Nan to Chiang Khom - Third Day Ride

Departure from Nan was planned early as we had more then 300 Kms of ride ahead of us through twisting roads while crossing hills enroute. Our target was Chiang Khong, a border town located on banks of Mekong. 

Route - Route 1080 North to Tha Wang Pha and reach the head of legendary 1148. Northwest on 1148 for drink break in Song Khwae and reach Chiang Kham. Cross the town and hit 1093 Northeast for lunch at Phu Sang Waterfall. Continue on 1093 through Phu Chi Fah area, divert a bit for border visit near Huak and head on along border to Hit Route 1155 at Ban Pang Hat and ride to Chiang Khong.

Route Description - Amazingly back and beyond country side with ride mostly along hill roads parallel to Laos border finally getting highway for last 50 odd Kms.

Distance - 315 Kms.

Impressions - This guy Jeff knows many of these back and beyond routes which are more fun to drive than zooming on highways. Driving uphill is easier than driving downhill with a pillion. Bike is powerful, comfortable and easy to control. Ride speed is based on me the last rider, I slow down and fall back and others slow down themselves.

Destination - Small and scenic border town, Chiang Khong on Thailand side and Houei Xai on Laos side, situated on banks of Mekong River. Lovely Hotel Nam Khong Riverside with view of Mekong from all rooms.

Evening - Evening was spent in hotel restaurant overlooking Mekong with Dragon boats plying and chilled beer in our hands. Partaking in Mekong River fish, yellow chicken curry and many more things.

Twisting and turning road with gradients going up and down

Excitement writ large

Mountain range we just crossed.....

Time for reflection

Both the pillion riders, Rekha and Reeta

Post lunch visit to Phu Sang Waterfall with support staff, Dechwa and Bas

Laos Border, Check Post behind us

View from Ridge Roads we rode

Mekong River....View from our Hotel, Land across is Laos

Discussion on Roads with Adam busy on his mobile.....

Twists and turns.....

Night Halt - Chiang Khong

Pit Stop for hydration

View of our Route

Downhill for now...

Nan Loop - Second Day

Second day was planned for a ride of around 230 Kms known as Nan Loop. Basically visiting Nan province and drive through back and beyond. We started around ten accompanied by Andy and his girl. We proceeded South on Route 1169/1243 and then moved Westwards to Mae Charim. 

Not boring you with route details, it was exhilarating riding on narrow hill roads with smooth turns. Most of the way we went either uphill or downhill with very few straight levelled roads till we hit the highway for our return.

This was a ride akin to freedom ride with each of us going on personally comfortable speed with no luggage. The best of the ride along with Jeff is that all planning and preparation is done by him, we just had to reach on time and then follow them through the lovely roads with fixed halts for hydration, food and off course sight seeing. There is no trouble to be taken by us in any of these aspects.....it feels like using a cheat for a computer game.

By noon it was blazing hot and riding on ridge roads was soaking us in thermal blasts, frequent breaks under shade were also not doing its effect and finally loads of ice creams and sodas were consumed. Roads in Thailand are smooth and clear even in desolate areas and most of the roads in hilly region are made along the ridges, giving a breathtaking view to travellers. 

Reached back Nan by evening and headed straight for well earned Thai Massage followed by quiet dinner in one of the recommended restaurant. Riding In heat had soaked most of us dry and everyone turned in early.

Instruments played during a local marriage ceremony.....Very similar to our Assamese ones

Landon Daw view point....amazing vew of the valley 

Coffee break.....one for the road with my bike

Tourism Map of Nan Area

New Temple under construction.....Everything is at grand scale

View from roads we rode

The three riders.....Jeff, Me and Adam

Halt for feeding fishes.....Riders are compassionate as well as passionate people....

Chiang Mai to Nan

The ride started on 28 March 2015 with Duncan picking both couples from Sabuy Guesthouse at eight thirty with girls in the cabin, luggage in the back and Adam and me sitting on the trailer sides. Short distance and we reached Tony Big Bikes.

