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    Northern Thailand and Laos on a CRF250L

    in Thailand Trip Reports

    Posted · Edited by Caps

    Just a few extra photos

    15678601463_1f40129709_b.jpgIMG_1895 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    16253143126_5e0edf5416_b.jpgIMG_1815 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    16279180165_642d77c137_b.jpgIMG_1756 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    16279062045_a09d19c9fe_b.jpgIMG_1819 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    16262754385_4bb6be7602_b.jpgIMG_1649 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    16064371468_11e9a09a78_b.jpgIMG_1609 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    16234840572_074f649600_b.jpgIMG_1557 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    16093414655_83f9741606_b.jpgIMG_0946 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    15471087274_a2408701f2_b.jpgIMG_0930 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    16092687982_03fe8b0cf5_b.jpgIMG_0890 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    16047051712_842f57e9c8_b.jpgIMG_0524 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    16041680935_22f5b3e8ea_b.jpgIMG_0474 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    16026013092_870c253ea4_b.jpgIMG_0397 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    15830674678_4188088115_b.jpgIMG_0366 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    Thanks for looking at the report

    Caps

    Northern Thailand and Laos on a CRF250L

    in Thailand Trip Reports

    Posted

    Conclusion

    Well what can I say….Its been an amazing trip and I have been in touch with and met some really wonderful people. Fellow travellers and locals alike. I have been made warmly welcomed in both the countries I have visited.

    Firstly I would like to thank Phil at Riders Corner and C&P bike rental, both in Chiang Mai for the bike hire to allow me to do it in the first place, secondly thanks to family and friends for checking up on me, its been a fantastic trip

    15678682353_8b753e0d8a_b.jpgThe Full Route, all 5054Km:3158mile by Wayne 66, on Flickr
    The full route

    Back to the conclusion…….I travelled a total of 5054 Km as the speedo had 500km on it when I got the bike so in real terms 3158 miles in 36 days and by no means was that rushed.

    16297597122_f2dd6d03da_b.jpgIMG_1953 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    The roads were sometimes good, sometimes bad and sometimes I wondered why they called it a road when its a single track and your fighting your way through trees and undergrowth. But whatever state the road/track was in the scenery was superb all the time, around every corner there was a different view, including a closeup of the tarmac.
    The people who I met everyday on my travels, locals and other people from all corners of the globe were outstanding. Warm, welcoming people everywhere. Only really had one run in at the Chinese market in Oudomxai, where there were 3 Chinese taking the p*ss because I was trying to explain that I only wanted a small bag of Nescafe 3in1 but they were soon put in the Rembrandt.

    The Bike.
    A CRF250L, never let me down once even after been slid down the road on top of me and dropped in the mud on the hardest day I had between Muang Sing and Houayxai, although it did break. A great little thing and all I did was oil the chain every other day and do basis checks. The oil level stayed spot on as did the rest of the machine. It pulled me over some very rough enduro type terrain and breezed me down some very good roads. If I had to pick a fault it would be that it could do with a little more torque as it did struggle sometimes when going up steep or long uphill tracks and roads. But maybe thats because I used to own the CRF250X which was a outright enduro beast. Oh and I would fit a bigger tank if I owned my own haha. When I handed the bike in I was billed 400 Bht for a lever and the gear selector, it was to be expected as I had damaged bits but it was great not to get ripped off in the process I would really recommend using C&P either direct or through Phil, I have details if anyone wants them. C&P provided all the paperwork to cross border, which went smoothly.

    The Gear.
    As I said at the beginning of the RR I was going to use my own gear. The reason….I knew it all fit, was serviceable and was comfy, enough said…..Fox offroad helmet and goggles. Had the GoPro mount on the helmet. Light weight offroad shirts, glad I had two as one was shredded when I slid down the road. On that note I had full offroad body armour, arms, chest, shoulder and back. It came in handy twice and has the scars to prove it. One pair of offroad trousers which got binned as they too bore scars of tarmac rash. Knee protectors, they came in handy more than once, O'neil motocross boots and a pair of short leather enduro type gloves. Yes it was a bit nippy on a morning the further north I went, but it was great when the sun came out.

