Mae Hon Son and Golden Triangle Loop

This was my first Long Distance Adventure trip on motorcycle up North of Thailand , Mae Hon Son ( 1864 corner) and Golden Triangle(Laos,Thailand,Myanmar) and myself on Honda Varadero XLV1000ABS with Four KTM ADV 990 and one KTM SM950. As a new rider, I have lots to catch up.


                                
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Day 1 30 October 2009  
Sungai Petani(Plus)-Sadao(route4/41)-Surat Thani(route4)-Prachuap Khirikhan(route4) - Phetchaburi 965km
0530hr - I was very wound up packing everything up and left Sungai Petani to Thailand Border (Dannok) for border crossing. It was brisk and easy.

Lone Honda at immigration checkpoint

We had our breakfast at Dannok. Everyone was very excited as we travelled using Phet Kasem/Route 4. The road was great and not many traffic, so sometimes we could see 200km/h on our speedometer.

 Refueling and rest every180-200km, as we have limited fuel range of KTM SMT 950 compared to Honda which can cover 350-400km with a full tank. Stopped at Prachuap Khirikan for having our late lunch at one of Muslim food along route 41.

An orange county

All muscle aching and screaming for a hot bath after 10hr on the bike. Around 18:00hr, we called for a stop at Phetchaburi town after covering around 965km.

Day2  31 October 2009
Phethaburi (route4/312)-U Thong(route 321)-Chai Nat(route 1)-Tak(route 105)-Mae Sot  605km

The Royal Diamond Hotel Pethaburi

Bring what you need to survive as I have a lot to catch up with these guy while riding yesterday and the situation will be the same today.We left early to Mae Sot because we have another 600km with some twisting road section from Tak to Mae Sot. Sometimes left alone at the rear of the group without any navigation system and this really tested my basic maps reading. About 80-100km Route 105 before we reach Mae Sot, the road was very slippery, narrow and hilly, with my basic motorcycle handling and sometimes overshoot into the corner and luckily there was no incoming traffic and slowly gaining confidence.

Mae Sot Bazaar

With KTM ADV 990 Dakar Edition

Thailand right of that bar and on the left are Nomansland.
They are free to trade in this zone as long not crossing to the other side 
Burmese people selling cheap cigarette, liquor, fake Viagra and fake branded sunglasses 

Thailand immigration check point

16:00hr - We reached Mae Sot, the Western Most of Thailand border with Myanmar. There we had our late lunch.
Almost all Burmese men wore sarong (long skirt), chew betel nut and they spat it all over.

All that glitters

Known as cheap Myanmar Gemstone, clothes and ethnic souvenir.









Day 3 1st November 2009
 Mae Sot(route 105)-Mae Sariang(route 108) - Mae Hon Son 398km

The sore butt from continuous day riding and the confident still not recovered yet.I bundled up and refueling early as Mae Sot still in mist blanket. It was a chill morning here as we ride along the Route 105/108.

Mae Sot-Mae Sariang

These what you will see in next few days

 The twisting, winding and dangerous road started and we will face it for the next few days. Hands felt numb in a cold morning as we kept the rides and. It was very rewarding with untouched and beautiful scenery.

Route 105

As I said it turned into the adventure, I had built myself up for, but only because of  road condition and not the weather .

 Halfway rides and the road condition deteriorate with blind corner, small road and potholes the two KTM ADV badly miscalculate around the corner and were hurled into the slope. Luckily, both of the riders and bikes escape major injuries and damage.

                                    Somewhere in between Mea Ramat and Sop Moei  Route 105

Small waterfall besides the road

Petrol station in the middle of nowhere

Accelerating through turns and slowing on the straightaway allowing me to enjoy the scenery and people.

Oblong tea

We reached Mae Hon Son after negotiating half of the 1864 curve . Awesome and beautiful road route 108.

Cafe' in Mae Hong Son

Day4 2nd November 2009
Tour around Mae Hong Son

Smile at last all. We had a chance to rest one day after 3 days on the bike.

 Karen Village boat landing

A little adventure awaited us in the morning.We booked a tour to see hill tribes village Karen (long neck) brass wire wrapped around their neck since young. We also enjoyed elephant riding

Layla... Eric Clapton

They drove us out and took us to the elephants.  They weren’t huge, but the one male was a still a good size.  There were wooden benches placed on their back while the driver sat on the back of the elephant’s head.  They put a rope across the front of us as a seatbelt which I thought was quite amusing.  

