We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army Camp

[KTMphil]

We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan State/ Myanmar Rebel Army Camp

We got in --the Loi Tai Leng, Shan State (myanmar) rebel army camp




Riders:

Alex UK - Kawasaki KLX 300

Alex USA - Honda XR 250

Maxime - Kawasaki KLX 250

Phil - Suzuki DRZ 400



A brief history of the Shan state is in the link below

brief-history-of-shan-state-myanmar-t785.html



Some "highlights"

After some torrential rain -the shit road north to the Shan State (Myanmar) rebel army camp



Alex ahead of me on another nasty soup-like mud hill (the photo's never do the severity justice)



1st "serious" border checkpoint where the boss was called asking for permission for us to pass through



2nd "very serious" border checkpoint with Shan State (Myanmar). All names and bike registrations were noted & luck was with us, without permits they let us through!



Our first peek at the Shan State Rebels Army camp



This is what we saw. You can see the helicopter pad down in front of the villiage

 

[Steve Canyon]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

More..................... :RO

 

[KTMphil]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

At this point is was pretty exciting - we didn't know what to expect.

Would we be turned back? Would this just be an hour visit? Would they be friendly? Would anyone speak english? Would they let us sleep there?

All these thoughts as we turned this mud corner towards a rebel army strong hold

 

[KTMphil]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

Story

Alex, Max & Alex, had left Friday morning and we had a plan to meet Friday evening at the Cave Lodge in Pang Ma Pha (near Sappong approx 40km west of Pai on R 1095). They were planning to head on trails towards Wiang Haeng (NE of Chiang Dao) then west on trails towards the Cave Lodge (Sappong area), I had to leave later so took R1095 road out to Pang Ma Pha to meet them.

Rainy start to the trek west on R 1095 (the road to mae Hong son)

A bit dryer here, some great curves on R 1095

A couple of minutes earlier and this guy would have hit me skidding across the road into the barrier

More rain as i get to Mae Hong Son province

A quick rest in Pai on R 1095 at the memorial bridge

River at Pai was flowing pretty good with the heavy rain

The green vegetation was really bright with the torrential rain

 

[KTMphil]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

Really sore ass on that DRZ now and still 20 km to go

Just after this sign there is a great view of some switchbacks on R 1095 below. Rainy season is without doubt the best time for photo's in this area, the greens are so vibrant & the viz ability is amazing

This is one of my favorite shots of the whole trip, almost telling a story of rainy season, with the clouds building to left and bursting on the right

Switchbacks to the road below at the same curve

Great viz

The weir on the road to the Cave Lodge was pumping

John from the Cave Lodge told me that they can Kayak down the left side of this in calmer days, using the hydraulics to draw them around

 

[KTMphil]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

The Cave Lodge is a great place to stay, very relaxing and quiet, with lots to do (http://www.cavelodge.com)

Main room in the Cave Lodge

Low season Chalets around 400 bht a night

Clean rooms, decent bathroom

There is hot water from a cool wood burning boiler!

There's even a sauna

John - who owns the Cave Lodge is a very interesting guy, incredibly knowledgeable about the area. He knew the roads we were going to take to get into Shan State, Myanmar and HIGHLY advised against it!.

Alex UK called me from the jungle and said he was turning back to Pai and wouldnt make the Cave Lodge & Alex USA and MAX would push on, this was 5pm. A & M never made it, they ended up sleeping in a soldier camp, which apparantly was immense fun & all 3 arrived at the Cave Lodge the next morning

They gave the bikes a wash then Alex USA had probs kick starting the XR 250

A quick bump start and the XR was running and off north west towards the Thai/ Shan State, myanmar border, some more great views on the way NW

An unusual memorial to do with Shan people, need to find out more about what this signifies

A drink stop about 15km from the Myanmar border

There are then lots of sections of dirt road and sealed road for about 10km's

In dry season this would be really fun

The 4 of us used the gps track shown here to find our way through to Burma / Myanmar on dirt trails, off-road for most of the way. Some of the tracks were serious dirt trail rides.


Then back to some more tarmac with views over Myanmar

 

[KTMphil]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

About 6km from the Loi Tai Leng, Shan State, Myanmar rebel army camp, in rainy season, the "road" is a disaster

The local 4 wheel drive's put chains on the rear wheels and get up hills with difficulty

Taking a rest after fight up some deeply rutted mud hills

Some of the nasty ruts that had to be navigated

Once through the border into Shan State, Myanmar (in the 1st photo's), we were met by the government official, who escorted us into the rebel army camp

As you ride into Loi Tai Leng Shan, rebel army base, one of the first breathtaking views is the school, here looking NE

 

[yempaul]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

Phil

Wow ... This is great stuff ... :MJ

 

[AlexUSA]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

It was an epic Friday-Saturday from Wieng Hang too. Me and Max will post the details this week or at least a video. Was really good to have you guys (Phil and AlexUK) join us for Day 2/3 and thanks for writing this up - We were talking about this trip for months and great to finally do it. Here's the shot of all of us with our host in Tai Leng, 2nd Lt. Khun Phillip.

edit - pm for picture. removed for anonymity.

