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[BigBikeBKK]

What a tour! I think I'm going to call it "The Best of the Best" tour of Northern Thailand

May 1st Neil and I escaped from the Big Smoke bright and early and blasted up to Loei in record time to rendezvous with Sarge, Skateboard John and Marc at the King's Hotel-

Snapped a pic of this amazing Thai Disco Bus at a gas stop along the way-

All those speakers are real and you could hear this beastie coming from MILES away! It was around 9 in the morning but the passengers were dancing and I think more than a few were already on the sauce- Amazing Thailand!

The 203 from Lom Sak to Loei is an awesome road!

King's Hotel is an amazing deal for only 500 Baht with big clean rooms and free WiFi. The restaurant was closed for the holiday and unfortunately it seems the Queens Massage next door has gone out of business?

Amazing food and Erdinger on tap down the road at Chris's Steak House (I don't actually know what the real name is of that restaurant- but the food is amazing and very cheap!)

Sarge and I wandered about looking for some nightlife but Loei was very quiet, perhaps due to the holiday? Even the Robot Disco was fairly subdued... After the Erdinger it was hard to go back to Thai beer but you gotta do what you gotta do!

To Be Continued!

[BigBikeBKK]

May 2nd, Loei to Nan via 1295, 1268 and 1083- Amazing!!!

Parts of the 1295 along the Lao border were REALLY rough but we made it through...

Skateboard John sporting his high tech head gear

Neil, Sarge and Marc-

1268 is a stunning road in perfect repair with barely any traffic that follows the Lao border and passes through some beautiful countryside.

The curves never end- what a road!

There is a beautiful park though I've already forgotten the name...

Unfortunately no food, but MacGuyver John busted out a big block of cheddar which really hit the spot!

A couple pics of the waterfall-

There is a trail and you can hike to more falls higher up.

The 1083 is almost spooky- it's a BIG road with wide shoulders and completely deserted! You can ride for miles and miles without seeing another vehicle. What is the purpose of this road? I have no idea, but I LIKE IT!

We were very lucky with the weather- a few spots of rain but nothing heavy.

Big muddy river-

Then up up up to this view point-

You can't tell because I'm using an old iPhone but the air quality this whole trip was just amazing- all the rains have really cleaned the air making for clear visibility and gorgeous views.

Blasted on to Nan where we met up with Luke, Hasse and Nikster who had arrived a bit earlier from Chiang Mai.

It was a very nice touch when we rolled in to the Eurngum hotel / resort a pretty young thing with a lovely smile ran out to meet us with our keys - Amazing Thailand indeed!

TBC!

[sundaypsychos]

Tony!! Good to see you made it back safe man, sure was a furious 2 days of riding we joined you for, lucked out massively with the weather which was goooooood.

Again a huge congratulations are in order for the selector of the guest house, an inspired choice!!

Keep us posted if you hear anything about that kawasaki day at Bonanza............

Rock on!!!

[ScubaBuddha]

The 1083 is almost spooky- it's a BIG road with wide shoulders and completely deserted! You can ride for miles and miles without seeing another vehicle. What is the purpose of this road? I have no idea, but I LIKE IT!

I know what you mean by spooky. Some fo the roads here seem almost post-apocalyptic. Like the southern highway 44 (has it's own wiki:Hwy 44) some of the roads seem built for no reason. I really believe Thailand has some of the best roads for riding in the world. I came across a similar road on my way to Malaysia. The road signs and my GPS were never in agreement so I just started turning down random roads that looked like they went the right direction. As a result I discovered km's of the must stunning bits of perfect deserted road twisting between hilltops of dense jungle then slicing through rice paddy's. Workers taking a moment to peer up from under their large straw hats to see who was disturbing the silence.

.

Edited May 10, 2011 by ScubaBuddha

[villagefarang]

That waterfall and park is Phu Soi Dao National Park. The wife and I did those roads back in December in weather that was less than perfect at times. I was glad to be in the truck and not on a bike at the time. It is really beautiful up there no matter your form of transport.

[BigBikeBKK]

As luck would have it our resort in Nan was stumbling distance from the Channel X Disco, Filth Club and some other night spots- wow, kudos to Skateboard John for finding this fantastic place!

A pleasure to meet Hasse and good fun catching up with Luke, West and Nikster as well. Luke knows Nan like the back of his hand and had some great ideas for a challenging and rewarding day ride the following day.