About three minutes later, as soon as we started going downhill, I realized we would fall out right away without it since you just had to push against it to hold yourself up.  The big male in front used the tour as  you can eat buffet grabbing anything green along the way and digging in

We went on a nice walk through some forest area over a dry riverbed and down to the river where we learned a little wander through the water all the way up to where our feet were hanging in it.  The elephants were very well behaved and never tried to blow the water back on themselves like I kept expecting them to.

Day5 3rd November 2009
Mae Hon Son (route 1095)-Pai(route 1095)-Mae Taeng(route 107)-Fang(route 1089/1)- Mae Sai 440km
Mae Hon Son is quite,beautiful and very clean little town with friendly people. Those who love shopping, there was a night bazaar around the lake. They sold T-shirts and exotic souvenirs from hill tribes.

After a day rest all start up fresh. Early in the forenoon, we rolled out after having simple breakfast. It's nice riding using Route 1095 in the cool air, and the smell of lush jungle was a bonus and Half of 1864 curve left to tame.

 Tampla Fish Park

 Blue Tor Tambroides or Thai Mahseer

Clouds still around and very low covering the peaks of the mountains on both sides of me.  I passed a few small villages and took some pictures of them with the clouds and mountains in the background

Rest Area along Route 1095

One of the most beautiful roads I have ever been on. The road from  Mae Hong Son to Pai was truly breathtaking
Pai in Love (from the movie title) it was a beautiful gypsy town on the plateau we had our lunch there and continued our ride to Ma Taeng to regroup with lone KTM from Chiang Mai which he didn't stop in Mae Hong Son.

Day6 4th November 2009
Mae Sai (route 1290) - Golden Triangle (route1016) -Mae Chan (route 1) -Chiang Mai 300km
Northern Thailand is now entering cold season and temperature drop to 8 degree C in Mae Sai.Myanmar border town Thachilek as we needed to pay 500bht for a temporary Myanmar passport to get in it.

Thachilek, Myanmar a dusty border town

The gemstone is everywhere and cheap bargain . All end up buying the unnecessary thing as all of them were beautiful.

Long Neck Village in Thachilek, MYANMAR

Myanmar-Thailand friendship bridge

Mid afternoon we got on the bike again headed to the Golden Triangle, being named for poppy plantation for Heroin and Opium.Here is where the border tripoint of Laos, Myanmar and Thailand, also, is where the Great Mekong river and Ruak river meets.

                       Good wind gusts, but reasonable temperatures thanks to the sunny day

Once we reached there, we took few photos of the Golden triangle monument and bought some souvenirs.

Late evening we left golden triangle to Chiang Mai using route 118, negotiating unfamiliar and slippery road at night was a nightmare. We stayed in a hotel close to the Chiang Mai Night Bazaar.

Day7 5 November 2009
 Chiang Mai (route 11) -Lamphang (route 1) -Ayutthaya-Bangkok (route4) - Ratchaburi 800km
Early morning, left Chiang Mai after having good Kao Soi (Yunnan style noodle) for breakfast and didn't have much time to explore it.We continued our ride down route 1 to Ayutthaya and had our lunch there. Somehow I miss a bypass route to avoid entering the Bangkok city... Then the nightmare started. Stuck in an endless traffic jam in Bangkok on a motorbike with side pannier. The condition worse as the bike started overheating and rider on full all weather touring jacket in hot climate country in the afternoon. We had to stop 3-4 times to find the way out and cool thing down.

Lost in Bangkok

Stall along route 1

                                 Safely out and free from Bangkok traffic and reach Rathaburi for a night

Day 8  6 November 2009
Ratchaburi(route 4/41) -Surat Thani (route 44) -Krabi 700km
I woke up early planning on spending an entire day on the road and homesick.

A friendly Muslim restaurant at Rathaburi serving pancake or prata and briyani rice

Fruits stall along the route 41

Day9  7 November 2009
Krabi(route4)-Trang(route4)-Sadao(plus)- Sungai Petani 434km
It was a cloudy morning, which was nice keeping the temperature down, but I really didn’t want it to start raining and had another 400km more to ride . There were another group of bikers from Malaysia will be joining us in Krabi. We left Krabi at12: 00 pm and headed home

A couple of times I was on the verge of saying, “Thank you and good night” when yet another coffee  appeared

see you all next ride