Memory Lane

We had left Khon Kaen on Wednesday and it’s now Sunday morning and we need to get to Bangkok by Monday. We are getting a bit bored with the 323, so after filling up with fuel, decide to re-do the memory lane thing and head north back to the 4041 around the southern most tip of the Dam we had crossed on Friday.
On Xmas Day in 2006, we had ridden on the little Tigerbike north to wards the 4041 alongside the Dam and had a wonderful Fish dish on a row of 5 floating houses, still under development. We vaguely remembered the place being called ‘Heaven on Earth’ and being alarmed at floating out further and further into the Dam as more and more floating houses were added. By the end of the lunch we were in 7 houses into the Dam. We set off to find it again. And there it was, now a ginormous WaterPark with over 100 floating houses and a huge reception area and carpark and called ‘Lake Heaven’. It was packed with families swimming, eating, lugging wheely-suitcases and one cup of coffee cost us 40baht. On Boxing Day, in 2006, we had also ridden north alongside the Dam, and found a place called Ark Adventure. The owner was in Sweden, but with his permission granted over a long-distance call, from his staff, we were allowed camp on his boat deck over the dam. “It would be nice to find it again”. The road was a bit more remote than we remembered and we passed another ferry port, transporting cars and people over a narrow section, making a shortcut to the road opposite. As more people used the ferry, the remaining concrete road was becoming neglected, strewn with piles of large dry orange leaves and huge elephant droppings. It was becoming clear to us that maybe this road was not used by cars/bikes anymore. We carried on cautiously, passing a parks department gateway and with relief just as we were getting hungry for lunch, a blue handwritten sign beckoned for us to turn left to Moonlight Bay. What a beautiful retreat. We made friends with the two retired spinster sisters and asked about the elephant droppings. “Yes,” they assured us, “that road is very dangerous, it is only used by wild elephants now, you cannot go there, especially in the mornings.” Oops, we just did that. “In the afternoons the elephants go back into the forest. And sometimes in the evening you can see them on the opposite side drinking ”.
We inquire about accommodation, but unfortunately they are full, however are quite happy for us to pitch our tent. We thank them, but continue on our way along the dam, hoping to find Ark Adventure. There are a few very pricey meditation resorts, all beautifully designed and for the 5-star tourists. We cannot find Ark Adventure so turn back and are welcomed back at Moonlight Bay. Our little tent is cuddled up under a tree, we scan the opposite bank hoping the elephants will drink tonight, and watch the moon rise over the water. Moonlight Bay place uses solar panels for electricity as there is no wi-fi or telephone signal. This is a real meditation retreat, all for 100 baht.
The other guests inform us that it is a long weekend, which is why everything is full and advise against riding into Bangkok on Monday as the traffic will be horrendous. Change of plan, we’ll go to Bangkok on Tuesday, then. We are given a lovely soft mattress to lie on, and using our beach mat as a indoor roof, we sleep well. We are getting to know this area very well now, back up the dam road, over the 4041, down passed Nong Prue.
Having heard about Ayuthaya and seeing that it is only 78 kms north of Bangkok, in a fairly straight line on the map from where we are, we aim our bike in that direction.It is flat, boring, and very windy. The wind burns B’s eyes so he puts mask over the lower edge of his visor, making a not very effective full face helmet arrangement. I nod off and have a secret power nap, until our helmets bonk and wake me up. Two night sleeping on the ground in a little tent are catching us out. As we pull into the centre of Ayuthaya, over the moat, we see a sign. Grandparent’s Home. That’s it. We stop , pay for two nights and have a afternoon kip, just like all grandparents do.

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Memory Lane

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Up and Down the 323.

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Up and Down the 323.

