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The Phu Che Fah Of Chiang Mai


T_Dog

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Near the summit, we are surprised to see six mountain bikers making their way up, and then I am even more surprised to recognize one of them. We talk briefly and then continue the 7 kilometers to the summit, passing through a few hill tribe villages. We finally park the bike near a vacant camping area and walk the rest of the way up. The view is spectacular, and the cliff off the top is over 250 meters straight down. Rain falls for a few seconds and then it clears up again. The road up as been good for a four wheel drive, but a family car would hardly be suitable. Not surprising that we spend our time on the summit alone.

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We get back on the Honda and cruise into the second hill tribe village down from the summit. We ask around for gas and food and a nine year old boy tells us precisely where to go. We roll in and ask first about gas, seeing the two barrels in the shop. (We have filled up often like this, but usually on longer trips where we semi-planned it.) "Sorry, all out." Well, we are probably okay, so we sit down to have some noodle soup which they do have. The shop lady is friendly and she soon sends her eleven year old daughter to the next village on a Click to get us two liters of gas. Hill tribe residents stop by to check out the foreigner and stand around as we eat. It feels more like back country China than Thailand at this point! The lady tells us that we don't have to go back to HWY 1095 and can instead go on toward the Mae Taeng River. She tells us that the road is not good but that it is only 12 kilometers. Okay, that sounds good, but at this point I am really wishing I had my GT-Rider map along. Always good for exploring, we set off for the "not good" road with two more liters of fuel and two full stomachs. We quickly find good road, bad road, a few more hill tribe settlements, and a high end coffee shop and guest house under construction. In one hill tribe village, the road goes down to two meters wide and suddenly ends in jungle in someone's back yard. We beat a quick retreat and then find the turn down a small stream a few hundred meters back.

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MESmith... Once I reposses my map, I'll do that for you. Google Earth has poor resolution for this area and I didn't capture any waypoints on the ride.

Okay... Here is more...

We follow the stream down to the Mae Taeng River and it is indeed only 12 kilometers from the last village. A beautiful ride down a large drainage, and we come out almost 40 kilometers from HWY 107 according to my GPS. We ride downriver toward the elephant camps, and we see hundreds of rafters enjoying the white water or queuing up on shore. The river is busy as we slowly motor along the rough rutted road along the river. I ask my wife how she is holding up but she is fine and continues taking photos from her small perch.

Passing the elephant camps and finally hitting good pavement, many buses and mini-vans are parked along the road, more than usual it seems. We surmise many tourists have elected to avoid Bangkok and vacation in the North. Hitting HWY 107, we see that we have covered over 100 kilometers of road on our short little exploration. All of the people we encountered in the hills were friendly and curious as to how we came to be up there. We have done a lot of long jaunts to different places in Thailand, but these short trips can be just as much fun and more relaxed as you don't have to put in the hours of highway miles to get to a destination. Lots to explore in the nearby hills of Chiang Mai.

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Edited by T_Dog
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T Dog.. These are excellent scouting reports for cyclists. Thanks for posting them and please post more of them for places near CM!!!!

How is the Klein holding up?

Anyone see many 29ers out there? Everyone seems to be converting from 26 to 29 in the states but the tires and rims seem largely nonexistent in CM. Decisions Decisions.

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T Dog.. These are excellent scouting reports for cyclists. Thanks for posting them and please post more of them for places near CM!!!!

How is the Klein holding up?

Anyone see many 29ers out there? Everyone seems to be converting from 26 to 29 in the states but the tires and rims seem largely nonexistent in CM. Decisions Decisions.

The Klein is doing great after putting in the new rear axle. Thanks for asking! About due for brake pad replacement. Haven't seen any 29'rs, but ran into a couple touring near Mae Taeng on Fixies.

Here are some KMZs of where I think we went in, and where the peak is. Not 100% sure about these as this was supposed to be a short ride so I didn't record a GPS track.

Doi Mon Ngah.kmz

Doi Mon Ngah In.kmz

MT River Out.kmz

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T Dog.. These are excellent scouting reports for cyclists. Thanks for posting them and please post more of them for places near CM!!!!

How is the Klein holding up?

Anyone see many 29ers out there? Everyone seems to be converting from 26 to 29 in the states but the tires and rims seem largely nonexistent in CM. Decisions Decisions.