    Mapping, Gps, Getting about.
    I did go with a loose plan and a route, I also did a fair bit of research on the areas I would have like to have visited and what to see and do once I got there. I say would liked to have visited because as I said early on in the RR, no plan survives first contact. Two days bad weather, coming off on diesel totally blew my plan of going to Phonsaly and on to the Northern most point in Laos. But hey, adapt and overcome.
    For the maps I used the German made Reizen maps of both Laos and Thailand. I found them to be good but lacking in some tracks due to the scale, but they were a good source of confirming with the GPS
    The GPS is a Garmin Montana 600 which worked really well and has an awesome battery life. I was getting between 14 and 16 hours per charge. The battery is rechargeable but if you really get stuck you could use AA batteries in it. I did not use any Garmin mapping at all, instead I went with OSM from Free worldwide Garmin maps from OpenStreetMap, I found it to be good but again not all of the tracks were on it and I sometimes found myself riding on a blank screen on the Montana. I would use the OSM again for other areas of the world. All my plotting was done on the Garmin basecamp programme on my Mac which was then automatically transferred to the Montanna as I plug it directly into my Mac rather than remove the micro SD card all the time.

    Bits and Pieces.
    I had the GoPro Hero4 mounted on my helmet, what a great bit of kit, only problem is battery life is only about two hours. Will take a spare battery on the next journey.
    All the photos were taken with my iPhone 4S which was donated to me by a mate as he had got a new one
    I also carried a windows phone which I used for putting Thai and Laos sim cards in, with internet. I just liked the fact I had most kinds of comms in most places, you never know!?
    I also got myself a rechargeable recharging device which worked on both my phones and the GoPro, although it was ultra slow at charging the GoPro on the road, worked well with the phones.
    CamelBak, really glad I took it along, needed it no end in some of the places I rode. I kept it in a daysack along with my tools for the bike and puncture repair kit
    Mac Air 13inch, I took this with me as it is relatively small, robust, light and has a superb battery life. The reason I went with the 13 inch rather than the 11 was, I prefer a bigger screen and the 13 has a SD card slot.
    Wolfman tank saddlebags bought from Advspec.com, glad I brought these with me, good for carrying spare gloves, goggles, small food items etc.
    Oxford Hump visor carrying bumbag, Not that I had a visor but it was good for the phones, passport, wallet, earplugs etc and whenever I left the bike it was all with me
    Oxford Gold disc lock, good for piece of mind.
    A small powerful torch which came in very handy more than once (spare batteries)
    Carried a hammock that can also be used as a hooped tent complete with a mozzie net which I acquired. Better to have than need. Just in case I was stuck in the middle of nowhere for whatever reason

    Monies.
    On food, accommodation and fuel I reckon I spent about 1300 GPB, thats excluding the first and last week in BKK. The bike was 36000 Bht (1000 a day) so about 728 GPB on todays exchange rate. That equates to just over 20 GPB a day, not bad really. I left 20000 Bht or about 500 GPB as a deposit which is now the spending money in BKK.

    Regrets.
    None at all, it was all just awesome, even when I was struggling with the terrain sometimes. Just wish I had got to Phonsaly and right up north

    Arrived BKK at 0700hrs and went to the hotel I was in when I first got here. Got a great room. As I was here really early I couldn't get in to my room till 1000hrs, so went out to wander the streets, went for a full english then found a nice salon and went in for a pamper, haircut and shave, they even did ear, nose and eyebrow hair, sorted, feel like a new man, metaphorically speaking of course.

    16128663307_7fe373b1ba_b.jpgIMG_1971 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    16128347249_10f963d70d_b.jpgIMG_1970 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    15692099544_40953697e2_b.jpgIMG_1974 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    Northern Thailand and Laos on a CRF250L

    in Thailand Trip Reports

    Posted

    In another town there was a really old looking temple made of stone and wood, coords N19.11596 E99.46385, so that was another stop done with more photos.

    16296670781_0f9f777f07_b.jpgIMG_1940 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    16296669491_97a3761a93_b.jpgIMG_1941 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    16272519256_51e6f3ede0_b.jpgIMG_1943 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    16111088470_6abef982ac_b.jpgIMG_1944 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    16111085970_ec19ced254_b.jpgIMG_1947 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    16110908678_13caf8c8d3_b.jpgIMG_1949 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    16110905558_4c6b86c3a4_b.jpgIMG_1952 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    So all in all a good last ride with things to see, good scenery and great roads.
    Arrived back at CM and straight to Riders Corner so sort things out ready to hand the bike in tomorrow.sad.png

    Northern Thailand and Laos on a CRF250L

    in Thailand Trip Reports

    Posted

    I also passed through a town and on the hill in the distance I could see a big temple stupa, which was Wat Prachaoluang, coords N19.20725 E99.49144, so I went there for a visit, very nice and the view from the top was awesome, you could see for miles even thought there was a fine layer of fog or what ever it was.

