Unknown beauty SW of Mae Sariang

[KTMphil]

Unknown beauty SW of Mae Sariang


I had been talking with Auke over a few beers about where might be an untouched area with trails, villages and borders. He said "I know just the area, go SW of Mae Sariang".

The next couple days we sat down together and with various data, identified what would be the best location.



Below gives you an idea of the breath taking beauty that was to be had.

A quick afternoon drive down to Mae Sariang, stayed at the Kamolsorn Hotel, next to the main Police station in Mae Sariang.

450 bht for aircon, free wifi & hot shower, decent value for the center of town

A stroll around the colorful evening food market

Being on the Salween river, fish is in abundance in Mae Sariang

 

[KTMphil]

Sun goes down in Mae Sariang & off for some food.

If you want ok food with views go to the Riverside restaurant, if you want fantastic food go to Intira

The owner even has a CB 1300 in excellent condition.

Intira restaurant

Great food

 

[KTMphil]

The next morning -up at 0600am, freezing cold and off mapping SW of Mae Sariang

Not a good start the bridge to cross the Mae Yuam river has been washed away in the record rainy season floods, just this red can as a warning too.

Found another bridge further north, then continued south to the unexplored Karen village area. We didnt really know what to expect in this area, from google earth it looked like mostly dirt tracks carving through mountains. An unexpected early morning mist cloud rising, hopefully will look better higher up.

& it did, higher up looked fantastic

This Thai gentleman worked with a local NGO. spoke excellent English and gave me some pointers as to where fuel would be available

Views many have never seen before in this unexplored region

 

[KTMphil]

Around the next bend some more mist clouds, the rewards of early morning

Then off into the unknown, lots of Karen villages

 

[KTMphil]

The main road through was concrete most of the way , all of the off-shoots were dry mud, it looked like a nightmare in rainy season

Tradition style building at the end of one of the trails

Collecting the firewood in the hot sun

The first remote Karen village, look at how bad the road is from the soft mud and traffic

There was benzine available here, 50 bht a liter

 

[KTMphil]

This river was too deep to cross, so had to use the bridge, 3 hansom Karen boys posing for me

Wasn't a problem

Next village with a Thai military checkpoint

Would be interesting to know the story behind this

The remote Karen villages were stunning with their leaved roofs.

Any power they had seemed to be solar generated

 

[KTMphil]

A bridge all ready for rainy season

At the very southern end of my tracks the Nam Mae Yuam. A single track followed the river, something to explore at a later date

A well ventilated school in the Karen village near the Nam Mae Yuam river

New construction

Another great bridge

Looks like it lead to some kind of home-stay or guest house

 

[KTMphil]

Off to look for some more villages

Great river views from the mountain side tracks

Another Karen village

Again solar being the preferred choice

Felt sorry for this monkey on a short chain

It didn't seem like they saw many visitors in these remote parts

The fantastic views continued

 

[KTMphil]

This was the end of the road here, the digger was actually creating the road right then

Off exploring, now the road was a slate rock covering, maybe had been blast by explosives

I bet looks a little different in rainy season

The beautiful Salween river, here almost looks like the Mekong

 

[KTMphil]

Out of the dirt onto R 1194

On the way back took another look at the collapsed bridge in better light

END OF DAY 1 - A GREAT UNSPOILED AREA :RO




DAY 2 REPORT IN THE LINK BELOW:



day-2-mapping-south-east-of-mae-sariang-t1391.html

 

[KMA]

Your killin me. Awesome RR Phil

 

[KTMphil]

Managed to get a bunch of fuel shops waypointed as this is quite a large area, I'll see if I can get Auke to add them to the north Thailand dirt track & tarmac GPS map.

 

[rixxy]

great work dude, looks like a great day.

 

[Lone Rider]

Managed to get a bunch of fuel shops waypointed as this is quite a large area, I'll see if I can get Auke to add them to the north Thailand dirt track & tarmac GPS map.

Yes, will put them in once I am back from my work related visit to Vientiane. Great work and very nice additions to the map. Now, who is in for another trip quite a few have attempted but none seem to have made it through - the trip from Omkoi to the 105. There are quite a few pointers (taken from a military map) on the North Thailand Offroad GPS map on which roads to take. Please note that this is a very remote area with high ridges (about 1400 meter) and should only be attempted in the dry season according to the army guys I talked to when I was for work in that area.

 

[KTMphil]

You mentioned this one to me - I'm sure Max & Alex won't be able to resist the challenge - I'm up for it, I'm sure Luke will be too.

Managed to get a bunch of fuel shops waypointed as this is quite a large area, I'll see if I can get Auke to add them to the north Thailand dirt track & tarmac GPS map.

Yes, will put them in once I am back from my work related visit to Vientiane. Great work and very nice additions to the map. Now, who is in for another trip quite a few have attempted but none seem to have made it through - the trip from Omkoi to the 105. There are quite a few pointers (taken from a military map) on the North Thailand Offroad GPS map on which roads to take. Please note that this is a very remote area with high ridges (about 1400 meter) and should only be attempted in the dry season according to the army guys I talked to when I was for work in that area.

 

[Ally]

Now your cooking!

Not sure why but i am having a word dump of those i haven't used for a while as people i know wouldn't understand them !

Phil those village and scenery pics are fabulous, well done.

:RO

Ally

 

[Stokes70]

Great stuff Phil, Im sure theres huge amounts left to explore out there still, cant wait to get involved in the next trip, shouldnt be long now...

 

[yempaul]

Nice one Phil ... 8-)

 

[Loop]

Great stuff Phil love the look of those roads,just the sort of ride i`m looking for.

 

[mikehohman]

Wonderful pix Phil, that is some great county you explored out there. Especially like the 1st shot of the Salween, seems even prettier than the Mekong to me...

Cheers, Mike

 

[Captain_Slash]

Yes absolutely brilliant stuff there Phil

 

[bigntall]

good stuff Phil.