 

[KTMphil]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

Our first look down the main street in the Shan State rebel army camp ---- more to come tomorrow

 

[Captain_Slash]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

Congratulations to you all on doing it, some fantastic photos there

 

[KTMphil]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

With our guide we were then led into the village street of the Shan State rebel army base. He first took us all the way through the main street.



We went all through the town, then up a mud hill to 2 beautiful memorial statues

Will try and discover who these people were, presumably Shan rebel fighters

We were then led back to the school to try and find the VIP liaison officer called "Philip"

Here back at the school we bumped into and American guy that was teaching English at the school. He told us that he was only allowed to venture about 1km north of the school into Myanmar & then there were no roads

Alex kindly had brought a bunch of school supplies with him, I had some colored pens too which we donated to the school

 

[KTMphil]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

We found "Philip the VIP laison officer" at the school, he then told us to follow him back to his house

He spoke excellent English and was fascinating to talk to & welcomed us to stay the night in his house, here Alex talking with kun Philip

We were assigned 2 rooms in is house to sleep (2 of us in each room)

He kindly offered us dinner, here some of his soldiers cooking for us



The rice had a different consistency to it than Thai rice, the rice seeds were shorter and fatter and more tacky, but not sticky rice-like. The food was delicious.

After dinner Kun Philip talked with us about Shan State and the history of "Tai Yai" (the Shan people) & why they were at war with the Myanmar Government



Then movie time watching to propaganda about the Shan State rebel army



Here the DVD was showing the Shan State rebel army burning an opium processing plant in Myanmar

Conflict with the Myanmar Army during the raid

We were told that this was after some Shan State leaders being forced to signed a declaration under duress, they had been told that they could not return in their vehicles, so burned them to prevent use by Myanmar soldiers

Beautiful Shan children

Febraury 7th, 2012, will be parade day at the Loi Tai Leng, Shan State (Myanmar), rebel army base, we have been invited to come and can bring some other guests, Kun Philip will arrange the permits

Kun Philip had pigs behind his house, I couldn't help noticing the size of its nuts, quite impressive

 

[KTMphil]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

Some breakfast the next morning - & then off to get some benzine/petrol in the army base. Getting fuel there was not an issue. It has rained all night and we were now in low cloud as well.

Donkeys were still widely used in the area, you can see how bad the viz is

Back to the border checkpoint, here the road not too bad

There is a 6km section of road from the border, south into Thailand which is incredibly muddy, the bikes got lots of mud stuck on them

Luckily after one big nasty section there is a hose fed from a natural spring where you can clean them off

Looks like the head of water was about 3 meters above ground level, from the header pipe

One of the checkpoints back in Thailand, this one wasn't manned as we passed

Some breathtaking views on the way back south into Thailand

WE CAN ARRANGE PERMITS for people to into Loi Tai Leng Shan State rebel army base now, which will make the border crossing check points much easier, if you're interested PM me.

 

[KTMphil]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

On Saturday we could have wished for better weather in the heart of rainy season, you could see forever

 

[KTMphil]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

Maps

Route from Chiang Mai to the Cave Lodge is pretty easy. R 107 north, left onto r 1095 (road to Pai & Mae Hong Son), then a right turn into Pang Ma Pha at Sappong - Cave Lodge is well sign posted.


Map Copyright: © http://www.RideAsia.net

We went back down to R1095 to the PT gas station to fill up & this is the route we took to the border. There are several areas of 1km sections of unmade dirt road mixed with sealed road, then 6km of nasty dirt road at the end.


Map Copyright: © http://www.RideAsia.net

These are my GPS tracks of in the Shan State rebel army base of Loi Tai Leng. Theere is only a road of about 1km, then just walking trails


Map Copyright: © http://www.RideAsia.net

 

[Marco]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

Really Nice one and excellent pictures,,I might dump my K1200LT to garbage bin and get in to dirt bikes as i love dirt,,,much nicer than riding in Boring tarmac roads all the time...

 

[barrygrussell]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

Fantastic trip and pics, guys

 

[Steve Canyon]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

Well done gents......looking forward to seeing more pictures and tales..



Bravo...

 

[gakinsa]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

hi Phil as always looks like you are having the time of your life
great report gives me the urge to come over again and sample some of your great hospitality

keep well

george

 

[MastaMax]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

Thanks for the great pictures Phil.
Currently doing video of the trip from another point of view:

Friday afternoon:
Alex Uk - Alex "ThePoMoBro" - me "MastaMax"

Friday night-Saturday morning:
Alex "ThePoMoBro" - me "MastaMax"

Saturday afternoon - Sunday:
Phil "KTMPhil" - Alex Uk - Alex "ThePoMoBro" - me "MastaMax"

My footage from in the camp is messed up (condensation around the lens), will have to ask Alex Uk's videos.

