Rain Dodging North Thailand

[bsacbob]

My old friend Steve Francis was making a trip up from Hua HIn and asked if i would be interested to join up for a ride, i didn't need asking twice and we arranged to meet up in Sukhothai, this is how the trip went.

For me it was 1800 km door to door on some of the best roads in the region has to offer.

My plan was to reach Sukhothai avoiding as much highway as possible, but my first port of call was one of my favourite spots Wiang Lo and it's charming old Wat.

More info on the region here. Wiang Lo Revisited & The 1251 Roadside Camping

Not sure why the monks have this monkey but it was friendly enough.

Always amazed how very few people visit the site, on this occasion, i was the only visitor.

From there it was onto the 1091 passing through Chun and Pong heading south virtually traffic free. On the 1091 i came across this new restaurant and coffee shop which also offered overnight camping, definitely a stopover place for the future.

Located at
N19.03663° E100.24992°

Riding South i was blessed with a dry ride and some great roads, reaching Sukhothai in good time.

Before i checked into the Guesthouse decided to visit the historic park and grab some pictures.

Checked into the TR Guesthouse, pretty good value at 650 baht a night but sadly no breakfast.

Location
N17.00825° E99.81688°

After i nice evening in the Chopper bar next door to the TR guesthouse, we had planned a long ride to Chiang Mai via Mae Sariang taking in the 1175 and 105 routes.

The large Buddha marking the beginning of the glorious 1175.

The 1175 was in pretty good condition with only a few potholed sections due to the heavy rains.

Steve on his BMW 1200GS enjoying the corners.

No trip trough Mae Saraing would be complete without stopping and the famous pork and rice shop across from the site of the burnt down museum.

Location
N18.16077° E97.94150°

Before heading to Chiang Mai another must do, the pines trees.

N18.15714° E98.38888°

Day two completed it was a stopover for two days in Chiang Mai and hook up with a couple more riding pals for the trip over to Nan via the 120 and 1091 routes.

To be continued..

 

[bsacbob]

Well after a couple of days in Chiang Mai abusing my waistline it was off to Nan and Join up with Steve & Justin along the 1001, the weather had other plans as Chaing Mai was taking in a rainstorm. Undeterred i headed up the 1001 which was to my amazement bone dry.

The 1001 is the perfect road for the V Strom nice big corners and no surprises, the clouds looming as i snapped a couple of shorts of a big buddha and some phone cables !!!

Note to self to plan to stop over and check this place out.

Reaching the PT a @ Phrao to meet up with Steve, huge black storm clouds conveniently hovered over us and headed in our chosen direction on the 1150, so a coffee break was in order.

Leaving town the dam is slowly filling up.

The 1150 is a fantastic road but not in this kind of weather.

More storm clouds moving in.

Fortunately there was one or two dry spots to have fun, but mostly it was like this.

Onto the now dry 120 and a splash of colour from the green all around.

A quick stop over at the campsite i had found earlier in the year.

We made a detour to the coffee shop and restaurant i had found on the way to Sukhothai but unfortunately the power was off so we needed another food source.

The smell of BBQ pork soon had us pulling over much to the delight of the locals, taking pictures of these strange farang people eating Som Tam.

All in all it had been a good ride, we arrived at the Nan Thara Palace in Nan for the night to hook up with Steve Francis and another chance to sample the food at the GIn Restaurant.

Hotel location
N18.78937° E100.78405°

Gin Restaurant
N18.78791° E100.78463°

 

[Highonthai]

Nice write up. Looks like I'll try part of your route. I'm In Chiang Mai so I'll start from here. Looked like a good time was had by all.

 

[bsacbob]

Yes we had been lucky with the weather really, great roads but not much fun in the wet.

 

[bsacbob]

After a relaxing night in Nan it was time, well for me to complete the last leg of the journey back to Chiang Rai.

A cloudy start but dry, we all hoped it would stay that way for the 1148.

Once we had cleared the boring straight sections i let the boys loose so i could practice my one-handed camera technique.

Personally, i am not a huge fan of the 1148 and think it rides better in the opposite direction.

Sorry if the next shots get a little boring.

As we reached the long straightaway through the karst mountains a huge storm was brewing having us race to the Magic Mountain Coffee stop.

So we sat for a while as the storm passed of then finally made our way to Chiang Rai and a very nice traditional Sunday lunch at the Condotel to bring the ride to a happy conclusion with a great bunch of guy's.

Will post a GPX file of all the route and waypoints.

 

[bsacbob]

Waypoints of the trip.

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[bsacbob]

GPX tracks.

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[oldbloke]

Great set of photos... definitely the best season visually to be riding and taking pics! ... hopefully the air will still be clear in November, but the rain less