Omkoi (R 1099) finally linked by trails to Mae Sot

[KTMphil]

As far as we know this is the first time riders have actually gone all the way through

Photo: David Bailey

Photo from my phone, David's DRZ 400 and my KTM 300 EXC

 

[KTMphil]

Dinner with the Captain in Mae Sot - will he pop the virgin trail with us?

Is this the biggest top box you've ever seen?

Was there anything to waypoint?????

All we be revealed when i get to my own computer. More new trails to pop with Mr Bailey tomorrow (if we get his bike fixed)

 

[KTMphil]

RideAsia.net Rider's, Colin & David comparing notes, 2 of the most experienced riders in the region.

 

[KTMphil]

Full report to come

 

[bsacbob]

Looks interesting Phil, Dave looks cleanly shaven (well almost) hope you get the bike sorted.

 

[bigntall]

good stuff, curious to se what you boys uncover. is david riding solo or with mai?

 

[KTMphil]

good stuff, curious to se what you boys uncover. is david riding solo or with mai?

Yep Mr Bailey is solo

Never sent from an I-Phone

 

[Ally]

Looks like a good trip Phil, congratulations on making the connections.

Ally

 

[KTMphil]

So off we went from Chiang Mai, hang a right at Tak and head for Mae Sot

 

[KTMphil]

A few hours of daylight left reaching Mae Sot, we go exploring around the Mae Sot, Thailand / Myawaddy, Myanmar international border crossing

Razor wire to try control the immigration

 

[KTMphil]

South of the bridge, 100's of Burmese cross the Mae Nam Moei into Mae Sot, Thailand

NOTE : The boat coming across on the RIGHT of the photo and the Thai Police checking ID's on the LEFT of the photo!

Watching this situation develop - ID's were checked and called in by phone for checking

The chap in a grey t shirt and jeans to the left is undercover Thai police

 

[KTMphil]

100's of people were crossing all along the Mae Nam Moei river, all seemed very relaxed

Housing on the Myanmar river bank

An "antique" shop on the river bank

Looks like kerosene lamps are a huge seller

 

[KTMphil]

Further south along the Mae Nam Moei a beautiful temple on the Myanmar side of the river

A little further south and the border is a hive of activity

Diesel being taken back across the river

Across the Mae Nam Moei in Myanmar, the well kept Mywaddy Resort

I wonder if MGM know they own it?

 

[KTMphil]

Looks like sand collection for construction was big business, all along the river

 

[KTMphil]

We gave the Ban Pruk Sa GH a shot in Mae Sot . Rooms 300-400 bht incl. aircon, a bargain

Useful map of Mae Sot city on the wall

 

[KTMphil]

Dinner in Mae Sot at Bai Fern with Colin & David Bailey
'

 

[KTMphil]

Unfortunately, Colin had been sick and had a very upset stomach, so in the end wasn't able to join David and myself for this trip, real shame as it's been something he's been wanting to link up.

 

[Captain_Slash]

Unfortunately, Colin had been sick and had a very upset stomach, so in the end wasn't able to join David and myself for this trip, real shame as it's been something he's been wanting to link up.

Yes it was a pisser missing out on it Phil but there will be another time, at least I know it actually exists now that you and David have rode it

 

[KTMphil]

Why is this important?


R 1099 is a fantastic riding road that follows ridge lines with the spectacular views south to Omkoi and is 125km in length all the way south to the end at Mae Tuen. The problem is there is no way to loop back, the tarmac road dead ends and it means going back the same way which many of us don't like to do. Take a look at ESRI's map below and it will give you some orientation of what's being discussed.

As you can see from the map above once you're at the southern end of R 1099, you're very close to R 105 and it would be so easy to continue south to Mae Sot. A really frustrating situation. LR had been looking at the area and was sure from some information he had obtained from various sources that there were tracks that went through, so we though we'd give it a try.

 

[KTMphil]

Various options to try and survey/ map this area, we decided on making a base in Mae Sot. It was 65km north on R 105 on the dirt bikes to where we thought the shortest distance would be eastwards to link up with R 1099, then maybe another 60km eastwards of dirt trails to link up to R 1099, this all looked doable in a day, we were prepared to village-sleep if we had to, no big deal.