We are staying at Sangkhla Buri, where there is a large painting of a Wooden Bridge in the foyer, which needs investigating. Long ago some tribal battles occurred here, but now it is tourist attraction and a place for strolling. The Wooden Bridge sure is impressive, there are crowds of people on it and some even jumping off it into the river below. We look at the souvenirs and the crowds and decide not to walk across it. We have heard about the 3 Pagoda Pass and as it is only 20 kms Up the 323, pack the bike and set off after breakfast. This is where the infamous Thai-Burma rail that was force-constructed by the Japanese in WW2 ends. On the Thai side there is a memorial. On the Burmese side the tracks are still in place. We meet up with some Germans, one of them having lived in the Far East for more than 36 years. He offers lots of historical information, including the story of the ransacking of Ayuthaya for its gold. In the 12th century, Ayuthaya was the capital of Siam, a moated city, just 70 kms north of Bangkok. It was burnt to the ground and all the gold was stolen by the Burmese. Apparently there is a solid gold Pagoda in Rangoon made from the Thai gold. The 3 Pagodas, which are white painted conical monuments draped in yellow ribbons were built at the border to remind the Thai people of this act of destruction. The immigration post is closed and there is a single red and white boom to divide the two countries, and a CCTV camera. The German chap knows the area well and suggests we go to the Hellfire Pass Museum on our way Down the 323 to Kanchanaburi. On our previous trip in 2006 we had been to the Bridge on the River Kwai museum and as we had to go back down the 323 to get to Bangkok, we put it on the potential to-do list. On the way back down the 323 we noticed that there were plenty of mud-monster type 4x4’s, with monster truck super suspension, suitable for jungle trekking and river crossings. We saw lots of expedition advertisements and met up with a team of monster trucks at the garage. I especially liked the bright pink one. The trip Down the 323 was getting a bit tedious with excessive weekend traffic, trucks, pick-ups and big bikes (1000cc plus) all vying for road space. We turned off onto a side road to get away from the chaos, relying on google maps to re-route us to Hellfire Museum. Under the shade of a huge tree we saw a bunch of guys, all on Big Bikes, who waved us on over. We shared the shade and were introduced to ‘The Amazing Thailand Touring Group for Foreign Motorcycle Riders’. The world was represented with guys from USA, Canada, Israel, France and more, all living in Thailand for an average of 10 years. I asked in astonishment, “Are you all married to Thai ladies?” “ No, only married to our motorbikes,” they replied. Such great guys and they suggested a great place for lunch, it now being about 2pm. Over a swaying suspended foot bridge, a bit of a dirt trail and there you are. Sounds Good. The shocks are now no good at all and we never did find the restaurant, but stopped instead nearly an hour later by a floating raft/house on the River Kwai and had the dish of the day: rice and chicken.
We reviewed google maps for the Hellfire Museum which actually was now 20kms back Up the 323, so Up we went and also we went past the shady tree. Oops, a full circle. The Museum closes at 4pm, it is now 3.30. The short 3 minute video captured the horror of the conditions of the construction and the accompanying tableaus depicting details of the prisoners lives and drawings done at the time emphasized what those that survived endured. The Museum is a collaboration between Thailand and Australia. We had been to another Museum at the actual Bridge on the river Kwai site in 2006.
Once again, as it now way past 4pm, we need to find lodgings and as we are preparing to enter the traffic Down the 323, a little bell trings in my head. At the museum, one of the camps the men had stayed in was called Hintok Camp. The little bell in my head rang that there was a similar sign near the shady tree. Down the hill and round the corner we found the sign again. Somehow, instinct told us that this looked like a Resort sign, using the name Hintok Camp. And what a resort. Deluxe Air-Con Luxury Glamping. Unfortunately they were full, and the price was almost our weekly budget, but we did get offered a champagne glass of fruit juice when we rolled up on our dusty bike. We point to our tent, and cheekily ask if we can pitch our tent on their immaculate lawn. They politely declined and suggested we go next door to Baan Titawaan, where we are welcomed very favourably. Our little camouflage tent pops up and fits perfectly under a tree, protecting us from dew, with the zipper opening towards a view of the River Kwai some 100 steps below. The price for the bungalows were 2500 baht per night, but we camped for 100 baht and were treated like royalty. We were given another beach mat, which we slid under our tent. Our own beach mat we put inside the tent as a mattress. At sunset we went down the steps to the river’s edge where there was a large floating house, with lots of very comfortable looking mattress all laid out in a room. Apparently they were for a group of 30 people, who arrived a bit later with cool bags and rucksacs, for a night on the river. The communal dining area was a wooden /concrete platform on very long pillars, reaching up from almost river level below, up to the grassy verge level with the Tent-site, almost 100 metres. We enjoyed a jolly meal alongside with a Thai family who were BBQ-ing crabs. Dish after dish was served to us, including grapefruit segments, red cabbage and sweetcorn vegetables and rice/chicken. The best of all was the super-sweet dessert of some kind of green ‘junket strings’, ice blocks and sweet coconut milk. The whole meal was 100 baht (3 euros). We were escorted to our tent by torchlight and crawled in to our little cosy ‘cave’. It was only 7.30 pm, but it had been a long day and we were glad to stretch out flat on our backs. Shortly after settling down for the night we heard a scuffling and giggling near the tent. “s’cuse me, s’cuse me” a voice called out. “can we help” we called back. “Lomantic sleep, lomantic sleep”, they replied. It is only when we go for a midnight loo visit do we realise that they placed two candles near our tent, how sweet, xx . On returning to the tent from the Loo visit, we were surprised to discover that the inside of the tent was dripping wet, we had our own rain forest from the condensation inside. It wasn’t very pleasant to be dripped on, so we slid under our beach mat and used it as a rain cover. It formed the perfect indoor roof and also insulated us from the dropping temperature. 35 degrees down to about 12 degrees. It was a long night as we drifted in and out of sleep, sandwiched between two beach mats in a small tent. Never mind, after a hot shower and a guitar serenade of ‘happy birthday’ (the only English song they knew) from our Thai neighbours we are ready to face the day and the 323.

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2 Days, 430 kms

Our Thai/SA family have gone back to Wales and its time for us to leave Khon Kaen. We need to be in Bangkok by Monday 13th Feb for B’s all important Hearing Aid appointment and then in Phuket by February 21st to meet up with one of our darling 10 grandchildren and his parents who are joining us for some winter sun. We leave Khon Kaen early and do the 6 hour ride West to Nakhon Sawan, 400 kms, straight through the middle of Thailand. The vegetation is very dry, the rice paddies are being burnt as part of their regeneration and clearing, the sky is filled with smoke and we both have burning in our throats. Halfway through the journey we drop downhill into a greener plateau where sugar cane is the favoured harvest. The huge articulated trucks grind their way extraordinarily slowly and carefully downhill round all the hairpin bends. One of them has spilled his load and there are patches of squashed sugar cane and resultant juices all over the road. A little monkey is enjoying the rewards of this spillage and leaps between the traffic to loot some stalks. We get the timing right on the bends and overtake. Google directs us to a smart, clean within-budget hotel in Nakhon Sawan, where we are offered a room on the 1st Floor. “Anything on the ground floor?” The receptionist looks at us blankly and lead us to a lovely room on what we call the ground floor, to the Thais it’s the 1st floor. Thankfully the bike is parked right outside, so not too far to lug the panniers inside. We have re-arranged the packing now so that all the necessary night stuff ( toothbrush and electronics) are in the back panniers for quick release. The front panniers hold clean clothes but as we wash underwear every night, the outer ware can stay unwashed for a few days, and the front panniers with fresh clothes can stay on the bike. The back box, which we bought and mounted in KK, holds our new lovely soft Tesco pillows, which we don’t need every night. Unpacking is now reduced to just the back panniers. We walk into town to eat, finding a ‘steakhouse’ which serves plastic burgers and freezer chips. We think we love rice and pork/chicken more. Shower and bed.
Our map book is in shreds, and also 11 years old, and the large map fold-out sheet is not much better. We decide to try a new tactic. Using google maps, we enlarge and enlarge until we can see a road over the mountains which is indicated as a track on our maps, then ‘pin’ a location and push direction. We picked out the road on the paper map, the 4041, from our visit in 2006 and tried to find it again on the smartphone. In 2006, the 4041 had been under construction and was a thrilling experience on the original Tiger. We were looking forward to a trip down memory lane and as we want to get to the 3 Pagodas Pass, this appears to be a short cut across the many mountains and large dam blocking our way. From Nakhon Sawan it’s 150kms to the T-Junction where the 4041 intersects the main road to Nong Prue. It’s 150 kms of pleasure riding. Through backroads, small jungle roads, steep curvy roads, past rice paddies where we see hundreds of white egrets and even bigger black-tipped winged birds roosting in trees. We stop and sample some ground nuts (peanut/monkey nut) that are being freshly plucked off their plants. At the top of one pass we whiz past Two riders on big bikes who are looking at a map. It’s rather a remote area and at the bottom of the hill, our conscience pricks and we turn around, ride up the hill and ask “ Are you lost?” We spend the next hour having a lovely chat about bikes and routes and adventure travelling. One guy is a Frenchman, living in New Zealand, but sailing from Port to Port, now anchored in Langkawi, Malaysia. The other guy is from the UK, living in Hawaii. We are South Africans living in France. People on the move! They are riding bikes that they purchased in Malaysia. The bikes are made in Malaysia, branded KTNS, 250 cc, single cylinder, water-cooled, aluminium back and side boxes, elevated pillion seat, single front and rear disc brake, 175 kg, GS650BMW look-alike. Interesting bike. By late afternoon we arrive at Nong Prue, and after indicating sleeping hands and snoring to a few stunned people we are directed to a fabulous little hideaway, where the lady-owner goes out of her way to welcome us. B is still coughing so she shows us what to buy at the pharmacy, a special Thai herbal cough medicine. Her staff lead us on their motorcycle to a steak house where we enjoy real steak and chips, while the restaurant receptionist rides off to buy the cough muti (medicine). The little garden has a swing seat and free tea/coffee and is decorated with happy concrete ornaments. With my morning coffee at 5h30 I take some sunrise shots over the paddie fields.
We ride 30 kms back up the road from Nong Prue to the T-Junction and the 4041. It’s now tarmac and takes us over the mountain towards one of the dams we need to cross. There is no other traffic. At the top, we stop for a coca cola and biscuit break, when a biker pulls upon a Suzuki V-strom. He is the only traffic we have seen for 2 hours. When he takes off his helmet and balaclava we see that he is Thai, but speaks perfect English, a mechanical engineer from Bangkok out for a day of exploring. We team up and carry on down the glorious curvy road, from an altitude of 900 metres with views stretching forever, then follow our Thai escort onto an unknown dirt track leading to a ferry across the dam. We need to wait a few minutes and he orders some noodles soup from the one and only stall. With a personal Thai guide, we are happy to be so remote, even google maps cannot get a signal. It’s perfect. The ferry arrives and we enjoy the relaxed 30 minute putt-putt across the lake. The driver enjoys it so much he falls asleep, one foot locked on the steering wheel, straight ahead, automatic pilot. Perhaps he relies on his passengers to wake him up when shore approaches? On the other side we part with our Thai friend, his bike is bigger and he needs to get home, so standing up trail-riding style he bounces off into the dusty distance. We follow sedately and discover that our new replacement shock absorbers have difficulty handling the dirt road. It’s a very bumpy 50 kms to the tar intersection on the 323.
The 323 is the one and only main road from Kanchanaburi (Bridge over River Kwai ‘fame’) to the Burma border at the 3 Pagodas Pass. We ride the 100kms up to Sangkhla Buri, where we find a hotel that looks OK, but turned out to be rather grotty. We pitch our back-up mosquito tent on the bed after spraying the room with Baygon.

