Best Route Bangkok Khao Yai?

[coldfusionPaul]

planning a ride to khao yai (mu si). i normally ride ban na-khaeng khoi & then cut over at the dairy home turn off but the traffic makes it pretty unpleasant especially at the steepest part of the road where there is no road shoulder. so i was thinking of doing the nakhon nayok-route 33-route 3077 past khao ito & then up the hills thru the park.

the downsides to the nakhon nayok route are

• never done that route before
• have to pay farang tax at park entrance
• potential for wildlife thrills & spills
• its about 20km longer
• doesn't pass any wineries

anybody offer any advice one way or another? any construction on either route i should be aware of?

thanks.

[george25]

Hi,

I for myself would never ever ride on highway #1 and #2.

Road #33 I know only between Nakhon Nayok and Prachinburi, and that's pretty good for cycling.

#3077 from PB up to the park HQ was one of the nicest bike roads I ever did in Thailand (just did it 2 weeks ago).

No farang tax if you can prove to be a resident (Thai driving license will do).

All wildlife you'll most likely see are the <50 monkeys on the road halfway up. But they don't attack. Slim chances for elephants on the road during the day. Anything else on the road I wouldn't worry too much about (snakes), unless you carry your bike .

On weekends there is some car traffic in the park, but I found the drivers much more civilized than on other similar roads around BKK. Imagine before a sharp curve cars actually driving behind you for 50m until they see the potential opposite traffic!

The climb from park entrance up to park HQ is quite easy, even for an average fit rider like me. The steepest sections (up to 15%) in the first third, less in the second and just hilly in the last third. 31km from entrance to HQ, 880m total ascend according to my GPS (based on Google Earth DEM data it's 966m ascend).

Really enjoyed it and will do it again soon.

You have a point with the missing wineries though.

Cheers,

George

[coldfusionPaul]

many thanks for the info, especially the road conditions, been burned many times by all the crazy construction these days.

yeah i've decided to try the 3077-2090 route. should be fun.

thanks again.

[coldfusionPaul]

in hindsight, maybe going up khaeng khoi & cutting over at dairy home would have been a better idea ;-) stiff wind from the east the whole way from bangkok to khao ito (100km), beat me silly & put me more than 1.5 hours behind schedule. got bad leg cramp about 17km from the park HQ & by the time i recovered it was getting towards dark, so called it a day (wife swept me up).

i guess you're in better shape than me, as the hills were fairly hard right from the park entrance. also didn't have same luck w/drivers in the park, got run off the road once.

definitely will try this route again just need to find a day when the wind isn't from the east or i guess start from prachinburi.

ps: on the bright side, didn't pay a farang tax for the park, probably first time in 30 years where i haven't. usually whatever evidence of residency i brought, the folks at the gates always wanted something else ;-)

Edited December 29, 2010 by coldfusionPaul