The Klein is doing great after putting in the new rear axle. Thanks for asking! About due for brake pad replacement. Haven't seen any 29'rs, but ran into a couple touring near Mae Taeng on Fixies.

Here are some KMZs of where I think we went in, and where the peak is. Not 100% sure about these as this was supposed to be a short ride so I didn't record a GPS track.

Thanks T_Dog.

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T_Dog, I must say I enjoy your posts very much and those of Ian Forbes on 'adventurous' places to visit.

Like hellodolly says, please post more for we armchair tourists.

You are welcome! ThaiVisa was such a helpful place when I was moving here years ago for places to go and to find how to get things done. Just trying to do a little pay back.....

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T_Dog, I must say I enjoy your posts very much and those of Ian Forbes on 'adventurous' places to visit.

Like hellodolly says, please post more for we armchair tourists.

You are welcome! ThaiVisa was such a helpful place when I was moving here years ago for places to go and to find how to get things done. Just trying to do a little pay back.....

When our kids come visit us either in Jan or Feb, we plan to spend a night or two at the dam that you and Ian Forbes talked and gave substantial information on. Seems like a peaceful place to chill out. I wonder if one can do barbecue near there. Thanks.

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T_Dog, I must say I enjoy your posts very much and those of Ian Forbes on 'adventurous' places to visit.

Like hellodolly says, please post more for we armchair tourists.

You are welcome! ThaiVisa was such a helpful place when I was moving here years ago for places to go and to find how to get things done. Just trying to do a little pay back.....

When our kids come visit us either in Jan or Feb, we plan to spend a night or two at the dam that you and Ian Forbes talked and gave substantial information on. Seems like a peaceful place to chill out. I wonder if one can do barbecue near there. Thanks.

Lots of open beach area there and I doubt anyone would mind. Some good restaurants too. The boat houses on the other end that you could stay at overnight would be a good experience as well. We got to see one that they just built (before they towed it across) and the quality is quite impressive.

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We have done a lot of long jaunts to different places in Thailand, but these short trips can be just as much fun and more relaxed as you don't have to put in the hours of highway miles to get to a destination. Lots to explore in the nearby hills of Chiang Mai.

Yes. I'm still impressed every time to see how big Chiang Mai province really is, and that there are really remote places, as remote as any other province in Thailand.

That's also why I always cringe when a newbie tourists seems to assume that Chiang Mai is 'over touristed' or doesn't have 'real hilltribes' and more misinformed BS.

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We love to go to chk. out the dams around here, bring our Mt. Bikes and a picnic and sometimes stay overnight and always looking for new places to go. What's the name of the this one your referring to?

junglechef... check out this thread on house boat info:

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Thanks T Dog, We've actually stayed on Mae Ngat, wan't sure that was where you were referring too, we loved it. Couldn't ride my bike from houseboat, but will ride before I get on boat next time. But had fun renting kayak and had some good swims across to the other side and back. I'll post more on the other link. Off to spend weekend at Paeksam this weekend. It's a Queen's Royal Project, a four hour drive from CM where they have some cottages to stay. Planning on Mt. Biking etc. They don't have a website etc. but one is allowed to stay, my neighbor here is the manager there so we found out from him and saw some pics and it looks amazing. I post a report when I get back.

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We love to go to chk. out the dams around here, bring our Mt. Bikes and a picnic and sometimes stay overnight and always looking for new places to go. What's the name of the this one your referring to?

junglechef... check out this thread on house boat info:

http://www.thaivisa....-created-equal/

Oh, T_Dog, you are too modest to point out your own thread in addition to the one above.

Here it is folks:

Great thread that one is.

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We love to go to chk. out the dams around here, bring our Mt. Bikes and a picnic and sometimes stay overnight and always looking for new places to go. What's the name of the this one your referring to?

junglechef... check out this thread on house boat info:

http://www.thaivisa....-created-equal/

Oh, T_Dog, you are too modest to point out your own thread in addition to the one above.

Here it is folks:

Great thread that one is.

Muchogra....Okay, if it's modesty you don't want, check this one out in case you missed it! Dam: It's big.

KJDK... Check out your PM's for some info on Hoy Tak.

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  • 2 months later...
  • 8 months later...

T_Dog, hope you and others post more on your adventures in and around Chiang Mai.

Nice to see this old thread emerge again, and nice to see some familiar posters about too. Reminds to ride up there again as last year they were paving the road on the bottom portion. With these cool mornings, it would feel like Phu Chee Fah.
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