    16112300659_d4686f764f_b.jpgIMG_1912 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    16112330829_60e2fd849c_b.jpgIMG_1921 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    15676054684_3d91bd4e5c_b.jpgIMG_1914 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    15678567043_bb49256087_b.jpgIMG_1918 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    16297612262_8b6063fdac_b.jpgIMG_1923 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    16297594742_024bbca021_b.jpgIMG_1925 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    16110919238_1756685827_b.jpgIMG_1932 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    16110917628_81b42de71a_b.jpgIMG_1935 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    16272530476_1d3d5097d1_b.jpgIMG_1937 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    Northern Thailand and Laos on a CRF250L

    in Thailand Trip Reports

    Posted

    Once I got in to Phayao I had a bit of a drive through and found a coffee shop to plan my next move of finding some accommodation. There was a few places scattered about and decided to ride along the edge of the lake and see whats about.

    I found The Cosy Nest, quite a nice place but a bit on the expensive side, they only had the large twin and kings rooms left, he was asking 1500 Bht but got him to knock 10% off the price, breakfast included. Awesome shower and great wifi, nice clean room. The bike is park on the front but there is CCTV and a security guard on as the hotel is open 24hrs. coords N19.16459 E99.89785

    16105530427_c224afa311_b.jpgIMG_1879 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    16291381285_2ecef01c51_b.jpgIMG_1881 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    15668964804_88de7a5635_b.jpgIMG_1886 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    15671509583_6a7d5a6cb2_b.jpgIMG_1887 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    Northern Thailand and Laos on a CRF250L

    in Thailand Trip Reports

    Posted

    Day 35 The Penultimate Day, Chang Khong to Phayao

    The road from CK to Phayao was initially long and a bit boring (1020) and very damp as it had just finished raining,but then I turned off and went on a few of the back roads which turned out to be about 20km shorter than if I had stayed on the main drags. Once I had left the 1020 I ended up going on the 1292, 4005, 1126 and the 1202 straight in to Phayao. On the 1202 I stopped off at one of the reservoirs for a bit of a chill

    16105404429_84a850be81_b.jpgDay 35 Chang Khong to Phayao by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    19922919000_c0dda49880_b.jpgDay 35 The Penultimate Day, Chang Khong to Phayao by Wayne 66, on Flickr

    Isle of Man 2016 TT lap record broken

    in Sports, Hobbies & Activities

    Posted

    For those of you interested in the TT, you can follow the live timing and comentary here. http://ttlive.iomtt.com/# just sign in [free] and then click the radio tab in the left link, it should be another record breaking Senior TT starting at 6.30pm friday 10th.

    Michael Dunlop [a famous name of the TT] reckons he can do a 134 even a 135mph lap of the Island, making it the worlds fastest race, the Ulster GP is at the moment..

    im a Dunlop fan, if you good people get a chance, watch "Road" the story of the Dunlop family, a story of dedication and tragedy..

    Thanks for the info on the live commentary

    New Brexit polls suggest shift in favour of leaving the EU

    in World News

    Posted

    Muslim community's integrate,? Well I never,I must have lived in the wrong town

    They don't. Which is one of the reasons I'm anti-Muslim. I think it's number 27 on my list [emoji846]
    I can agree with you on the anti Muslim. So why do you favour staying in a "club" that keeps letting them in?

    75 million turks just waiting on the staring line.

    What was it Erdogan said. " the conquest is Hijrah". All part of his strategy for Islamising Europe. Awesome, I can't wait for that

    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk whilst drinking a cold beer

    We need to call a halt to spouting known falsehoods. We have been trying to keep Turkey on board for decades for strategic reasons. But they have ZERO chance of joining the EU for a VERY long time. Even the current idea of giving access to Shengen areas does not affect UK. Erdogan is pushing joining even further back.

    So which EU Muslims are you referring to? Are you stuck on the asylum seeker / refugee / economic migrant issue? You should know that I support letting properly screened REFUGEES in for TEMPORARY refuge. ( we should have supported Erdogan's plan for no fly safe zones in northern Syria and Iraq)

    What falsehood?

    So you pick and choose the anti muslim?

    75M Turks? Were you not suggesting that they might get to join the EU? Why else would you mention it?

