone.
On the way back I wanted to take the Norlae road but no luck - it seems that the road is offlimit to everyone with the exception of about 200 people/vehicles. The army guys have a list with the names, etc. and if your name is not on the list they won't let you through.
While at the Horizons Unlimited meeting I talked with a guy who had done the border road a few weeks ago and he mentioned that he did not see the collapsed part of the road. He gave me his GPS tracks and these showed that indeed he had been there, so what happened with the collapsed part?
Early this morning I set off to investigate - started from Ban Mae Laeng Mai up to the border (Rd. 1314). At the junction I was stopped and asked to pay 50 Baht as an entrance fee by the Rangers of the Doi Pahompok National Park
Map of the route taken along the border
Found the road much worse in comparison to my last visit a few years ago - quite a few potholes but the worst were the ruts in the road - some were quite deep and from time to time they were running across the road so you either had to back up or take the plunge and cross them to find a better piece of road.
Somewhere halfway along the border road the Doi Pahompok National Park has created a place where the bird watchers and others can stay with a campground, toilets, etc. Watch out and drive careful as the roads are quite narrow and there is very little traffic on the road (saw 4 cars of bird watchers and 1 bike) so it is easy to forget that there might be others on the road.
The Doi Lang Campground
View from the Campground but the haze is starting already to "block the view"
A Myanmar Army base on the next mountain ridge
The old road with 2 large gaping holes and only a strip of half a meter wide where bikes could pass if the rider was brave enough
View of the road in 2004 in Google Earth
The road as it is now - they have filled in the holes and built up the sides of the road so a car or truck can pass without any problem. No pavement yet but I assume that it will be added in the near future although all the road builders and their equipment were gone.
On the way back I wanted to take the Norlae road but no luck - it seems that the road is offlimit to everyone with the exception of about 200 people/vehicles. The army guys have a list with the names, etc. and if your name is not on the list they won't let you through.