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2 Days, 430 kms

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Tiger2 earns its stripes

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Tiger2 earns its stripes

The 316 kms route from Uttaradit to Chiang Khan took us through mountains, valleys and forests. We stopped for the normal Rice and Chicken/Pork for lunch and were looking forward to the normal Rice and Pork/Chicken for supper. On arriving in Chiang Khan, we had ridden up and down the roads, zig-zagged through the town, searching for decently priced and decent accommodation. All the river fronthotels were Full, and way too expensive anyway. Full, Full, full, we got told many times and then realised it was Chinese New Year Weekend. 5kms out of town we spotted a sign ‘Room for Rent’ 600 baht. As it was late in the day we tried to negotiate the guy down to 400 baht, No Deal. Starting to despair, we see a sign with a printing of a tent on it. And we do have a tent, albeit a pop-up festival one. We turn Right, go along a dirt track, round a corner through bamboo into a clearing, through a driveway and see some more tents. A lady pops her head out of the gateway and says their tent is 300 baht. “We have our own tent”. “That’s 100 baht”. We hand over our money and look for a suitable level site within easy access of the loo, for middle of the night visits. Whilst unpacking and pitching our pop-up camouflage tent, a variety of curious onlookers appear, one of whom was the man with the 600 baht room. We are in his back garden.
Chiang Khan, on the Mekhong River is very proud of its cultural history. Every evening, the promenade along the river’s edge is closed to traffic and becomes a ‘walking street’, filled with stall holders selling food and traditional wares. It is also filled with double-decker busloads of tourists from the East. I think we spotted one other Western couple. The hotel prices are way beyond our budget and so are the food prices. Who’s got the money? Certainly not tourists from the West. We get a bit fed up with the jostling and ‘rip-off’ prices for a BBQ chicken wing, so after pausing to admire the antique teak architecture of the cultural buildings and watching the sunset, we ride back to our accommodation and supper of peanut butter sandwiches. We are surprised at the amount of dew that had already settled on the tent, making it quite damp. This called for a change of plan. The back garden had a large covered patio on a concrete base, complete with lighting and plugs for charging all our electronics, there was also a large table and chair set. We moved and made ourselves very comfortable. Apart from the lack of pillows, the beach mat was an OK mattress and with all our clothes piled on top of us, we were not too cold. It was probably the noisiest night in our journey as the cars and buses drove up the road all night, the drums beating and monotone megaphone praying from the monastry started at about 4 am and the Roosters joined in shortly afterwards. We were once again a great source of amusement in the morning and had an audience whilst we packed up.The proprieters took photos of us for their facebook page, publicising their camping facilities. Nourished by a campsite breakfast of marmalade on raisin bread we set off East along the shores of the Mekhong. It was pretty and peaceful and we stopped often. The treat of the day was a delicious lunch of ‘sticky rice’, BBQ chicken and papaya (paw-paw) salad. ‘Sticky rice’ is both a different type of rice and is also cooked differently. It is soaked for 24 hours and then cooked in the steam in a woven basket. Sometimes coconut milk is added. It is eaten by breaking chunks off the main pile of rice and rolling it into a ball. Papaya salad is grated green papaya, cucumber and other bits and pieces crunched up in a ‘pestle and mortar’. Seafood papaya salad has crab/prawns in it. It is always very spicy hot, beware.
We reach a little dilapidated neglected town along the river called Srichiangmai. Laos on the other side has skyscrapers and big office block looking buildings. There’s music blaring across the water. Laos appears within touching distance, the river is so narrow. We look for rooms/hotels/accommodation signs along the river frontage road and again we get turned away, Full, full, Full. So we carry on riding East, get to the end of the River road and head back into town on the main road until we spot a Thai sign with a big red arrow. We cannot read the Thai sign, but it looks right for hotel (pattern recognition). Sure enough a lovely strip of motel-bungalows, bright pink, inside and out. We settle in, unpack , and go out to find some supper in town. The stir-fried rice and pork was delicious and in a merry relaxed mood we start for our lodgings, which we cannot find. We had arrived in daylight, now it was dark and we didn’t have the name of the place (because it was in Thai) therefore couldn’t type it into Maps. We retraced our path down the main road but couldn’t find any big red arrow. Mild panic ensued as we rode around trying to find our motel. Calm down, let’s start at the beginning, so we rode back to the river road, ( we knew where the river was) and then followed our original route and there it was: the big red arrow. Relieved we turned in and reminded ourselves about making sure to get the name of your hotel, and making sure to get landmarks in a strange place.
The bed was so comfortable after the tent the night before and reasonably priced, we decided to leave all our belongings there for the day and ride 100kms round trip to the Thai-Laos border and back; our visa is due to expire in 3 days. We were hoping that the Green Book (motorbike passport) would have arrived before visa expiry date, then we could go over with the bike to tour Laos. This was not going to happen, but we had to get a renewal without the bike. Having carefully taken note of the name and phone number of the motel, and informed them what we were doing, just in case, we rode unencumbered to the border. We parked the bike, walked through Departures, caught the regulation bus over the River and Entered Laos. Some form filling ensued and Arrived in Laos; We went for a pee at the Duty-free shopping centre and Departed Laos, caught the same bus back over the river and filled in more forms before Arriving in Thailand. Our visa are now stamped until February 27th. We were back in the motel by lunchtime and paid for another night. This time when we went for supper, rice and curried chicken, we knew how to get back.
Khon Kaen was now a mere 219kms away so we rode back to Ban Ton and our extended family. We get news that the Green book and the number plate have arrived in the bike shop. B and Linda go to the Land Transport Department to get the Temporary Export papers signed and a few days later we get them stamped and approved. We can now take the bike out of the Thailand for up to one year, until February 5th 2018. Where shall we go?

