Where Is The Short Cut?

[AndersSN]

I am driving to Mae Sai tomorrow for a visa runa a bit of sightseeing with a friend.

I used to take the 600B vans as in general I prefer relaxing rather than driving. Some of the van drivers knows a kind of short cut around Chiang Rai. They take a left turn somewhere between the maintains and Chiang Rai and come out on the main road to Mae Sai north of Chiang Rai near a gasstation. This cuts a lot of time of the journey as it is shorter and u avoid the traffic and traffic lights in CR.

I have tried to find this route on Google maps but without success. Does anyone know where to take the left turn? That's all I need as I'm sure my GPS will take care of the rest.

Best regards

ASN

[bobl]

I wouldn't rely too much on GPS if it's a Garmin. Of course it helps a lot but it'll lead you on some daft routes.

If you want sightseeing you might want to try the mountain route - up the 107 through Fang then across to Mai Ai, Mae Chan and you'll come out about 20km south of Mae Sai on AH1.

From CM it's roughly the same distance but your average speed may be slightly lower on account of the winding mountain passes, depending how you drive.

[AndersSN]

I wouldn't rely too much on GPS if it's a Garmin. Of course it helps a lot but it'll lead you on some daft routes.

If you want sightseeing you might want to try the mountain route - up the 107 through Fang then across to Mai Ai, Mae Chan and you'll come out about 20km south of Mae Sai on AH1.

From CM it's roughly the same distance but your average speed may be slightly lower on account of the winding mountain passes, depending how you drive.

I ride like the wind. My personal record is CM to CR, bus station to bustarion in 1 hour 50 minutes. That was is the evening and with no passengers though.

I have done the trip u suggest before and u r right it is a very lovely trip. It might be the way to go up there.

Thanks

P.S I'd still like to know where the short cut is if anybody knows.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Looking not just at Googel Maps but also Google Earth it really doesn't look like there is a bypass road. As it would need to cross the Kok river at some point you can check along the river for any bridges, and there's nothing that looks like it's a bypass road.

Closest thing may be not a left turn but a right turn and going past the airport? Anyway there shouldn't be that much of a delay going through Chiang Rai; a couple traffic lights. Kind of like Chiang Mai was in the bad old days, before we joined the 21st century and built tunnels.

Edited April 5, 2012 by WinnieTheKhwai

[hml367]

If you go on the old entrance to Chiang Rai town, then you have to drive through the edges of town until the road that goes past Dusit Island. Close to that and before Dusit Isand, is a bridge that crosses the little river, a short distance, turn right and pass Rim Kok Resort. That roads continues to just North of the Kok river bridge on the North side of Chiang Rai to an intersection with a traffic light - very close to a PTT gas station I believe. It can be very confusing and easy to get disoriented. I have found driving straight through is much faster and not a problem with traffic, relatively speaking.

MSPain

PS My bad description is much easier than actually making that detour.

Edited April 5, 2012 by hml367

[jaideeguy]

Looking not just at Googel Maps but also Google Earth it really doesn't look like there is a bypass road. As it would need to cross the Kok river at some point you can check along the river for any bridges, and there's nothing that looks like it's a bypass road.

Closest thing may be not a left turn but a right turn and going past the airport? Anyway there shouldn't be that much of a delay going through Chiang Rai; a couple traffic lights. Kind of like Chiang Mai was in the bad old days, before we joined the 21st century and built tunnels.

only A couple of traffic lites??????......not really, as we just made a Maesai run a week ago and ther must be at least 20 and not syncronised at all with us hitting at least 80% reds.....took us forever just to get thru CR.

[mrclough]

The traffic lights are a pain in the ass in CR a little like coming north out of Lampang.

Still think Highways 118 & 1 are the quickest way to and from Mae Sai.

You could go the 107 as suggested but it takes a lot longer and given the current situation with pollution it isn't worth it for the views.

I rode this way to CR at the weekend and the views were non existent compared to previous times.

[jamesbrock]

Could this be it?

Edit: obviously ignore the directions; I only roughly dropped the pins so they're on the wrong side of the road - hence the two u-turns in the directions...

Edited April 5, 2012 by jamesbrock

[harrry]

Could this be it?

Edit: obviously ignore the directions; I only roughly dropped the pins so they're on the wrong side of the road - hence the two u-turns in the directions...

Under miost conditions that is not really a shortcut as it goes through heavy slow traffic and multiple lights.

Edited April 5, 2012 by harrry

[jamesbrock]

Under miost conditions that is not really a shortcut as it goes through heavy slow traffic and multiple lights.

Sounds like the voice of someone who's driven there; I'm just a guy with to much time on his hands!

[jonwilly]

Try Sunday morning early O'Clock.

john

[trainman34014]

I wouldn't rely too much on GPS if it's a Garmin. Of course it helps a lot but it'll lead you on some daft routes.

If you want sightseeing you might want to try the mountain route - up the 107 through Fang then across to Mai Ai, Mae Chan and you'll come out about 20km south of Mae Sai on AH1.

From CM it's roughly the same distance but your average speed may be slightly lower on account of the winding mountain passes, depending how you drive.

I ride like the wind. My personal record is CM to CR, bus station to bustarion in 1 hour 50 minutes. That was is the evening and with no passengers though.

I have done the trip u suggest before and u r right it is a very lovely trip. It might be the way to go up there.

Thanks

P.S I'd still like to know where the short cut is if anybody knows.

At what speed did you achieve take off?

[AndersSN]

I wouldn't rely too much on GPS if it's a Garmin. Of course it helps a lot but it'll lead you on some daft routes.

If you want sightseeing you might want to try the mountain route - up the 107 through Fang then across to Mai Ai, Mae Chan and you'll come out about 20km south of Mae Sai on AH1.

From CM it's roughly the same distance but your average speed may be slightly lower on account of the winding mountain passes, depending how you drive.

I ride like the wind. My personal record is CM to CR, bus station to bustarion in 1 hour 50 minutes. That was is the evening and with no passengers though.

I have done the trip u suggest before and u r right it is a very lovely trip. It might be the way to go up there.

Thanks

P.S I'd still like to know where the short cut is if anybody knows.

At what speed did you achieve take off?

Well the trip, according to Google maps is less then 200k, so that makes a average speed of around 100 km/h.

But I got to admit that a lot of the trip was driven a bit faster than the speed limit. But if u have ever done the trip at night u would know its like driving through ghost town after ghost town on a 2 lane highway.

[mrclough]

Try Sunday morning early O'Clock.

john

Better still go mid-week early O'Clock.

There are hardly any coaches / mini vans in the week but Sat & Sun are the busiest days for border trips.

This I know from experience, I ride up around / through Chiang Rai a couple of times a month on average. Not for visa's, just for the ride.