    For me, letting in Pakistani mothers and their sisters and their cousins and their aunts is the issue (to paraphrase Gillbert and Sullivan)

    HMS Pinafore since you ask

    You can't answer can you? I am not searching riddles or whatever rubbish it is by G&S. Different when you are trying to out do others though by getting on about the lack of education

    Sorry Caps, I don't understand

    1) I have no problem with free movement of labour, particularly with the new regulations

    2) I do not want see more Muslims

    3) But I have no problem with offering temporary refuge when needed

    4) I don't see EU migrants contributing to my Muslim issue

    5) I think Turkey is a red herring. Scaremongering

    So, what's up?

    Sorry if the quote from G&Ss HMS Pinafore confused. ?

    Sorry had other things to get on with

    I asked you why you wanted to be a member of the EU when they are letting in more Muslims? Refugees/Migrants/Turks. As you say you are anti muslim.

    I take is you didn't agree with my previous point on Erdogan? The EU migrants contributing to your muslim issue is going to happen when the turks get in, I hope and prey they don't, but time will tell

    New Brexit polls suggest shift in favour of leaving the EU

    in World News

    Posted · Edited by Caps

    Muslim community's integrate,? Well I never,I must have lived in the wrong town

    They don't. Which is one of the reasons I'm anti-Muslim. I think it's number 27 on my list [emoji846]
    I can agree with you on the anti Muslim. So why do you favour staying in a "club" that keeps letting them in?

    75 million turks just waiting on the staring line.

    What was it Erdogan said. " the conquest is Hijrah". All part of his strategy for Islamising Europe. Awesome, I can't wait for that

    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk whilst drinking a cold beer

    We need to call a halt to spouting known falsehoods. We have been trying to keep Turkey on board for decades for strategic reasons. But they have ZERO chance of joining the EU for a VERY long time. Even the current idea of giving access to Shengen areas does not affect UK. Erdogan is pushing joining even further back.

    So which EU Muslims are you referring to? Are you stuck on the asylum seeker / refugee / economic migrant issue? You should know that I support letting properly screened REFUGEES in for TEMPORARY refuge. ( we should have supported Erdogan's plan for no fly safe zones in northern Syria and Iraq)

    What falsehood?

    So you pick and choose the anti muslim?

    75M Turks? Were you not suggesting that they might get to join the EU? Why else would you mention it?

    For me, letting in Pakistani mothers and their sisters and their cousins and their aunts is the issue (to paraphrase Gillbert and Sullivan)

    HMS Pinafore since you ask

    You can't answer can you? I am not searching riddles or whatever rubbish it is by G&S. Different when you are trying to out do others though by getting on about the lack of education

    New Brexit polls suggest shift in favour of leaving the EU

    in World News

    Posted

    I can agree with you on the anti Muslim. So why do you favour staying in a "club" that keeps letting them in?

    75 million turks just waiting on the staring line.

    What was it Erdogan said. " the conquest is Hijrah". All part of his strategy for Islamising Europe. Awesome, I can't wait for that

    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk whilst drinking a cold beer

    We need to call a halt to spouting known falsehoods. We have been trying to keep Turkey on board for decades for strategic reasons. But they have ZERO chance of joining the EU for a VERY long time. Even the current idea of giving access to Shengen areas does not affect UK. Erdogan is pushing joining even further back.

    So which EU Muslims are you referring to? Are you stuck on the asylum seeker / refugee / economic migrant issue? You should know that I support letting properly screened REFUGEES in for TEMPORARY refuge. ( we should have supported Erdogan's plan for no fly safe zones in northern Syria and Iraq)

    What falsehood?

    So you pick and choose the anti muslim?

    75M Turks? Were you not suggesting that they might get to join the EU? Why else would you mention it?

    For me, letting in Pakistani mothers and their sisters and their cousins and their aunts is the issue (to paraphrase Gillbert and Sullivan)

    Yes I was, I believe that eventually they will be allowed to join, so why do you want to be a member of a 'Club' that going to let them in?

    So you're not really anti muslim then, you are a when it suits you person?

    As for 75 million I haven't counted them this week, I am just going on numbers banded about...there might be 74.5 million

    It's not about the exact number it's about the likelihood that Turkey will ever get in. I think at least 50 or 100 years or never! People seem to take diplomatic subtleties seriously. We needed Turkey to help stem the flow. Not a good idea to tell them they would never be welcome!

    You would make a good politician as they never answer the questions cheesy.gif

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