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Nan

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Nan

Nan appears to be a prosperous city, not too big and not too crowded and lots of hotels, shops, restaurants and Wats (Temples). While B has a long afternoon sleep, I go window shopping. The good thing about being on a motorbike is that the choice of what to buy doesn’t exist. We cannot carry any more, so I cannot buy any thing. I wander around the town eyeing all the lovely goodies, especially the handmade traditional garments. They are of a heavy cotton/silk mix weave in either just black, white, red or a multitude of super-bright colours, mostly decorated with a fringe of red or white ‘tiny fluffy bobbles’. Some necklines are decorated with flattened silver button like discs. The necklines are a simple ‘V’ and no darts. The left-over threads from the weave/weft are plaited and dangle on the sides at every colour change. There are also exquisite Thai silk creations with crossover bodices on a long wrap-around full length skirt. The Thai people look beautiful wearing them, I think that Westerners just look silly. I treat myself to a beaded silver elephant charm bracelet, that’s not going to add too much weight to the bike load.
Shopping done I return to the guest house, note that B is still sleeping and help myself to coffee and a dilapidated copy of Lonely Planet Thailand. Nan used to be a separate country squashed between Burma, Laos and Siam. Its prosperity came from trading along the Nan river that stretches from North near China to south, modern Bangkok and the Sea. Dragon boats were used on the river to fight off invaders and nowadays are part of their festivals and daily training takes part on the river at sunset. I had noticed in my afternoon wanderings that the souvenir shops had decorative long boats in brass, wood, etc and the guesthouse had a wooden boat objet d’art on its mantelpiece. It’s sunset when B emerges from his slumber, so we jump on the bike and aim for the bridge over Nan river. There, in the rapidly setting sun we spot something on the water, moving towards us very fast. We hear a Thai version of ‘Heave Ho’, but by now it is so dark and visibility is zero. We will come again tomorrow a bit earlier.
Riding around Nan we notice that there are lots of Wats, in a variety of architectural styles and colours. We navigate by using the different colours as landmarks; “We passed the Turquoise Wat earlier, the Pink Wat was on our right just now, the Gold Wat is at the crossroads near our guest house.” At the entrance to the Gold Wat there is a real Dragon Boat. We count the seats, 72 oarsman can paddle this monster. It is so long that B is just a speck at the other end on the photo. The Gold Wat is stunning inside and out. We venture in to be greeted by a visual extravaganza of delicately painted murals depicting the entire history of Nan. The ancient farming community, the fighting dragon boats, fending off the invaders, european traders, modernisation and buddhism all intertwined. A mural of a ‘whispering couple ‘ was excavated in some ancient Wat and these are the faces that are on all the little painted people in the Wat and on the T-shirts in the market. Sometimes the couple are depicted smoking or drinking or hiding in a doorway or peeping out of a window, but they will be remembered forever.
There are 3 bridges over the River Nan so we ride in a figure of 8 up, down, across and round about searching for the launching place of the Dragon boats. A group of 30 teenagers jogged past us, military style, ‘left, Right, left Right” followed by a man on a bright yellow bicycle with the fattest tyres ever. We carry on with our search and meet up with them again coming from the opposite direction; they must have been running/ training for at least one hour. Then we see the yellow bicycle parked up by a blue tarpaulin on the bank of the river, under which is hiding a dragon boat. The teenagers are now donning life jackets and carrying a smaller version of the long boat into the river, barefoot over stones and vegetation. The single boat had about 10 oarsmen, and the double boat about 24, 12 a side. These kids had been jogging for an hour in the cooler afternoon sun (30 -34 degrees) and were now going to do at least an hours rowing. We found a simple bar/ restaurant on the concrete steps of the river bank and watched them row up and down, chanting in unison. When they stopped chanting the silence of the boat was incredible. There was no splashing, no sound at all of the gliding action of the boat and it was going very fast. What a war machine. They stopped at sunset and presumably still had to go home, eat supper, do homework, etc, etc and get to school the next day. And they do it every day. Amazing.
Our 3 day stay in Nan came to an end as B was feeling much better. There was a choice of about 4 roads to take to get around the big indentation of Thailand in the map before going East and meeting the Mekhong river again. We chose the shortest on a path direct to Uttaradit. We had done this route in 2006 on the original Tigerbike, not knowing then that the tarmac road ran out at the dam water’s edge. Back then we had met up with some Chinese missionaries who had phoned somebody, and miraculously a boat had arrived from the other side of the lake to ferry us across. Just to be sure, this time, we checked on Mr Google and ‘Ferry’ came up on the screen. En route to Nam Pat, where the ferry was, we crossed some more mountains and noted that the vegetation was getting drier and drier. The road to the ferry was curvy and steep and we saw wisps of smoke in the distance. Progress had indeed got to NamPat, where the ferry was now on standby and could carry a car. There was a community of fishermen’s floating houses on the lake, and a collection of people and cars waiting to cross. We were loaded onto a smaller ferry for bikes only and were glad to see the two inner tubes of a tractor tyre strapped to the guard rail as life bouyancy floats. The pleasant putt-putt of the engine got us safely to the other side where two chaps from Denmark ( MotoGuzzi 1000 and Stallion 400 ) were parked up. The boatman waited patiently while information about bikes and updated border crossings were swopped. Photos taken and we all went on our journeys, they North west and us going Southeast. The wisps of smoke were getting closer and bigger and around one corner we could see flames at the road edge. TIP one: if you cannot see the end of the fire, Don’t go through. The fire will suck all the oxygen out of your engine and you will stall. We could see the end of the fire, so went through. OK. We stopped to swig some coca cola and look back at the fire, commenting that the smoke was going straight up, not much wind. Just then a dirt devil of twigs and leaves swirled past us furiously gathering more dry loose grasses, before sacrifycing itself to the fire. TIP two: A fire feed itself, and makes its own wind. Don’t stand and stare, move on as quickly as you can. We did just that and made it into Uttaradit by early afternoon, finding a 300baht super clean hotel on the outskirts of town. Another goodnight’s sleep and B’s cold is disappearing fast.