Here's what we ended up riding-

1168 - 1225 - 1257 - 1081 - 1256 = a solid day of road bike nirvana!

Snapped this pic at the junction of the 1168 and 1225-

The 1257 is crazy little roller coaster of a road, quite rough and very tight, but rewards you with spectacular views. Of course you can really only enjoy the views for a moment because if you mess up on that road you're likely to plunge off a cliff

Luke and West tore up that road on their motards while Nik and I gave chase on our Versys. (Versi?) ;-)

The 1257 is the type of road where you really notice and are grateful for the higher spec suspension of the Versys compared to the ER6n / Ninja 650R.

The crazy 1257 then dumps you onto one of the most fantastic sport bike roads in all of Thailand- the 1081:

Route 1081 in Nan, Thailand has to be seen and ridden to be believed!

I think Nik agrees

Totally deserted as usual- I was tempted to lie down and take a nap in the middle of the road

Nik, Luke and West:

Despite what some may think, this is the only "knee down" action I get on public roads

Wringing the poor Versys' neck but she's still going strong. What a view!

Chilling out while waiting for Sarge, Neil and Jungle John to catch up-

Enjoyed a fantastic lunch at a beautiful resort in Bo Klua

Then hammered up the 1256 through Doi Phu Kha National Park and on to Pua and finally back to Nan.

Exhausted and exhilarated and ready for more!!!

To Be Continued

[moe666]

Maybe the roads are being built for possible military use in case of conflict with Laos. Same as the interstate system in the states.

[Garry]

As luck would have it our resort in Nan was stumbling distance from the Channel X Disco, Filth Club and some other night spots- wow, kudos to Skateboard John for finding this fantastic place!

A pleasure to meet Hasse and good fun catching up with Luke, West and Nikster as well. Luke knows Nan like the back of his hand and had some great ideas for a challenging and rewarding day ride the following day.

Here's what we ended up riding-

Then hammered up the 1256 through Doi Phu Kha National Park and on to Pua and finally back to Nan.

Exhausted and exhilarated and ready for more!!!

To Be Continued

dam_n Tony, you sold me on that route mate. I'm going to show this to my riding buddy. If I can't do it, at least he can.

[seedy]

Many thanks for posting the maps - I was trying to return to Loei last year, but ran out of time. Will make this trip this year for sure.

Ride Safe

[BigBikeBKK]

May 4th some of us woke up with pounding heads and for a while it seemed we might lose a rider or two

Nothing like some good coffee and excellent food at Nan's HOT BREAD to get the day started

Nik and Luke above, Elvis erm, I mean, Johnny and Neil below

Quick gas stop-

And we're off! Today's route would take us to Chiang Rai via the fantastic 1148 to Chiang Kham and a detour to amazing Phu Chi Fa-

Luke, Nik and West left us at Chiang Kham and headed home to Chiang Mai while Johnny Elvis , Frank, Neil, Sarge and I continued on to Phu Chi Fa and Chiang Rai. Skateboard John was in desperate need of a new tire and had one sent to Chiang Rai so he headed out well before us and headed straight to Chiang Rai.

See why I call this tour the Best of the Best?

Frank let me take his KTM 690 SMR for a spin through some of the twisties- wow! what a weapon! I didn't really want to give it back...

The road to Phu Chi Fa-

Original plan had called for a night in Mae Salong, but upon hearing that there is ZERO nightlife there we quickly agreed to overnight in Chiang Rai instead, (but we forgot to tell Skateboad John, so he ended up in Mae Salong by himself... Oooops! SORRY John! )

CR was a good choice as we did indeed find some entertainment and kept the Jack flowing at the Lamyai bar until 3am

TBC

[rizla]

Good Thread This, ideal for future plans...........keep it up .

God that 1081 seems like a dream ride, how do i tell my g/f i want to go alone...

[BigBikeBKK]

God that 1081 seems like a dream ride, how do i tell my g/f i want to go alone...

Do what I do- conveniently "lose" your passenger pegs and/or passenger seat

Now you see 'em

Now you don't!

Ride ON!

Tony

[ScubaBuddha]

Maybe the roads are being built for possible military use in case of conflict with Laos. Same as the interstate system in the states.

Yeah we're expecting Laos to invade the states any day now. lol

Joking. I think you may be right about the reason for these roads in hailand. You are absolutely right the roads in America...few know that the US interstate system was conceived for and intended to be used by the military in times of war. Seems hard to imagine that now with all the traffic. Eisenhower had the interstates built under the "National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956"

[dave_boo]

God that 1081 seems like a dream ride, how do i tell my g/f i want to go alone...