Started our registration by signing waivers, copying of our passports and final trials of our bikes. Met Jeff for the first time. Bikes were taken for benzine top up and by nine thirty we were ready to roll. Crossing the town was briefed as the most difficult part with traffic being irratic but quite less being a Saturday.

I believe once you drive in India you are prepared for traffic everywhere, compared to back home traffic sense in Thailand is amazing. Everyone drives on their side of road, no one honks and people actually wait for merging on main road till there is a break in traffic. Roads are wide, smooth and clearly marked.....what has happened to our traffic in India. How did we come to become so irrational and unruly. Is it because of population or just our sense of being free or trying to be kings on road when we are part of rat race......

The bike had all trappings of power burst and after riding Royal Enfield for long it's like this beast between your legs buzzing to go free. One can feel the reserves of power and speed available in the bike. Seats are comfortable even for pillion and bike switches are conveniently located within your thumb movement space. There are no switches for head light as main lights are always switched on for two wheelers out here. 

Natural line up started with Jeff leading the pack followed by Adam with Rita as pillion and last being me with Rekha as pillion. Support vehicle would follow in our wake and wet us at lunch break location. Our first halt was just outside the town for breakfast and initial briefing by Jeff on Do's and Don'ts of the ride, traffic concepts and what he expects from us and what can we expect from him and the ride. Breakfast was in a place called 'Sausage King' located in outskirts of the town. Place again owned by an expat with authentic Thai as well as Indian and Continental food. Most of us let go and had a hearty all American breakfast along with doses of advice from Jeff. Though he was quite optimistic as both of us had experience of driving within Asia.

Breakfast over and we started our ride to Nan on Route 118 to Mae Kachan, this is hills country with excellent roads and traffic conditions. As we were getting used to our bikes the pace set by Jeff was reasonably medium with going at around 70-80 Kms per hour. Twisting and wide turns had us banking on our rides by the time nature welcomed us to Thailand, we had our first showers. Though initially it appeared we were out running the rains, it finally caught us in its wake and petering of rain drops reduced our speed considerably. Shortly though could see indicators of Jeff blinking us towards a cafe. It was our scheduled coffee halt in Goods Northern Cafe. A cafe like no other I had seen before with hot water springs gushing water inside the cafe channelised into feet soaking pits. Water pipes had various figure head one can imagine, one looked like Indian lady of yester era with water gushing out of her water utensils, what we call Ghara, and off course best was small boy similar to 'Mannequin Piss' of Brussels with water gushing out of his deformed privates. Had our hydration drinks waited rain out and did essential photo posturing in front of old temple and away we went with promise of better roads and more hills in yonder.

Not to repeat myself but ride kept on getting better and better with minimum fatigue and even pillion comfort in the bike as we rode onto Route 120 to Phayao where we halted for lunch in a lakeside restaurant, had lovely Thai food, clicked snaps with water dragons and hit the highway again via Routes 1251 and 1091.

As we got closer to Nan the weather continued getting overcast but we could see that heavy rains had preceded us, with uprooted trees and wet pine leaves on road. Driving speed was further restricted though we made good time and reached outskirts of Nan by mid afternoon where we were joined by Andy, another expat rider living in Nan. Now we were four bikes and headed for bikers drinking hole called 'Tony's Pub' where we celebrated our first day of ride with chilled beer, Singha for me as usual. Hotel was nearby, check in was already done by support staff and moved straight to rooms for our shower in Hotel She vara in Nan. 

Evening we met for beer and dinner in the hotel restaurant only which offcourse was preceded by Thai massage for both Rekha and me. The lovely roads, excellent bikes, good lead biker like Jeff and smiling Thai people all around.....what else can one ask for.....

Chiang Mai - Tony Big Bikes

We took a night flight from Chennai to Bangkok with plans for VOA and early morning flight to Chiang Mai.

Air Asia flight was as expected right on time, actually 20 minutes before, reasonably comfortable and good.

We were trying Visa on Arrival for any country first time and had prepared my documents accordingly. Basically you require passport valid for six months, return tickets within 15 days, proof of hotel accommodation and proof of funds.

What no one had prepared us was for the crowd. It was full of us Indians and minimum eight group tours from China Mainland. There were serpentine lines for everything with shouting and noise in at least four languages, Hindi, Mandarin, Thai and one I could not pick up.