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Tiger 2 goes 4x4

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Photos, Tiger 2 goes 4x4

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Tiger2 does 4x4

We left Chiang Mai on January 13th and it’s now January 20th. We’ve been on the road for 7 continuous days exploring the north of Thailand. The aim is to follow the Mekhong River where it borders Central Thailand and Laos, making our way to the International Crossing. Our visa runs out on February 5th and we calculate we should be there by at least the 2nd. We are waiting for news about the arrival of the Green Book ( motorbike passport ) so that we can get a number plate and the official temporary export papers signed to cross the borders out of Thailand.
We’ve slept in a variety of rooms, some definitely grander than others, but they all have a common denominator: Rock hard mattresses and pillows. Ultra firm mattresses are OK, but concrete-like pillows are playing havoc with B’s neck and shoulders. After a particularly restless night, this time in Chiang Kham, we decide to take an easier route down the 1148 heading to Nan. Mid-morning we see a blue tourist sign publicising the Royal Agricultural Project and a Cultural Centre, and Coffee. And the road immediately climbs steeply, directing us to the Phu Sang National Park. We stop at the Luxury restaurant offering Coffee, and sip some traditional tea offered to us from a local stall. The national park is further up the road so we keep riding upwards , tarmac road narrows to a concrete strip and then a red/white painted bamboo barrier prevents us from going further. That’s a pity. We start to turn around and then notice a rangers station at the end of the drive. We turn in and get a friendly greeting ; “SawadeeKap”. They check our tyres, look at our passports, note that we don’t have a number plate, and indicate for us to follow the man main in camouflage gear. He leads us along another driveway and we pop out the other side of the barrier, “Hey Ho, let’s Go.”
Our altitude is 969 metres and 10kms later we are at 1720m. The road is a rutted 4X4 track through the jungle. It is soooo steep that I need to get off and walk. B is yelling “lean forward, lean forward”, but as we are both now almost sitting on the tank, its impossible for me to hang on anymore. Huff and Puff, I walk a bit, ride for the level-ish stretches and then we reach the top. B is using 2wheels and 2 feet ( 4x4 ) to foot it up the track and keep the bike pointing forwards. At the top there is a sign encouraging us to walk the final 2kms. The air is fresh, the views unbelievable and we chastise ourselves for forgetting to bring a bottle of water with us. We rest and gaze about in wonder before hiking the 2kms back to the bike. The ride down the track is mad. As we descend, the back of the bike is sliding faster than the front, threatening to overtake itself. B releases the throttle to restore some grip. “Get back, get back” he shouts, “put some weight on the back-end”. I heave myself uphill as far back as possible, lie flat across the beach mat on the rear rack, hook my arms around the walking stick , which is acting like a rear-end handle bar and hold my head up with a non-existent 6-pack. And then we go up again, “get forward, get forward”, he shouts. Quick as a flash, I unhook arms and pull myself forward again, receiving a Thai tatoo (exhaust burn) in the process. I’ve seen similar energetic action at the SideCar races at the Val de Vienne Circuit where the pillions throw themselves left to right around the corners to assist the pilot. Well, I’m doing the same, frontwards/backwards until we reach the ranger’s station. 2 hours of fun. We down a warm coca cola, rub sore wrists and put burn-aid on my leg. Our first-aid kit is basic. Plasters, burn-aid cream, antihistamine pills and paracetamol. After all that excitement we’re happy to ride the calmness of the 1148 to Nan, but we turn the wrong way at the T-junction, miss the U-turn sign and by 4pm are in a town called Pua. We approach the helpful man at the visitor centre, who phones around and then directs us to a nice Thai hotel across the road. We are starting to recognise the Thai signs for hotel now. There’s no-one there, but we call and wander around and find a lady in the laundry room at the back. We give her 350 baht and she gives us a key for the very first room at the entrance on the ground floor. Perfect. And the pillows are soft. It’s so good we stay there for 4 days. The owner gives us 50 baht back, explaining that the laundry lady had overcharged us for the room, so kind and honest. The room is only 300 baht per day. We have found it very refreshing that whenever we pulled in for chain-adjustment or any small task, they wave their hands refusing money, “free, free”. We discuss clothes washing facilities in town and the owner says we can use his brand-new industrial top loader, plus powder and softener, for free. So kind. While B stays in bed, nursing a cold and fever and downing pills, I load the washing machine a few times and try and sort out 70,000 photos up in the cloud into Albums. The wi-fi is strong, the coffee and biscuits are free, and at 4pm every day we get fresh towels and bottled water. The owner seems to spend the whole day in his room behind reception and only emerges when the bell is pressed. Actually we don’t discover the bell until we finally leave and write a thank you note for a lovely stay. Apart from that we see nobody else. A sort of ghost DIY hotel, except for Sunday morning , 5am. Music blaring on huge speakers alarm us to wake up, there’s a mass commotion in the foyer and hundreds of bicycles and their riders have descended into town and our hotel. Its a cycle competition. No expense spared in cycle kit, bikes and personal gear. By 8 am they’re off in timed sections/ relays, and then its quiet again. Back to ghost town. Next door to the hotel is a sophisticated cart on wheels which gets trundled out every day in the late afternoon; It contains a stainless steel cutting block and various plastic bowls and a stainless steel gas driven hotplate with chimney. The nice young man unpacks 6 plastic tables and chairs with table cloths all wiped down with soapy water. There are Two big tubs, one for his hands, the other for dishes. We watch him pack up and unpack every day, meticulously preparing and cleaning and cooking. We eat there every evening, delicious stir-fried dinners. Rice, chicken pork, vegetables and soup are on the menu. Simple and tasty. There is also a poster for Smart English Lessons. The Thai gentleman who runs these classes introduces himself and we chat away, he is concentrating on practising English pronunciation. By day 4 we have arranged for his group of Thai students (aged 14 to 17) to prepare some interview questions. The classes are all after school, as he is the English teacher during the day, but gives private classes at his rooms in the evening. They approach us during dinner and we have a lovely evening interacting with these youngsters, answering questions about ‘our favourite Thai food’, what does our house look like’, what are our hobbies, etc. ?‘ I am offered a job at the government school, which I graciously decline, but will keep it in mind for another time.
We reluctantly pack up, Pua has captured our hearts, a simple, dusty, ghost town with a big welcoming embrace into its culture and ways. We get to Nan after 2 hours in the correct direction, B is very tired and coughing lots, he’s been hit by the same lurgy-bug that got me at Xmas. We find a deserted reception desk at a guest house, but one of the guests thrust a card in my hand, before whizzing off on her scooter. We phone a number, speak to a man in English and are told to wait ‘ a moment’. He soon appears and we negotiate a below-the-going-rate for a 3 day stay. It’s a nice room on the ground floor. Once again, he never really seems to be there, help yourself to coffee and toast, which we do, another DIY hotel. People saunter in and out, dish out business cards and help themselves to keys hanging on a series of hooks. This place is decorated with antique treadle sewing machine bases, restored and topped with wood, glass cabinets filled with American Wild West memorabilia and some very heavy cast metal wagon and horse (Wells Fargo, etc ) nick-nacks. All open, obviously theft in Nan does not exist, but we lock our room anyway.
It’s now 24 days since we bought the GPXRacing Legend 200. The 3026 kms journey from Khon Kaen to Nan has been beyond our expectations, filled with adventure after adventure. Tiger2 enjoyed a week in Ban Ton, touched the Burmese border, had a slice of Pai, was Named, met the Mighty Mekhong, experienced the Golden Triangle, done Daisy Inn, and Morphed into a 4X4 ( 2 wheels and 2 feet).
Our 3 day rest in Nan is well deserved.

