Moto Paradise – Northern Thailand –Ducati Road Bike trip, overnight in the jungle - Chiang Mai to Mai Sai cave rescue

[EndoJim]

This trip is a couple months old but figured I would go ahead and post it anyways. Seems that ride report very scarce lately on RA. The reason for the late posting is I have been busting my ass on my new Restaurant/Bar "Moto Bistro" in Hang Dong. It's been about 8 or 9 months and I just about have it finished. So hopefully I will finally get back to riding regularly.

Report:

Back in July my wife went back to her hometown to help with her cousin's monk party. I decided it would be a cool trip to ride up to Mae Sai and see if I could somehow lend a hand. So around 4pm on a Friday afternoon, I strapped the Go bag on the back of the Multistrada and headed out. No real game plan just figured I had a chance to ride the Big Red girl solo.

I rode the outer ring road from Hang Dong to the 107 north of CM city. Traffic was not bad once on the 107 heading north towards Chai Prakan. Stop for fuel and a cappuccino at the new Amazon off the 107 near the Pai turnoff. Nice place.

Stopped for dinner at a nice little bar/resort a few Km’s north of the PTT entering Chai Prakan. Good food and a great musician playing an acoustic guitar.

After a nice dinner and a couple cold ones I saddled up and headed east to camp somewhere in the jungle.

To be continued...

 

[2wheels]

See you at your new restaurant soon Jim and best wishes with it all.

 

[bsacbob]

Best of luck with it Jim.

Here is the Facebook link.

Moto-Bistro

 

[EndoJim]

Thanks for the well wishes gentlemen...

I still have a lot of work to get it where I want it. We have a great cook serving Thai food for now and a simple western menu is coming soon. I'm thinking Burgers, Brats/sausages, Chicken sandwich and Fish & chips. All will be top notch with all the fixings. The bar is an American style sports bar, with an outdoor beer garden courtyard and pavilion.

The bar is definitely a work in-progress so if you decide to come by please be patient. I can promise you the beer will be ice cold and you'll be served with a smile. We will have it running on all cylinders very soon.

Jim

 

[oldbloke]

I look forward to checking your place out in November

 

[EndoJim]

Back to the report:

I left Saimoonbury Resort about 8pm. Stopped off at the 7-11 up the street for some supplies. Beer, coffee and snacks for a night in the jungle.

Forgot to load my GPX file from the GPS so this is the best I can do for now.

Rode for about an hour and a half and after making a few navigational errors I decided to pull off at a little hut and make it home for the night. I wanted to make it to the river but slick steep rutted road with street tires was just asking for drama

As I pulled the bag off the bike this kid showed up very cautiously like I was some king of alien. I jokingly made a quick move toward him and he jumped straight up and off the ledge down to the road and starting hauled ass. Funny as hell... He came back up and we both had a good laugh. He kept gesturing for me to follow him down the road to the village. So after a few minutes I gave in and followed him to a small temple where a monk which could not have been much more than 4ft tall came out looking very serious. Felt like I was in trouble for a second . To my surprise he spoke almost perfect English. He told me it was not safe to sleep outside and I should sleep in the temple. I told him it was to hot and that I had came to camp. He talked to the boys and went back into his house.

I hiked back up to the hill and started pulling my gear out when the kids came back up and started building me a fire.

One by one more kids came up bringing fire wood.

With my gear pulled out and my bed made I open a beer watched them build me a fire.

Very kind kids. Felt like the monk had told them to keep and eye on me

To be continued...

 

[EndoJim]

Bed made and fire blazing I was enjoying my last beer trying to communicate with the Lisu boys.

When the big kid and the kid with the jacket on showed up I notice the mood change. I could tell they were up to something. One of their mother showed up on the street and started yelling at him. Not sure what she said Buy my guess be Get ass home! All the kids laughed it off and mom walked back home.

The big kid took of on his commando scooter with no light on.

Just before crawling into my bag. Figured they would take off when the fire die down. About 30 minutes after laying down I heard the scooter pulling up and the kids sounding excited. About 30 minutes after that I could hear the kid making strange sounds and stumbling around. This confirmed what I had thought I heard. The little dumb shits were sniffing glue. I wanted to get up and talk to them but it was too late they were all stoned out of their skulls and besides they could not understand me anyhow. Well this went on for a couple more hours then they sat down at the fire carrying on. I tried to tell them settle down a few times with no response. I had enough so I crawled of my bag and walked up the fire. They all looked like at me and carried on. So just I started pissing on the fire. Turns out this translated pretty good... Half went home and half laid down.

Felt like only an hour later I was woke up by a huge spider walking across my face. I mean huge too... Like one leg on each ear huge...

Here is three of the kid that stayed. I was sure to wake them up promptly...

