NOTE: This thread is not posted in chronological order, just random jottings of the interesting days of our trip.
We were 11 days into our Laos / Thailand Ride. A group of Malaysians with an American from Torrance in tow, we started from Vientiane, did a small loop of Laos before entering Thailand at Chaloem Prakiat.
We trucked our bikes from Hatyai to Nong Khai, and the plan was to end our ride at Chiangmai, where another lorry will carry our bikes home to the Malaysian border.
The full story will be posted in time.
When I planned the ride, I wanted to look for 'new' routes to popular destinations that were the norm when Malaysian bikers ride North Thailand during the usual winter exodus. Our route choices were however limited by our choice of bikes, big DPs, and the load we carry, all the panniers and the wife as well. Hence Enduro bike routes were a 'no-no'.
For the Doi AngKhang-Pai leg I wanted to avoid the usual descent to ChangDao - Chiangmai then up R1095 and found a possible route that led to Pai. The Route will take us on the 1340 thru Arunothai, joining the 1155 Northwards towards Ban Pliang Luang, a border town near Myanmar, the another 5km of tarmac before the road turns into what looked like a trail to Pai.
We decided on that one.
When we turned into the little concrete slabbed trail wide enough for just 1 1/2 cars, the GPS showed 68km to Pai.
As we rode further, concrete turned to unpaved surface and the fun starts there.
As it turned out, we made it to Pai after about 3 hours of riding, and only one GSA LC had a tipover, the others were incident free. The "road" was like the R1095, but much much narrower, steeper, with loose stones and gravel, and ruts criss crossing our path. We met one pick-up, 2 small motorcycles, and passed through a Military Checkpoint who looked pretty shocked when we arrived there.
But FUN it was.
Pictures to follow, but heres a simple Video I made of the trip.
We were 11 days into our Laos / Thailand Ride. A group of Malaysians with an American from Torrance in tow, we started from Vientiane, did a small loop of Laos before entering Thailand at Chaloem Prakiat.
We trucked our bikes from Hatyai to Nong Khai, and the plan was to end our ride at Chiangmai, where another lorry will carry our bikes home to the Malaysian border.
The full story will be posted in time.
When I planned the ride, I wanted to look for 'new' routes to popular destinations that were the norm when Malaysian bikers ride North Thailand during the usual winter exodus. Our route choices were however limited by our choice of bikes, big DPs, and the load we carry, all the panniers and the wife as well. Hence Enduro bike routes were a 'no-no'.
For the Doi AngKhang-Pai leg I wanted to avoid the usual descent to ChangDao - Chiangmai then up R1095 and found a possible route that led to Pai. The Route will take us on the 1340 thru Arunothai, joining the 1155 Northwards towards Ban Pliang Luang, a border town near Myanmar, the another 5km of tarmac before the road turns into what looked like a trail to Pai.
We decided on that one.
When we turned into the little concrete slabbed trail wide enough for just 1 1/2 cars, the GPS showed 68km to Pai.
As we rode further, concrete turned to unpaved surface and the fun starts there.
As it turned out, we made it to Pai after about 3 hours of riding, and only one GSA LC had a tipover, the others were incident free. The "road" was like the R1095, but much much narrower, steeper, with loose stones and gravel, and ruts criss crossing our path. We met one pick-up, 2 small motorcycles, and passed through a Military Checkpoint who looked pretty shocked when we arrived there.
But FUN it was.
Pictures to follow, but heres a simple Video I made of the trip.
I live in pai