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Photos to go with Tiger2 does Daisy Inn.

https://goo.gl/photos/BUCVxwV8UiEqTb4J9

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Tiger2 does Daisy Inn

We leave Chiang Rai via a visit to the bank. I hang around outside guarding our worldly goods while B sorts out the withdrawal. An American on a Honda XR 250 Trail Bike, in full bike gear, stops by to chat. He informs me that Chiang Khong is only 1.5 hours away on the highway, but a better place to go is Wiang Kaen, in the mountains a bit further south.
We’ll be there quickly, before lunch. I decline to tell him that we don’t want to get there quickly, for us it is the getting there. Five and a half hours later we have had a very pleasant 200 kms ride, stopping at a local silk weaving home industry place and meandering alongside the river. Picnic lunch of peanut butter sandwiches, chain oil stop and water-break, no stress. We pass a petrol station and decide to carry on and fill up at our destination for the night, Wiang Kaen. Our tank holds 12litres and we can do about 350kms at a push on a full tank. We hadn’t used the reserve tank yet, which gives us the emergency 50kms. There’s a T-junction directing us Left to Wiang Kaen, 20 kms away. We have enough fuel for that. 20 kms into the very pothole rough road we reach a fork in the road. Mmmm, not sure about this, but instinctively follow the road that has the very indistinct faded yellow line down the middle. It’s the Left fork; “This looks like the main road”. After a short meander through a village full of people and dogs, we land up at the river’s edge, dead end. We turn around and ride back to the fork. “This looks a bit odd. Let’s ask someone where the Wiang Kaen and the petrol station is”. Two old men shake their heads, “No petrol here, go back and Yes, this is Wiang Kaen”. As the first priority is petrol, we do the pothole road 20 kms back to the petrol station we had seen about one hour earlier. The fuel gauge started flashing ‘empty’, and we then switched on to the reserve tank. We reached the petrol station and Tiger2 swallowed almost 12litres. The town where the petrol station is, at the T-Junction, has a row of shops on each part of the junction, and that’s it. We don’t know what a hotel is in Thai, written or spoken, so its quite difficult to recognise where there are lodgings. We look around vaguely wondering what to do, because now we have a full tank, we could carry on to Wiang Kaen, as indicated Left at the T-Junction and try and find this place, wherever it is. However, dusk was settling in and we didn’t want to get lost in the dark. “What shall we do?” Luckily, across the road from the petrol station, above a large pretty painting of a daisy, we spot a little sign in English reading ‘Daisy Inn’. We shot across the road, decision made, as a young man on a very swish racing bicycle in full gear, rides out. He glances backwards, gives a sigh and turns around. He’s the owner and a very competitive bicycle man. In the cool of the evening he goes cycling. There are lots of trophies on the reception desk. We book in to Daisy Inn, 300 baht, beautiful room en-suite, free toast, coffee and strong wi-fi. We are still not sure where we are.
The next morning, fully rested and bike loaded, we ride back to the T-junction, confidently re-read the sign to Wiang Kaen and turn Left again, do the pot-hole thing and at the fork in the road,this time we go Right. This is lovely, tarmac, river and Laos on the left side, mountains on the right. Wait a minute, that’s not correct. The early morning rising sun was also on our right. We’re travelling north, should be south. And then the road runs out at the rivers’ edge, 40 kms into our days’ ride. OK, let’s try again. So it’s back to the fork, back down the pot-hole road and back to the T-Junction. We take full advantage of our previous night’s stay and had another coffee at Daisy Inn. The man at Daisy Inn tells us we are in Wiang Kaen. How confusing. We go to the T-Junction again, ignore the left sign to Wiang Kaen, and turn Right.
This road is amazing. It takes us on the curviest road ever, with the road signs changing from 8% steepness to 12%. At 1200metres altitude we round a corner and we ‘see the painting’. This is the view that inspired the artist in Chiang Rai. There’s the village on one side and swathes of rolling mountains and low level valley clouds stretching forever. We are speechless. It was breathtaking. And it went on and on. Up, up, up, down, down, down, round, round, round. Again and again. There were many indications that the Royal Agricultural Projects Foundation had been busy here. Patches of farming, no more than 100 square metres. Cabbages facing West, Strawberries facing East, Rice in the middle. Sweetcorn up super-steep slopes and coffee beans drying on big tarpaulins in the road. Washing drying on satellite dishes. A few wooden dwellings. We stop at a Hot waterfall where the minerals have formed a huge lump at its base. The locals are having a warm swim.
We get to Chiang Kham, only 74 kms from where we started after the third attempt at the T-Junction, 100 kms being the longest cul-de-sac ever. Enough for the day. We find a hotel in this busy dry dusty town, 150 baht, Thai toilet and cold shower only. Never mind. We’re not sure if we ever did find Wiang Kaen, but we sure know where Daisy Inn is.