This is the first part of the video, currently processing the Friday night/Saturday morning ride. Will edit this post once I have finished the whole video:
edit: 2nd version

[VIDEO]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p761rgtbzw[/VIDEO]

 

[KTMphil]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

Great video max! - How did you get the moving track on Auke's map?

 

[MastaMax]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

Working my magic
Just getting into after effects since about 2 months now, unlimited possibilities with those video editing tools, and very easy to understand. I hope you are ok with using this map? If not I can replace it with something else.

 

[KTMphil]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

Working my magic
Just getting into after effects since about 2 months now, unlimited possibilities with those video editing tools, and very easy to understand. I hope you are ok with using this map? If not I can replace it with something else.

I'm sure Auke's fine with the map being used- all the profits from the printed version will be going to charity, so hopefully it will help everyone.

 

[KTMphil]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

Alex, Max, Alex & a Shan young boy, outside a traditional grass house in Loi Tai Leng Shan State, Myanmar rebel army base



The mud road into the rebel army base. When we left on Sunday, this was soup mud



Beautiful Route 1226 north to Shan state, Myanmar

 

[KTMphil]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

Talking with our Shan state rebel army host, he told us that the front line was approx 350-400km from the Loi Tai Leng army base. The road from this army base only extends about 2km, then it turns into steep thin walking trails.

It takes a soldier approx. 30 days to walk the 400km to the front line from the army base we were in. He is shown a map of villages along the way he must memorize, where he can rest and get food and water. He can't show evidence of being a Shan army rebel, if caught the Myanmar soldiers would execute him immediately.

Our Shan host told us he had spent 4 years on the front line and was now 2nd Lt. rank. He said the worst time was rainy season as they are normally in mobile units only staying in one spot at a day at a time, he said that sometimes you are not able to take your boots off for a month, giving nasty problems to the feet.

 

[AlexUSA]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

Max - That video is sick. Can't wait to see Friday Night/Sat AM footage - was the highlight of the whole trip for me.

Also - Big credit due to Maxime for being the taxi driver for our Shan "guides" Saturday afternoon. I would have been scared shitless riding through that terrain two-up.

Here's a picture of our friends where we slept on Friday night in a Laho village-army camp near the border



Me and Maxime covered a ton of really hard kilometers like in this picture Friday night/Saturday morning.

 

[KTMphil]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

Alex- That looks worse than Sunday's riding

 

[Steve Canyon]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

Great video, love the graphics...

Well done that man... :RO

 

[KTMphil]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

A few maps from John at the Cave Lodge, of the Pang Ma Pha, Sappong area. As you can see there's tons to do in the area.

A full size version of the one below can be found here

http://cavelodge.com/crazymap.htm

 

[KTMphil]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

The Cave Lodge near Soppong makes a great staging post to make the journey into Shan state Myanmar, John, the owner is aware of everything that's going on in the area which maybe useful in this sensitive region. A map of how to get to the Cave Lodge (west of Pai) is below:

 

[MastaMax]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

Almost done with the video, just need to add pictures here and there, synchronize the sound, finalize and it's done (waiting for the hi-res pictures from Alex Usa).

Thanks a lot to Alex Uk, my camera had condensation and the footage from the few km to Burma was unusable so I could use his GoPro footage (last 4min of the video).

Edit: uploading last version now

 

[KTMphil]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

One more photo from the amazing views on R 1226, north west of Soppong, towards the border with Shan state, Myanmar. It was a very clear day.

 

[AlexUSA]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

YouTube pulled the video already.

 

[alexuk]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

how come? is it the name?

 

[MastaMax]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

At last I'm done with the video!

Thanks to Phil, Alex and Alex for the pictures and Alex (Uk) for the last 4minutes of video footage.
[VIDEO]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kvb7a0WNVK4[/VIDEO]

 

[KTMphil]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

Fantastic video max - you have some great editing skills & a great choice of music too , thankyou!

 

[Steve Canyon]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

Brilliant.....

:RO

 

[KTMphil]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

Some more photo's from the night in the Shan state, Myanmar rebel army base

Poster in the camp (DVD?)



Thai soldier at the 2nd to last checkpoint



Military look-out post in Shan state



Shop in the army base with rolling hills behind



Looking north in Shan state, Myanmar, the road ends at the hill (1km north of the Thai border) in the distance, north from there is only walking trails



Bright greens from the rain



Relaxing at the Cave Lodge



Max & Phil



Mirrors, roads & mountains



Focus

 

[alexuk]

Re: We Got In !!! - A Night The Shan St/ Myanmar Rebel Army

Heres a closer look at the inscriptions at the monument