Omkoi - R 105 link-up, finally completed

[KTMphil]

Curious tribal dwellers

 

[KTMphil]

More bridges

& whoa views!

 

[KTMphil]

Nasty, clay, single track, with some landslides thrown in

 

[The Bigfella]

Lovin' it. Keep it coming. Glad to see Justin made friends with the ladies.... but I see they kept their machetes handy

 

[KTMphil]

What do we have here, deep in the middle?

Ban Mae Luang Tai


Apparently the signs says they have internet! - No power anywhere? Sign also says that it's a place where they'll teach you how to work the farm

 

[KTMphil]

Lovin' it. Keep it coming. Glad to see Justin made friends with the ladies.... but I see they kept their machetes handy

Ian - I think this one is a must for you. The Karen locals were telling us they'd never seen farrangs on motorcycles come through here before, we could understand why, it was a nasty trail.

 

[The Bigfella]

Reminds me a bit of when I blindly followed my GPS in Laos at one stage.... "must be right... Mr Garmin would never be wrong".... I ended up right in the poo. All came down to me having it set on "shortest distance". Oops

 

[KTMphil]

One of the most fascinating villages I've seen in Thailand, totally remote



All very shy and curious

 

[The Bigfella]

Looks like that village could use a TV set or two

 

[KTMphil]

Yai pounding the rice with "Krok"

 

[KTMphil]

Really unusual houses with a unique roofing system/ material not seen in other regions














Very curious, but a little timid

 

[KTMphil]

The below map gives an idea of what we're mapping. West of B. Mae Long Noi, the first few km's is ok, then it gets steep and very nasty, so much so that one of our riders said "are you sure you want to put this on the map?"

To the western end of the map is the village being discussed currently








All looking good so far, the "planned" track is spot on

 

[KTMphil]

The dogs seemed well cared for, always an excellent litmus test for the social situation in a remote village







We all looked at each other as it started to bucket it down, thinking bad things and automatically, discreetly looking around for places that might be suitable for hanging a hammock

 

[KTMphil]

Looks like it's just about stopped, those already greasy trails will be awesome now?







This is how slippy it now is - this wasn't planned

 

[KTMphil]

The steamy aftermath

 

[KTMphil]

 

[KTMphil]

Slow going but manageable so far, into the next village to try find out where the hell we are and where we can get through to R 105

 

[2wheels]

Well done guys; an excellent adventure.

 

[KTMphil]

Slippy slippy into the next village







Dave managed to find someone that spoke some Thai








Good job he did, we were on the wrong road and nearly lost Justin

 

[Lao2stroker]

It's an amazing report....I cnt believe the places you made it.

 

[KTMphil]

Looks like they'll never be short of pork






So back track a little, with the help of some young, local guides, we find our way back onto the main trail






It became obvious why there was a concentration of villages in the area, great plateau's for farming rice







Soup-like clay

 

[KTMphil]

Pace was pretty slow here, slippy, boggy, greasy etc.... the Karen guides were able to keep up & wanted to see how we did crossing the river







No problems

 

[2wheels]

That CRF seems to be handling the going OK Phil.

 

[KTMphil]

Yet more rice crops as far as the eye could see








Waited and waited here for Dave to come along, no sign of him, something must be up, Justin heads back to see whats going on

 

[KTMphil]

That CRF seems to be handling the going OK Phil.

The low power of the CRF was a huge advantage up hill in the greasy stuff as it was much easier to manage the little power that could be used before the wheels would lose traction

 

[KTMphil]

20 minutes later Justin comes back "Dave's stuck in a mud hole, the two of us can't get it out, need you to come help"








No kidding












It took 3 of us, after about 10 minutes we got it out

 

[merantau]

Wonderful photos, great to share this experience although from afar. Everything looks so green. Have not seen rain in Lombok for over three months now. You are serious off-roaders for sure - out to the edge, beyond the black stump, out back of beyond in the middle of nowhere. Keep having a great ride and remember: "It's not about the destination - it's about the trip."

 

[mikehohman]

Looks like a great trip, and great riding! The pix are fabulous, such lovely colors...

 

[KTMphil]

Looks like a great trip, and great riding! The pix are fabulous, such lovely colors...

A good one for you to do Mike for sure!

 

[KTMphil]

Then down some more super slippy stuff














We find the left turn which will keep us on our track & go a few km's until the locals tell us it's impassable because of a river







Now we're wondering if we're in the shit. We're 6 - 7 hours away from Omkoi & we dont know if we can get out towards the west, lots of discussion with a Karen local

 

[KTMphil]

Music to our ears when he tells us there's a way through to Sop Moei,a 100 Bht and he guides us to where the trail starts. A little confusion in the group, but eventually we all end up on the track NW towards Sop Moei.








So it does go through!! It was a great feeling doing it, as far as we know its not been done by farrangs before, it now opens the gateway to a huge amount of exploring inside that Omkoi trail region, with options of getting in and out

 

[KTMphil]

Ending up around 7km from R 1267 (where we turned around), i'm pretty sure the trail goes through to R 1267 , im wondering if we asked the wrong question (Sop Moei) and they thought we wanted to head north, the other side of the river

 

[KTMphil]

You can see how close R 1267 is here from our track where we turned around, we'll have to go back and try link it up from the R 1267 western side, if anyone is down there try do it also.

 

[KTMphil]

This might be the impassable river crossing they were talking about, across the Mae Ngao River

 

[bigntall]

Overall this was once of the most fun rides I've done in awhile. It had both great scenery as well as enough singletrack to keep you busy and enthused. Not for a novice but any offroad enthusiast will love it.

Phil enjoying the stream crossings.



The trail had a lot of bamboo gates that needed to be opened and then closed once through. We all took turns doing the opening and closing; the boys waiting on me to get it open.




Was feeling a bit peckish and was wondering if there was any Lobster Thermidor in her bamboo basket. She apologized and said it was to be coming in on the next basket lady into the village along with the fresh scallops.

 

[bigntall]

"Cocky Ex Bond Trader" vs the 300 in the wet is surely a mis-match....

Take it easy B n T, I'll be back next week, I'll pray for your safe return as traction looks to be at a premium...........

After riding the sand of Lamphun the slick clay was a grisly reminder of what bad shit really is.

One section David was leading with Phil behind him and I behind Phil. David waves us by and Phil grabs a handful of 300 two stroke throttle. It gave me the biggest giggle as that bike did a quick as lightening 180 degree spin on the slick clay. KTM 300 two stroke scores another and makes it 2-0.



You can make out the knobby skid marks in the clay. It was like a comedy watching the three of us slipping and sliding about in the slime. You can see in one of Phils pics I went arse over teakettle just walking in the small village. Diabolical.

 

[Captain_Slash]

Just fantastic, well done the three of you on a great exploring trip

 

[Loop]

Phil, David and i chatted about doing this trip and my priority was to keep the slick red clay to a minimum as I'm still waiting for the bones to knit together properly and was hesitant to risk falling needlessly on that God awful stuff the Thai's refer to as wet pig skin.

Nice to see you back in the saddle and making it further than the car park this time :LOL

Nice adventure guys!

 

[KTMphil]

I would agree with Justin, this is one of the best trails i've done in a long time with everything you could possibly want. I wouldn't take any new riders through there as you could easily end up having to spend the night in there if the pace is a little too slow, we left Omkoi at 0845am and arrived in Mae Sariang at 7.30pm.


Lots more to do in there now, we have it all waypointed.

 

[The Bigfella]

Well done guys. Reminds me a bit of the slippery stuff on the Elephant Trail, further north. The green moss on that orange clay claimed us a total of three times...

Justin... which bike did you take?