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Tiger2 photos: Mekhong and Golden Triangle

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Tiger2 does the Golden Triangle

Sitting on the steps by the bank of the Mekhong River, we are eating papaya (paw-paw) watching the sun rise. We had crossed the road carrying our plastic bag of fruit and were waved a cheery “good morning” by the early morning risers on their bicycles. There is a custom throughout Thailand for exercising at open public spaces. We would often come across crowds of keep-fitters, bending dancing and stretching in time to heart thumping music at sunrise and sunset. All ages and sizes, getting a daily work-out. There are cyclists, runners, walkers and exercisers occupying parks and tracks for the first and last hours of the day. We watch two elderly ladies using the sidewalk rails to bend and stretch before marching off with their walking sticks. While Westerners are eating breakfast, or are having sundowners, the Easterners are intent on keeping fit. Makes you think? Music from Laos came bouncing across the water as we packed up, loaded the bike and rode North towards Mae Sai (MS). 9kms up the road we saw a sign to the Hall of Opium Museum and turned left up a very grand drive , passing an amazing pond, absolutely still waters with an immaculately cut sloping grassy bank displaying a box-type hedge with the words ‘Hall of Opium’ . The reflection in the pond created a bizarre inverted mirror image and we pondered about the symbolism, either by design or accident. The entrance fee for the museum was beyond our budget and we didn’t feel like funding this activity or anything associated with it anyway, so rode around the complex towards the exit, where B spotted an exquisitely beautiful kingfisher warming up in the morning sun. Stop, stop, quickly, quickly, unzip the camera bag, switch on, maximum zoom. Got it. Made my day :). A few kilometres further on we stop again at the ‘official’ golden Triangle, marked by many local vendors, golden statues and stall holders offering boat trips to Laos. A few buses pull up and a French tour begins. A portly chap wanders over, more interested in us than the tour guide and to my surprise we hold a passable conversation in French. Yayhay, our French is improving. His tour group moves on and he runs off to catch up with them. We spot a 4-sided triangular monument, studded with gold, silver and sparkling mosaics, illustrating the convergence of the rivers where Burma, Thailand and Laos meet. And yes, we bought the T-Shirt.
The road north to Mae Sai (MS) is uneventful, we do the U-turn trick under yet another ‘Friendship Bridge’ and head down the highway for some speedy riding to Chiang Rai (CR). B has been concerned about a ‘whining’ noise, perhaps a defective bearing somewhere, and wants to get it checked out in a big town where there may be a GPX Racing dealer. Chiang Rai is lovely, wide streets, lots of trees and statues and we spot a sign for A-Residence in the centre of town. The price is a bit steep but as we enter one of the rooms, I fall in love with the amazing super-size canvas (photo of original oil painting) above the bed. Gotta stay here, please. The owners are charming, free coffee and bananas, and super helpful on the telephone as we search for a GPX motorcycle dealer, draw maps and explain about the noise. The mechanic took the bike for a ride, it sounded normal to him, and B was reassured. The first oil change had been done at 1000kms in Chiang Mai, it was now necessary for a full service at 2000kms. Maintenance and bike things done, plus more free water and coffee, we set about exploring the area. There is a government sponsored settlement a short way out of town for the local Long Neck Karon people, where tourists can pay to walk around their villages, buy their wares, and take photos. The monies received go towards the maintenance of their culture, and finance their education and healthcare. Not sure about the moral/ethical issues involved which both oppress and sustain these people, we decide to see what it is all about. The entrance fee is exorbitant, so that solves that dilemna. But I take some photos in the reception area. The weight of the metal neck bands are over 2kilos and the diagram of the neck-bones rather interesting. We leave and go to an art exhibition, where the paintings are mostly in memory of the late King, a variety of styles and competency, but nevertheless a pleasant insight into Thai life. More photos.
The photos are on the micro-SD card on the camera, which needs to be removed and inserted into my tablet, so that they can be uploaded into the magic cloud beyond my comprehension. Once I have checked that all photos are ‘up there’ I format the SD card and clear the images off ready to take more. For this there needs to be a strong Wi-Fi which most accommodation does have and I do this every few days. My fear is losing the camera with the photos. I never thought about losing the photos in the cloud. Sundowner time is photo maintenance time and to my astonishment the last 300 are gone. Shock, Horror, Freak out Time. While I’m throwing hysterics, B calmly opens Mr Google and finds out that you can ‘untrash’ photos with a few simple clicks. I had somehow pushed delete instead of upload!!!! Peace is restored and we fall asleep under a beautiful painting. Before we leave the next morning, having filled up on bananas and coffee, we persuade the owner to open up the unoccupied rooms to view some more of the fabulous art work. I snap away, save them to the Cloud and we are on our way again.
Tiger2 has completed the loop around the Golden Triangle and we head East to Chiang Khong (CK).

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Tiger2 meets the Mighty Mekhong

We leave Ping Khong (PK on map) and are aiming for Chiang Saen (CS on map), 184kms away to the East on the Mekhong river. This is where Myanmar, Laos and Thailand all meet at one of the many areas named the ‘Golden Triangle’ forming a natural boundary between them. This seems to be the River ‘Golden Triangle’. We are riding diagonally through the Geographical one, with high mountains forming 2 sides of the Triangle, peaking at Mai Sae (MS) on the most northern boundary with Myanmar, and the flat lowlands through Chiang Rai (CR) as the natural base. The term ‘Golden Triangle’ is also used to refer to the production of Opium, which was declared illegal by Thailand in 1959. The late King of Thailand created the highly successful Royal Project Foundation of which there are now more than 2,500 agricultural units. The mission is to improve living conditions in remote rural areas, particularly the north, with substitution crops and therefore help to eliminate the illegal crops. The foundation encourages land management, dividing small farms into 30% water source, 30% rice, 30% mix

