Karen tribe pickups, Raptures & lots of rain

[KTMphil]

We'd been meaning to hook up with a German friend that has a weekend "retreat" in Samoeng and finally managed it.


Started out blue skies with white puffy clouds, nice, clear air out at the Samoeng viewpoint

Need to figure out that timer on the camera so we can both be in the same photo

 

[KTMphil]

Minor inaccuracies on the gps location and we finally locate his dwelling in Samoeng, what a sweet VW Camper, with a photo of his Porsche on the side.

 

[KTMphil]

He's created his own mini, private resort. The main house is on stilts over a lake.

I asked him if mosquito's were a problem, he said the fish eat all the mosquito eggs so not an issue

 

[KTMphil]

The Geman chap has 9 bikes, a couple of them are currently blown up, but wanted to get out on his new to, a 700cc Rapture ATV.

Neither Alex or myself had ridden with one of these beasts before so it would be interesting to see how it compared

 

[KTMphil]

The first thing we noticed was that the ATV Rapture had amazing speed on the wider trails & great traction in the wet, greasy clay. As the trails got thinner to wide-ish single track, it slowed down considerable as negotiating tree and stumps became problematic.

The map below will give you an idea of where we were riding, basically south west of Samoeng

 

[KTMphil]

The rapture has so much torque, going around obstructions on steep gradients isnt too much of an issue

& off you go over the big hump around the fallen tree

 

[KTMphil]

Looking for some new link ups, the problem was the potential link ups we didnt have al went deep down into the valleys

Surprising how well the ATV handled the single track, but the pace was slow, you fall off the ledge and it would be a bitch to get it back up

 

[KTMphil]

Close to 700cc and heavy, it sure does drink some fuel

Another problem was some of the stream bridges were only wide enough for motorbikes

& when this thing is stuck getting it out on your own can be impossible

 

[KTMphil]

Some new trails, this one did continue but the landslide had wiped out 70% making it only passable by 2 wheels

Another new one that looks like it links up with existing trails we have with a small hydro-elec unit

 

[KTMphil]

The KTM 300 had started spluttering at 25% & had all the makings of a dirty carb, the bike had been sitting for 6 weeks and hadn't been used as we'd been riding in India for a month. We got to a Karen village, kicking and kicking and it wouldn't fire. We got the spark plug out and no spark. Thinking this was going to be an easy day ride with no rivers, i didn't have a spare spark plug, the only time ive never brought one, sods law.

After some initial confusion in the Karen village, we managed to find someone that spoke English and he called around and managed to find a pickup.

It was absolutely pouring down now , we were really lucky the bike didnt fail out in the jungle with no shelter

 

[KTMphil]

Tor, the English speaking Karen chaps wife with their 2 beautiful children

We get the pickup all arranged, 2,500 Bht back to Chiang Mai and in it goes

 

[KTMphil]

So off we go northbound through the sludge, towards the concrete








More rain & we discover the windscreen wipers in the car don't work, so now we're looking for a mechanic for the pickup

Looks like this wasn't its first electrical issue

Joe, the incredibly polite Karen tribe, pickup owner

All fixed and off to Chiang Mai. No food all day, so really made up for it.

 

[Captain_Slash]

A lovely meal to finish the day off Phil