If you look closely you'll see two PVC glue cans in the fire pit.

Commando scooter

 

[bsacbob]

Great that's what travelling is all about, integrating with the locals, although pissing on the fire may started a linch party if they hadn't been just young kids sitting around the campfire

 

[EndoJim]

Great that's what travelling is all about, integrating with the locals, although pissing on the fire may started a linch party if they hadn't been just young kids sitting around the campfire

No doubt... Come morning they offered me breakfast and took a selfie with me before I headed out .

I'm thinking they though I might go down and have a little talk with the village monk.

 

[2wheels]

Rural hospitality, even though a bit high.
Sad about the glue sniffing.
When sober they will share the reasons why they do it; usually from boredom, hunger, rite of passage, that 'high' feeling.
Same in Oz with the Aboriginal kids, but they tend to use petrol.
That's another story!

Jim maybe you could post to advise when you have the bistro all set up to your satisfaction.

 

[EndoJim]

Funny you can see one of the kids looking around the rear tire of my bike after I woke them up.

Beautiful morning but the clouds were a concern... I knew if it started raining while on the tracks to come I would definitely be screwed. So I took off with a sense of urgency.

Track was as I remember but the weight of the 1200cc's and street tires made it much more interesting. Definitely did not handle like my KTM ADV but I was enjoying the challenge. The biggest issue for me was it was not comfortable to stand on the bike.

Of course we all know the camera never depicts the steepness. It was quite slick as well. No issues just keep the wheels turning...

I knew this section was coming. I had driven it in a 4X4 truck to bring some buddies fuel. They stayed the night after running out of fuel on a wicked single track adventure a years or so ago.

Soil sample taken... Washed the front wheel out in the rut. Let the adventure begin

To be continued...

 

[EndoJim]

Absolutely love the raw power and handling of the Ducati Multi Strada on the street but the bike does not match up well with my off-road riding habits. I inevitably end up on a dirt track having no idea where it ends up and hoping it goes through so I don't run out of gas. I'm thinking an Africa Twin may be the bike for me, in Thailand anyways.

This is the village the boys a very cold night at a couple years ago.

Headed down to the village pictured in the first photo. I'm hoping the river is not too high with the recent rain.

I kick myself for not taking a picture at the water crossing. I was just happy to make it without swamping out my boot to badly.

How fortunate are we to have such a beautiful open place to adventure through.

Made it through with no rain...

To be continued...

 

[EndoJim]

So unfortunately my SD card is somehow corrupt and I lost all my pictures after this Village.

This unassuming turn off leads you on an amazing single track. I believe it is a very old logging trail. Very over grown after reaching the peak of the mountain. If you hang the right at the top it will lead you down to the 109... I think. Four of us spend nearly 10hrs fighting our way trough. One of those cases where the GPS makes it appear to be shorter than it really was . Three out of four of us had to stay the night in the small village just after the place I stayed the night on this trip. I was able to make it back that nigh but just by the skin of my teeth. I arrived back to the trucks about 11pm. What an epic adventure it was.

Trail head: 19.626188, 99.360699

My Thai buddy and his GF are building a restaurant/coffee shop here. Looks like its going to be very nice. They have fuel as well. 19°37'23.1"N 99°21'39.8"E

Sketchy bridge

Plowing for the next crop.

After having a coffee with the kids I headed out to the 1 and hightailed in to Mae Sai caves. When I arrived near the park the place was a mad house packed with vehicles and people. Seeing this I decide I would just be in the way and turned back towards home taking the 1089 over to the 107. Just as I got to the 107 I was stuck in a torrential down pour. Really felt bad think about the kids in the cave. I pull in to a PTT to wait it out but after nearly an hour I just face the fact it was going to be a slow wet ride home. One of these days I get my stuff together as far as pictures and GPS file.

Happy trail...
Jim

More or less the route I took home

 

[bsacbob]

Great stuff Jim the trail you mention is red one in the centre of the picture, it can be a bit of a handful for sure.

I remember coming across a Thai couple a few years back in the same area as it was getting dark on a brand new Hypermotard, we advised them to turn back, often wondered how the got on they would have been in darkness for sure.

 

[EndoJim]

Great stuff Jim the trail you mention is red one in the centre of the picture, it can be a bit of a handful for sure.

I remember coming across a Thai couple a few years back in the same area as it was getting dark on a brand new Hypermotard, we advised them to turn back, often wondered how the got on they would have been in darkness for sure.

View attachment 64837

That's the one... I could see the couple making it maybe a quarter of way up to the T junction if very motivated but unless he was Chris Birch and she was pushing its high doubtful they made it more than half way . The real fight was after we made the left at the top of the mountain. Super overgrown bamboo and huge trees down across the trail. Couple swampy stream crossings too. Damn talking about it make me want to run it again