Jim's big Chiang Mai day loop

[KTMphil]

Jim's last day in Chiang Mai, no rain, a chance for the big Chiang Mai day loop :


Chiang Mai - R1001 - R 1150 - R 118 - R 109 - R 107 - Chiang Mai.

Close to 400km

 

[KTMphil]

R 1150, looking promising, dry as a bone

3 minutes later all change

A gap in the torrential rain, we made a run for the White Cup Coffee shop at the R 1150/ R 118 junction, not a bad spot to watch the continuing rain.

 

[KTMphil]

Waiting for the next break in the SW Monsoon & north on R 118 to pick up R 109 westwards to Fang. The eastern end of R 109 is still a little pot-holey, but clears up after about 5km.


The western end of R 109 approaching Fang town, the Fang Oil Field.

The Fang Oil Field is in the area of Tambon Mae Sun, Fang District, Chiang Mai. Its operation is under the Department of Energy, Ministry of Defence. The oil field was discovered around 100 years ago by the villagers who found a black liquid on the surface of the ground but did not know what it was. Some said it was magic oil so they used it as a healing sap. Word got to the Chiang Mai Ruler so he reserved it for the government. The locals called it the Royal Oil Field or Chao Luang's Oil Field for that reason.

In 1934, The Defence Energy Department came in to explore the field and hired two Swiss geologists, Dr. Arnold Heim and Dr. Hans Hirschi, to do surface explorations and dig a small well but no real progress was reported. They returned many more times but no real developments were furthered.

Between 1949-1956 an oil exploration unit was sent into the area under the order of the Metallurgy Department to drill for oil in the Chaiprakarn Oil Field and built a small experimental oil refinery that is run on needed occasions. It could drill up 1,000 liters of crude oil. Interestingly the oil refining at this stage was meant to be used in making asphalt tar, a material to pave roads with, rather than producing gasoline purposes due to the government's urgent policy to build interstate highways nation wide.

In 1956, the work of Fang Oil Field was transferred to the Defence Energy Department. That same year, Dr. Harold Hutton, an expert in petroleum came to explore the oil field in Fang District and wrote a report stating that the crude oil in Fang was enough for commercial use and suggested that a refinery with the capacity of over 1,000 barrels should be built there.

On September 12, 1956 the Defence Energy Department started full development under which the first petroleum fuels refining was in operation along with other exploration throughout the Northern Region. Examples of the places explored were the Chiang Rai River Basin, Phayao River Basin and the Lampang River Basin.
References
National Energy Authority. (1969). The Energy Situation in Thailand.
Bangkok: National Energy Authority.

Golden Jubilee Network. (2008). Oil and Natural Gas, Fang Oil Field.
Retrieved June 17, 2008, from
http://kanchanapisek.or.th/kp8/cem/cem710.html



From:

:: The oil rig at Fang Oil Field, 1952. , Picture Lanna, Mr. Boonserm Satrabhaya, Lanna Photos, Northern Thailand Photos, Northern Thailand Pictures, Past Pictures ::

 

[KTMphil]

South along R 107, Doi Chiang Dao in the middle of a rain squall

Riding in rainy season, you can get some interesting shots and everything is so green

Doi Chiang Dao

 

[oldbloke]

Thanks for the day trip

Thanks for coming out, and the great write up, Phillip. The pictures capture the feel of the day really well ( well, all except the refinery ones perhaps..: ). It was certainly a breeze having a local getting me out and back in to the maze of Chiang Mai streets.
The speedo on the bike said 435kms... not bad for a day on a 250 motard - it certainly helped having the Trumpy set the pace ( shame it got so dirty! ), and I was surprised just how little effort those tight corners were, on the Honda, thanks to the wide bars and upright stance.
A day well spent!!

 

[Captain_Slash]

When are you back in town again Jim? it would be good to catch up again

 

[oldbloke]

When are you back in town again Jim? it would be good to catch up again

Not sure, Colin - it depends a lot on my involvement with Burmese libraries. The next aim of course is to ride through Shan state