Do what I do- conveniently "lose" your passenger pegs and/or passenger seat

Now you see 'em

Now you don't!

Ride ON!

Tony

Use that first picture when people complain about you getting knees down on the highway...

[bsacbob]

May 4th some of us woke up with pounding heads and for a while it seemed we might lose a rider or two

Nothing like some good coffee and excellent food at Nan's HOT BREAD to get the day started

The road to Phu Chi Fa-

Original plan had called for a night in Mae Salong, but upon hearing that there is ZERO nightlife there we quickly agreed to overnight in Chiang Rai instead, (but we forgot to tell Skateboad John, so he ended up in Mae Salong by himself... Oooops! SORRY John! )

CR was a good choice as we did indeed find some entertainment and kept the Jack flowing at the Lamyai bar until 3am

TBC

Good to see you guy's managed to get a grip of our local nightlife in good ole CR Looks like you sampled some of the best roads in the country in the process, next time your planning a trip this way drop a message in the CR forum i am sure many of us would like to join in. Also see you stopped at that weird place cafe on route 12, what a great road, but not much fun riding it in the dark as myself and a buddy can vouch for

[Garry]

May 4th some of us woke up with pounding heads and for a while it seemed we might lose a rider or two

Nothing like some good coffee and excellent food at Nan's HOT BREAD to get the day started

The road to Phu Chi Fa-

Original plan had called for a night in Mae Salong, but upon hearing that there is ZERO nightlife there we quickly agreed to overnight in Chiang Rai instead, (but we forgot to tell Skateboad John, so he ended up in Mae Salong by himself... Oooops! SORRY John! )

CR was a good choice as we did indeed find some entertainment and kept the Jack flowing at the Lamyai bar until 3am

TBC

Good to see you guy's managed to get a grip of our local nightlife in good ole CR Looks like you sampled some of the best roads in the country in the process, next time your planning a trip this way drop a message in the CR forum i am sure many of us would like to join in. Also see you stopped at that weird place cafe on route 12, what a great road, but not much fun riding it in the dark as myself and a buddy can vouch for

I don't get out much when I home from work..didn't realise that there was another side to the Rai. Chiang Mai I knew off, but the Rai.....

[nikster]

Maybe the roads are being built for possible military use in case of conflict with Laos. Same as the interstate system in the states.

I was thinking the same thing: Road all the way along the border, perfect condition, no traffic - who needs that? The Military, that's who.

Thanks for organizing the trip Tony, it was truly awesome!!

[BigBikeBKK]

Woohoo! Johnny has put together a pretty cool vid from the tour-

Ride On!

Tony

[RidersCorner]

Jonny was showing us his head cam the other day in Chiang Mai, looks like its better then the go-pro

Woohoo! Johnny has put together a pretty cool vid from the tour-

Ride On!

Tony

[moe666]

Maybe the roads are being built for possible military use in case of conflict with Laos. Same as the interstate system in the states.

Yeah we're expecting Laos to invade the states any day now. lol

Joking. I think you may be right about the reason for these roads in hailand. You are absolutely right the roads in America...few know that the US interstate system was conceived for and intended to be used by the military in times of war. Seems hard to imagine that now with all the traffic. Eisenhower had the interstates built under the "National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956"

To get enough support from Republicans for the interstate road system to pass the bill had to be seen as a defense project.

[BigBikeBKK]

Sorry, I never finished this trip report!

Riding Phu Chi Fa was fantastic but we did get caught by a passing storm-

Fortunately found a nice spot with friendly locals where we could hang out until the rain passed.

Overall we were very lucky with the weather on this trip. The only really wet day was our ride from Chiang Rai to Chiang Mai where we had to battle through heavy cold rain all the way from Fang to Mae Rim. No pics, but we were all looking and feeling like drowned rats by the time we rolled in to Ian Bungy's X-Centre. The rain was so heavy that parts of the 107 north of Chiang Mai were flooded and closed.

Original plan had been to do the route below plus a loop of Doi Ang Kang, but with the weather we skipped the mountain and continued on to Chiang Mai-

Highway 109 between Mae Suai and Fang is an awesome road:

But we were about half way through there fantastic twisties when the skies opened up and we took refuge beneath a roadside shelter.

