4wd Trips

[N&M]

Out of interest, I was wondering if many people go off on reasonable 4wd trips around Los.

I say reasonable as everyones expectations of off road is a little different. I come from a place where 4wd roads can be the roughest in the country. I had around 8 to 10 different 4wd's at different stages, have rolled them, drowned them and buggered them.....mechanically.

I just returned from a 3 week 4500k trip around Los in a hired 4wd, found some great roads to head off onto, a couple worthy of being classed as rough as guts. Would have been even more fun in the wet.

You can see the nanny throwing up to the side after a little rough riding.

Anyway, would be interested to know where you all go to do some real off road fooling around.

This rental was the first time I had ever driven a auto 4wd. Found it ok, but the roads were not wet, so no real idea how they handle things. As for the actual car, I would never buy it, was not a great ride.

I was thinking of the fortuna, I also like some comfort these days in older age, but will need to rent one and take away for a week first to test out. Obviously if I intended to do a real lot of off road, I would go for a manual, but most of the driving will be normal roads with the occasional trip off yonda every now and again.

[Bung]

Great photo of the nanny! i've had a whole car load need to hurl at different times and had to stop so much that I just took them home. Will just take the dog next time..

Sounds like you know where to go more than most, any locations that stand out? I guess the National parks are the place to go?

I'm always a bit reluctant of following unknown trails and ended up trying to do a 3 point turn in someone's front yard with a bunch of bewildered locals looking on.....

[PrivatePilot]

Kanchanaburi province is 4WD heaven from what I've read. The tracks there range from fairly easy dirt that most passenger cars can use, to some gnarly 4WD tracks that even the hardiest 4WD trucks can barely negotiate. Many of those tracks take you deep into the Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary, where you'll get a good chance a spotting animals. If you can speak Thai, try calling the park headquarters of Erawan, Srinakarin, or Lam Klong Ngu National Parks and they'll be able to give you lots of advice as well as info on trail conditions.

Just out of curiousity, where did you take those two pictures? (GPS coordinates would be nice!)

[N&M]

GPS, yeah right, flat out getting the page number on a map.

The one with Nanny throwing up was near the Burma border south west of Chiang mai. The other was between Mae Hon Son I think it is spelt without looking on a map and Chiang Mai.

By the way, anyone know where to get WAC charts from here in Los. WAC charts are maps used for aviation navigation, great detail and called World Aeronautical Charts.

Would love to get some for these areas as the details is usually spot on, at least in Oz they are, I would hope a similar quality here.

Edited January 20, 2006 by N&M

[Bung]

Those maps sound great. I love maps and can pore over them for hours.

The best ones I found are Michelin, I think I got it in Asia Books. I also got a great book on short cuts in Bangkok, very detailed, handy when negotiating the urban jungle. You have plenty of time to read it as well, stuck in traffic, crawling along which is good as god help you if you try and get your wife to direct you. We have had some great arguments over that.

My wife will stop and ask directions from someone then after talking for 20 minutes about where and what to eat and finding out they are somehow related would get about 2 turns down the road before forgetting what directions she got and have to stop and start the whole process over again....

Don't tell meI'm alone in this.

Same the world over I guess.

Anyone know of 4wd guides in English? I've seen plenty in Thai, but that would mean relying on the wife for directions.....

I've been thinking Kanchanaburi would be good but I need tracks with no branches sticking out that could scratch my shiny new Vigo and plenty of spots to turn around when I chicken out or there is too much vomiting (soft roader!)

[PrivatePilot]

By the way, anyone know where to get WAC charts from here in Los. WAC charts are maps used for aviation navigation, great detail and called World Aeronautical Charts.

Would love to get some for these areas as the details is usually spot on, at least in Oz they are, I would hope a similar quality here.

It might be a bit out of the way, but the Thai Flying Club in Bang Phra (see thaiflyingclub.com for contact info) has a decent selection of aeronautical charts for our region. You can get current ONC's and well as the more detailed TPCs.

You can also download, for free, some very detailed (but also very dated) series 1501 maps at <http://www.nexus.net/~911gfx/sea-ao.html>. The maps date from the Vietnam War era so the road and town data isn't so accurate. But the topographical depictions (mountains, rivers, etc) are still highly accurate and very useful, especially when going offroad.

I've got both ONCs and TPCs so if you need a specific area I might be able to scan it for you (don't ask me to scan the entire map though!)

[N&M]

YEah, i was thinking of that aero club, I guess it is the one you pass on the way to Pattaya. Might send them off an email to see what they have in the way of WAC charts.

As I mentioned, the WAC charts in Oz are of great detail, any little roads etc are on it and it would be great if it was the same here. They do not have to be that up to date, most tracks have been around for years so combining that with topography should get you a long way when any new not on the map roads pop up.

Bung, maybe a trip around Kanchanaburi might be in order one day. I will have to wait till later in the year, although as I said I want to rent a Fortuna first to see how they handle before I buy one. I would also love to do it in the wet season and bring over some good reliable recovery gear from home.

[nokia]

Kachanaburi sounds good. Is there any 4WD club or expeditions that expats can join? I dont really like to drive for an hour on a off-route at 2km/h and realized that it's a dead end afterall. Maybe it's better to use a rented vehicle as you can really thrash around and not worry about the suspensions, shock absorbers. After an hour or so of Hi and Lo gears of earthshaking 4WD in my new vigo, i start to imagine if the on-road performance is affected with some new imaginary rattling...

4wd newbie

[N&M]

Well, as for 4wd clubs, there seem to be a few about. I have seen groups of 4wd's all in convoy around Kanchanaburi and CM, CR etc.

I have never been on one, never intend to either. To me they are like caravan expeditons or follow the leader trips etc and they have no real excitement or adventure or any of the 'shit happens' kind of fun.

I prefer to discover as I go, if that leads to a dead end, so be it. One road we ventured down was so narrow that you could not turn around and definitely even pass another car. We went for several K's before wondering how far to go for a turn around. With kids on board it is a little different, so I called a command decision and reversed all the way back for several K's until I could clear a patch on the side of the track and turn around. Thats all part of the fun, getting dirty. By the way, my 4wd was the dirtiest of all the 4wd's spotted over 3 weeks, even the convoy on a 4wd expedition were spotlessly clean.