Fuel is available 10km south of where you turn off R 105 at the Mae La refugee camp , good to fill up before heading off into the unknown, co-ords:




N17.13219


E98.38040

I wish we'd had more time and could have explored the market in the refugee camp it looked interesting

 

[KTMphil]

So eastwards off R 105. Colin had done some of this track and told us it was concreted some of the way, this all looked very white and fresh, David noticed that the empty cement bags were lying around also indicating it was very freshly done. It was still fun even though it wasn't dirt winding through the mountains

 

[KTMphil]

It wasn't long before the hard top ended and theere were some great, steep dirt tracks through the mountains

The southern route eastwards from R 105 to R 1099 is MUCH harder than the northern link up road we did. It's much steeper and more rutted.

 

[KTMphil]

Doi Paper, 1/2 way to R 1099, up high , nice and cool

 

[KTMphil]

Coming around one of the dirt bends, a marvelous Stupa is right in our faces - Koh Padoh Stupa , co-ords:



N17.28912

E98.35570

The trail continues to the left, short on time we decide to visit it on the way back if we time. Further along our trail is a smaller version

Above must be a mock-up for this

The Monk/ caretaker of this new venue

 

[KTMphil]

It had the feel that we were coming to the end of the trail at the R 1099 end, there was some kind of big government office here, we couldn't figure out if it was a National Park admin office or not

Even before we see any indications of villages, there's a huge new bridge under construction at the end of our dirt trail across the Huai Mae Tun Noi river (basicallt at the very southern end of R 1099) - this proves that this is a high traffic area and the locals use it regularly.

The temporary bridge

 

[KTMphil]

Once on the very southern end of R 1099 (headed north), there a several villages, all have fuel available, the biggest village being Mae Tuen. There's a decent, clean restaurant in Mae Tuen at co-ords:


N17.40230


E98.45726

 

[KTMphil]

Time was looking good, 12.30 ish, looks like we had time to try the northern trail from R 1099 back to R 105 (Mae Sot).



The northern link route is much easier, almost a graded dirt truck road, you could probably do the whole road on Versys to give you an idea of how smooth it is

Always exciting to see the trail ahead of you and what's in store, all this was pretty easy, much easier than the southern link route

Big turn here unfortunately we didn't have time to go check it out- next time

 

[KTMphil]

We got luck as the northern link route looped back to the Koh Padoh Stupa, we still had time to go check it out

Pretty obvious why they picked the location

David

 

[KTMphil]

Up to Koh Padoh Stupa for a look around

Quite magical considering the location, how the hell could they build this thing here in the middle of no-where!

 

[KTMphil]

The resident Monk

David has a chat with him

This was a really nice surprise

 

[KTMphil]

We've now looped and re-joined the trail we came eastwards on. This trail is pretty steep in places I think a 2wd truck would struggle on some of the hills

Superb views even in the haze, imagine this in rainy season after a squall has passed

There's about 25km of this rutted dirt until we hit the new concrete

Then the freshly laid concrete again

An absolutely fantastic days riding, we achieved everything we set out to do, very satisfying

 

[Ally]

Fantastic Phil & David, well done.

Ally

 

[Lone Rider]

Great work guys and I guess Peter (Beddhist) in New Zealand will be happy as well. Peter started exploring the northern route quite a few years ago but he ran out of time and had to spend a night with the school teachers in a village. As he was on a big BMW and had crashed in the ruts and lose sand the day before, he decided to return to Mae Sot along the paved road.

 

[Beddhist]

Actually, I was on a not-so-big DR650. After having dropped it in the mud for the 3rd time I didn't have the strength to pick it up any more. In the dry this would have been easy, or on a smaller bike without luggage.

Do you guys post your GPS tracks somewhere?

 

[bsacbob]

Yeah we have a section for posting up GPX files for upload, but we all need to get our asses into gear and put some more up !!!

Nice pictures as always Phil.

 

[skeedary]

What a great ride report and adventure with you and David, Phil. Need to rent a small trail bike and do the same. And all this close to Chiang Mai.

 

[KTMphil]

What a great ride report and adventure with you and David, Phil. Need to rent a small trail bike and do the same. And all this close to Chiang Mai.

I think you'd really like this Gary.