To Nan with Bob & Tim, then poking around the Nan border

[KTMphil]

To Nan with Bob & Tim, then poking around the Nan border

Beautiful day in north Thailand, winter chill in the air and bright blue skies, perfect weather for 3 of us headed east from Chiang Mai, to go visit Captian Slash in Nan.

Tim had never ridden on R 1148, so we took the northern route to Nan - Here bob on a lovely section of R 1148

Time on R 1148 for the first time

R 1148

 

[KTMphil]

Re: To Nan with Bob & Tim, then poking around the Nan borde

The natural beauty of the region where R 1148 heads east - west

We all arrived safely in Nan - I gave Colin's favorite - The Amazing Guest House a shot for the first time

Bungalows 250 bht with fan and hot shower

Parking area at the back of the Amazing GH

They do have a website:

http://home.arcor.de/amazing_guesthouse ... ation.html

 

[KTMphil]

Re: To Nan with Bob & Tim, then poking around the Nan borde

Bob & Tim checked into the Grand Mansion GH, we then ate dinner at Da Darios which is now relocated in the soi opposite the Grand Mansion GH, the Cesar salad there is spectacular, a must try.

Then breakfast the next morning at Hot Bread in Nan, they do a great bacon sandwich, Bob & Tim had to head back to Chiang Mai

So this left Colin & I to go exploring. We'd had a breif discussion about what might be interesting, I'd mentioned that border areas might be fun so that's where we headed.


North up R 1080, we discovered this new trail that will have to be explored at a later date

Then up to north Nan to the village of Huay Sa Ten

 

[KTMphil]

Re: To Nan with Bob & Tim, then poking around the Nan borde

The locals kept pointing west, telling us to head that way, this area hadn't been mapped and was dirt trails which made it quite interesting so off we went

Colin up on the pegs looking good, thanking God he'd bought that KLX

About 3 km up into the mountains, the dirt trail ended and we came to an Army camp, they told us this was still part of Huay Sa Ten

You can see why it was an Army posts from the spectacular views

A mountain view none of us had seen before, I doubt whether many people had been up there

It seemed to be a soldier training/ activity center, they told us they were stationed there for 1 year, this is where they were sleeping

 

[KTMphil]

Re: To Nan with Bob & Tim, then poking around the Nan borde

There was a huge area set up for camping in front of the soldier camp, this would be an excellent place to go camping (Jonny?)

The mud was so dry it had turned to dust sand, you had to be careful not to wash the front wheel out in the corners

We then headed as far north west as we could go in north Nan to a locals border crossing

According to our GPS's, this was still about 2km SE of the actual Laos border. Colin went down to the border post to see if he could sweet talk them into letting us go the remaining 2km to the border

They said no, so off to do some more exploring

 

[KTMphil]

Re: To Nan with Bob & Tim, then poking around the Nan borde

More spectacular views from the trails in north west Nan

Being a border area, for military logistics, some of the hills had concrete tracks so that areas were passable in rainy season

Colin stopping for some water and a wizz

 

[KTMphil]

Re: To Nan with Bob & Tim, then poking around the Nan borde

There was some newly laid tarmac up there which was great fun too

Some more trails way-pointed for a later date

How to keep your Honda Wave cool during harvesting

We could tell how much traffic the trails had got by the growth in the tire lines, here you can see that this trail wasn't used very much & was basically a farm access trail

 

[KTMphil]

Re: To Nan with Bob & Tim, then poking around the Nan borde

Lots of new concrete tracks around, looked like they had just been laid after rainy season

& plenty of dirt trails too

On another unmapped trail we wanted to see how far west we could go in north Nan towards the Laos border

This was as far as we could get on the bikes, approx 2.7km east of the Laos border, then mountains

Colin did some scouting up there, but it didn't look possible

The end of the trail was an orange grove

 

[KTMphil]

Re: To Nan with Bob & Tim, then poking around the Nan borde

Lots of burned out dead trees

Then back down towards R 1080

 

[Loop]

Re: To Nan with Bob & Tim, then poking around the Nan borde

nice reporting phil.
gotta love those clear blue skies and cool nights ATM.
if there is enough of those dirt trails to explore out Nan i`d considering trucking the KDX out there for a few days.

when you talk about the border crossing it`s surely east or NE of Nan? or is me that`s confused?

 

[KTMphil]

Re: To Nan with Bob & Tim, then poking around the Nan borde

A full days exploring - great to get some new trails and waypoints for Auke, then dinner at Tony's Place in Nan.

I go for the fish and chips 140 bht with extra chips & a Cesar salad.

Colin goes for the pork schnitzel with extra chips

Next day we have a plan to do some exploring west of Nan south of R 1091, looking for some new trails not Auke's map. First thing we see on one of the trails is this beautiful area that turns out to be the irrigation works.

 

[KTMphil]

Re: To Nan with Bob & Tim, then poking around the Nan borde

Just managed to squeeze Colin's saddlebags through here

An unexpected river crossing

Colin checks the depths, "looks ok here".

Then some more beautiful trail riding

Some locals dealing with a dead bike

The way these trails had been graded, we were wondering if they were being prepared for being sealed, they seemed too low traffic.

Some great views off of R 1091

 

[KTMphil]

Re: To Nan with Bob & Tim, then poking around the Nan borde

Then up on some trails into the mountains that none of us had been on before

Looks like Max & Alex could have some fun out here

Great to get up there before they start burning the fields and you lose the viz

More orange groves

 

[KTMphil]

Re: To Nan with Bob & Tim, then poking around the Nan borde

Scouting around looking for the best route out of the wilderness

This looked like our best option back down the mountain

Then the fun fast dirt road back towards R 1091


I then went west back to Chiang Mai, Colin did some more exploring around the Nan area, was a fun couple days, we'll be keeping Auke busy with new data for his map for sure.

 

[LED Kev]

Re: To Nan with Bob & Tim, then poking around the Nan borde

great trip guys - the scenary looks amasing

 

[KTMphil]

Re: To Nan with Bob & Tim, then poking around the Nan borde

Day 1's tracks up to the Nan border with Laos

 

[KTMphil]

Re: To Nan with Bob & Tim, then poking around the Nan borde

Day 2's tracks south of R 1091 & some of Colin's tracks after I left

 

[KTMphil]

Re: To Nan with Bob & Tim, then poking around the Nan borde

Some of the waypoints and tracks we got for Auke in north Nan towards the Laos border

 

[KTMphil]

Re: To Nan with Bob & Tim, then poking around the Nan borde

Tracks and waypoints for Auke south of R 1091 - west of Nan, a beautiful area

 

[Captain_Slash]

Re: To Nan with Bob & Tim, then poking around the Nan borde

nice reporting phil.
gotta love those clear blue skies and cool nights ATM.
if there is enough of those dirt trails to explore out Nan i`d considering trucking the KDX out there for a few days.

when you talk about the border crossing it`s surely east or NE of Nan? or is me that`s confused?

Believe me Loop there are absolutely loads of those dirt trails for you to explore

 

[KTMphil]

Re: To Nan with Bob & Tim, then poking around the Nan borde

Westwards towards the Laos border in north Nan

 

[KTMphil]

Re: To Nan with Bob & Tim, then poking around the Nan borde

with no rain in Nan now for about 7 weeks, all the rutted mud has turned to sand