It took us nearly two hours for visa. You have to fill out a form and put a specific picture(4x6 cms) with white background. It is easier to get it printed out there only costing 100 TBH. Then stand in a line to get your documents checked. Once documents are checked you get a token number for visa window where it's a breeze. Basic time and line is in the document checking window. You also need minimum 1000 TBH, visa fee in Thai currency. There are exchange counters nearby to help everyone out. My document checking guy turned out to be a biker and we chatted for nearly ten minutes much to chagrin of people behind me. Finally after nearly two hours of landing we got our Thai visa and moved to pick up our stuff and check in for the local flight.

We waited for another 40 minutes and finally were on our way to Chiang Mai. The hill capital of North Thailand looked mystical from top and we managed to get a cab for Sabuy Guesthouse the place booked by these guys for us. We were in place by nine thirty in the morning.

This is located in old city quite near to Tony Big Bikes and managed by Tee. The guesthouse is an eleven room nicely managed place which is clean, quaint and lovely. It is amazingly cosy and she allowed us early check in, which was a relief as we had to catch up on our sleep. Decent breakfast followed and we had a visit from Duncan. Met him and followed him to the shop. Tried my allotted Honda CBX 500 with a short spin around the time followed by a spin with Rekha as pillion. Requested Duncan for a back box, tried and chose our jackets and helmets and returned to guesthouse for our much needed shut eye.

Had a frugal lunch with much anticipated Singha beer and crashed out for three hours. Evening was for preparation for next day, early dinner and off to bed. Decided time was eight thirty in the morning. Meanwhile, got to know that there would be only three bikes with a follow on support car in the ride. Basically, our tour leader Jeff, me and another couple from Hong Kong. Met Adam and Rita late in the evening after our dinner.

Dinner was in one of many restaurants with a live band, enjoyed lovely songs, had Thai food and we were off to bed with excitement in our mind, adrenalin in our system and off course beer in our glut. Sleepy time was to no avail as could not get my eyes to shut. Probably the excitement our sleep in the day, by mid night was worried and by two in the morning was desperate. Did not want first day of ride to be sleepy.....finally managed five hours of shit eye....

Chiang Mai Ride - Should or Not

We decided to carry forward our rides of exotic routes and click another from our bucket list. Ride the 'Golden Triangle' in North Thailand with routes touching Laos and Myanmar. Had heard and read a lot about it and contacted one known friend organising this, Mike from Victorianz Tours.

He gave us a lovely deal and plan was for five or six of us to ride for a week plus in Apr 2015 but extremely good budget quotes. Excitement was bubbling but was burst like a bubble when all my friends cancelled their plans one after the other for various reasons.

By then the idea of riding in hills of North Thailand was engrained in my sub conscious and there was no way I was not riding this one. Keeping the time period and various other aspects finally decided to go ahead alone with Rekha (my wife) as my pillion on the ride.

Mike from Viktorianz (www.viktorianz.com) also could not muster enough riders for the ride on my given dates. Finally homed onto Tony Big Bikes (www.chiangmai-motorcycle-rental.com) based in Chiang Mai after reading numerous feedbacks and comments on net.

Contacted the guys and promptly was replied with full details including their cost from Duncan. They are basically two expats (both from UK) running the show. Duncan and Jeff both finally addressed my various questions. Now the big issue of dates came in, their rides were planned before or after my block dates with leeway for change. Somehow with advice from Andy in Wellington managed to get leave starting in mid March and confirmed to Jeff.

Planning started with earnest efforts to find all possible material on net and books and gain knowledge about this ride. It proved my suspicion correct, this ride promised to be through beautiful country side with excellent roads.

Packing was a muted affair as these guys have a support vehicle moving with luggage and they provide helmets, riding jackets and gloves. We just had to pack our riding boots, carry our casual clothes, driving license and offcourse money.

Had previously booked my tickets through Air Asia and with change in dates had to pay extra. Bags packed, tickets booked, permissions in place, Visa on Arrival......Thailand here we come. 

You can see us waiting for our flights at Chennai Airport....