Day of rest and relaxation and more rain in CM-

Some of the fellows were suffering from a bit of cabin fever? Ha ha ha!

Franz, always known for his amazing hospitality invited us all over to his place for a fantastic breakfast- THANK YOU FRANZ!

Original plan was to ride from Chiang Mai to Mae Sot via Mae Sariang-

Neil and Sarge were worried about bad weather on the deserted and sometimes rough roads between Mae Sariang and Mae Sot and therefore decided to ride to Petchabun via Pitsanulok, but I still wanted to hit the 108 to Mae Sariang and the 105 to Mae Sot so I twisted Franz's arm (I didn't have to twist hard ) and he agreed to join me as far a Mae Sariang on his Super Tenere. Wow- what a BEAST that bike is! It doesn't look so big in pictures but when you stand next to it you realize just how huge it is. Fits Franz perfectly!

The 108 to Mae Sariang was fantastic! What a road!

Great to catch up with Franz over a fantastic lunch at a riverside restaurant in Mae Sariang, but the clock was ticking and soon we had to be on our way or risk getting caught out in the dark. So I headed south to Mae Sot and Franz headed north to Mae Hong Song. Thank you again for everything Franz!

The 105 was in better shape than the last time I rode it.

In some places you feel like you are completely alone-

A few spots of rain but nothing too bad.

Some roadworks as well, but again, nothing the Versys couldn't handle-

I reckon in another 2-3 years when they finish all the road work that the 105 will be yet another addition to Thailand's long list of fantastic sport bike roads.

Rolled in to Mae Sot right around sunset and checked in to the good old Pornthep Hotel- secure off street covered parking for the bike and big room with AC for 300 Baht! Then wandered over to Bai Fern for a fantastic Paneng Curry and then across to street to Aiya for some great live music. Awesome!

[Garry]

Woohoo! Johnny has put together a pretty cool vid from the tour-

Ride On!

Tony

Tony, what camera is he rolling with?

[Garry]

Hi Tony, too bad you couldn't have let me know that you guys were coming up this way. I wasn't in country but my riding buddy who owns a ZX-10R would have been very happy to ride with you guys on the 118 / 109 leg for sure. The 1/118 CR to Mae Suai and back is our normal morning coffee run PTT/Amazon. Maybe next time

Edited May 23, 2011 by Garry

[BigBikeBKK]

Woohoo! Johnny has put together a pretty cool vid from the tour-

Ride On!

Tony

Tony, what camera is he rolling with?

Hiya Garry,

Were you ever able to get back in to the SSR forum? I forwarded your report to our webmaster a couple of weeks ago and assumed it had been resolved. Let me know, ok?

Johnny and Frank both have the the newest Contour HD- very trick little cameras with built in GPS, Bluetooth and more. Comes in a few styles-

ContourHD

Action Video

ContourGPS

Video Mapping

Contour+

Professional Storytelling

Website: http://contour.com/camera/compare

Ride On!

Tony

[Garry]

Woohoo! Johnny has put together a pretty cool vid from the tour-

Ride On!

Tony

Tony, what camera is he rolling with?

Hiya Garry,

Were you ever able to get back in to the SSR forum? I forwarded your report to our webmaster a couple of weeks ago and assumed it had been resolved. Let me know, ok?

Johnny and Frank both have the the newest Contour HD- very trick little cameras with built in GPS, Bluetooth and more. Comes in a few styles-

ContourHD

Action Video

ContourGPS

Video Mapping

Contour+

Professional Storytelling

Website: http://contour.com/camera/compare

Ride On!

Tony

I had a feeling you were going to say Contour. I'm a subscriber to their website. The Contour + with HDMI (widescreen) is what I'm looking at getting now. Much as the GoPro is small and compact, the on-off function of the Contour sold me.

I'll let you know if the SSR problem I had is fixed.

[Garry]

Hiya Garry,

Were you ever able to get back in to the SSR forum? I forwarded your report to our webmaster a couple of weeks ago and assumed it had been resolved. Let me know, ok?

Ride On!

Tony

Hi Tony,

My login seems to be working and I can post up photos. Tell the mods, thanks...

Cheers,

Garry

[LivinLOS]

Not been on here much.. so missed this report.

About a month ago did many of the same roads CM - Nan then the 1148 to phu chi fa but we kept on up to GT, round DMS and back the fang route.

Superb roads and loop, trying to make time to get out to Loei and visit a mate in Nong Khai this month but unsure.