ed crops, (fruit and vegetables), and 10% residence, leading to self sufficiency.
The roads in Thailand are a bit like the little girl, who had a little curl, right in the middle of her forehead, because when they are good, they are very very Good, but when they are Bad they are ..................................a challenge. So with a “ Goodbye” to my curls and “Hello” to another day of helmet hair, we start the daily road challenge. 3kms after leaving the little bit of heaven at PingKhong resort, we hit the Baddest of Bad Roads and competed with bulldozers, excavators and articulated trucks to find our way forward. Everything was driving on both sides of the road at the same time and the dust was both choking and blinding. And then to make it worse a water truck joined in the fun, so the dust turned to slippery sloshy mud. A nice challenge for B. My challenge is to hang on and take some decent photos. The Samsung Gear on my arm takes 15second videos, but I have to keep my bent arm up in the air over my head, not possible. The Go Pro is on the front handle bar and I cannot get to it to switch it on. My Sony super zoom is belted around my waist, so I do my best with one hand gripping B’s pants and the other one snapping away. 5 kms is a long way under such conditions, but thankfully the road becomes Good again and stays that way for the rest of the 180 kms trip to Chiang Saen.
The riding takes on a rhythm and pattern as we pass through clusters of communities. First the rice paddies, then a temple (called a WAT), then perhaps a few houses, followed by a school with playing fields, next a hospital, a Tesco Lotus, and then bigger shops all spilling their wares onto the pavements (every possible consumer goods available), a bit of industrial space and back to rice paddies. This rhythm and pattern repeats itself many many times along the route; it’s not boring , just fascinating. The big names are there, Samsung, Phillips, LG, Toyota, etc intermingled with local crafts and food stalls, garden centres, concrete animals, plastic baskets, wave after wave of thriving industrious “busyness”. We have a standard tasty brunch at Tesco Lotus of rice and soup – 40 baht /1euro each, top up with fresh orange juice and ride the final part of the journey. We pass corn-on-the-cob drying on big mats by the side of the road and get to Chiang Saen by 15h30. We cannot go any further, it’s a T junction with the Mighty Mekhong forming the “T”. It’s wide, brown, fast-flowing, some boats whizzing around and we look across to Laos.
Of course, we are hungry, again! Turning left we spot a chinese cafe/ restaurant. The menu offers stir fried rice and crispy ‘prok’. Not sure about the ‘prok’, which actually turns out to be bacon. Tummies full we ask the waitress if she knows about any cheap room? “ Yes, next door.” A very pleasant room across the road from the banks of the river for 300 baht. All the rooms we’ve stayed in have a TV, but this was the first TV that we saw in a padlocked cage. Most TV’s are large flat screens, so this was even funnier that it was a very old CRT that needed to be bolted up. Chiang Saen is described on our GT-Rider map as an Ancient Mekhong city. So like Chiang Mai it was walled and moated; with the river being the Eastern natural moat. We rodeeeeeeeeeeeee around the wall and were most impressed with the Fine job done by the Fine Art department. Pristine stainless steel signs, acid etched with lots of detailed technical drawings explaining construction and history of the ancient Wall. The city was a former separate Thai Kingdom dating back to the 7th century. Apparently the Burmese, raided the area and took the Thai people as slaves. On the other side of the River, the people from Laos weren’t too friendly either. We walked around an ancient 4-sided monument before heading back to our lodgings. A ride around town, then a walk through town for a banana pancake and the best part was the soft pink sunset over the river. The Mekhong River is the world’s 12th longest river, at 4350kms long. Its source is in the South Eeastern Chinese province of Qinghai, partly the disputed Tibetian Plateau, and it is the international border of Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, finally draining into South China Sea. The lives of an estimated 70 million people depend on it. We find out that the boats buzzing across the wide brown waters carry gamblers back and forth to the casinos on the Laos side.
Tomorrow, Tuesday January 17, we plan to complete our ‘Golden Triangle’ and travel to the Northern most tip of Thailand at Mai Sai. Today, Tiger2 met the Mighty Mekhong.

see www. Bangkokpost.com 4th feb2017 ‘Battle rages for the Mekhong’

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Photos to go with story: Tiger2 gets Named.

https://goo.gl/photos/Ecxvh35xVghAc4Hv7

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Tiger2 gets named.

Making full use of our GT-rider dirt trail map, we have planned an exciting day, putting the new bike to the ultimate test. We know it handles Tarmac, gravel and potholes, but will it handle dirt trails, 2up and fully loaded? It’s January 15th and after a restful stayover in Pai, it’s time to move on.
Even at 10am the mist and clouds are really low and its a bit chilly, so we dress in thermals, arm sleeves, neck scarves and socks. Ready to take on the cold and damp. Shortly after leaving Pai the road rises steeply above the mist and it’s stinking hot. We stop at a roadside stall to strip, re-load the bike and have a coffee. The road is still tarmac and sweeps along pleasantly as it curves and climbs. Then it disappears. This is what we wanted: 22kms of dirt track in the mountains in the ever changing scenery. Banana trees and papyrus grasses give way to bamboo forests, then blue-gum trees and at the highest level some dry-pines, all intermingled with the tallest trees and the biggest leaves we have ever seen. Through gaps in the vegetation we catch glimpses of layers and layers of mountains fading away into the hazy blueness like a visual echo. It is spellbinding stuff. The bike just eats up the trail, with B at the ready to bounce, hop, skip and jump the ruts and the grooves in his unique style. Feet and legs flying and me hanging on. “Watch out for Tigers,” he yells. “We’re on one,” I yell back. And so Tiger2 gets its name.
Midday, the heat is intense and increases with the hard work we are doing just to stay on the bike, its time for shedding more layers and stopping for a coca cola break. As luck would have it there is a small village right there as we come hurtling around the corner. Whew. We climb off, straighten up, shake down and I jiggle my way through a very crowded hut filled with 20 or more guys all dressed in full motorcross gear, eating noodles. As I wiggle through,” ‘scuse me, ‘scuse me,” a very handsome chap in impeccable English offers to do any translations that we might require. “I would like to buy a coca cola please”, I said. In perfect Thai he asked for a “coca cola”. I complimented him on his English and my new best friend introduced himself (Nop) and his team of Dirt Bike Riders from Pai.
Naturally he asked where I was going , I showed him the map and he shook his head disapprovingly. “Too dangerous, many drug carriers and at war with the government and army. Not possible on a scooter”, he said. He hadn’t met B and thought I was a girl on my own on a scooter. I called B over from where he was round the corner (having a fag!!!) and all became clear. Nop checked the bike and tyres. Tick. He checked the map with B. Tick. He confirmed that at the next junction we keep Right. Tick. So with Nop’s approval we finished our coca cola, and a wave from a Jonny Depp look alike in a Pirates of the Caribbean bandana we start the last 25kms of the trail.
The steepest section required 2nd gear at 20kms/hr and on the straights, eezy-peezy. B is a stickler for maintenance and we stopped a few more times to oil the chain and wind up the shocks. The dirt trail riding style that B has developed gave him the reputation of being the ‘untidiest’ Enduro rider in his competition days. He flings his leg to one side which moves the centre of gravity of the bike to the opposing side, and visa versa, controlling and aiming the bike through the many ruts and grooves that confront us. Another advantage is that B does most of his enduro riding sitting down, rather than standing, thus conserving energy. It was exhilarating.
The trusty sliced bread and peanut butter sandwiches filled a hole in our tummies and 4 hours later we had completed the 74kms from Pai to Kong Lom and up to Lak Taeng on the Thai-Burma border, with 50kms being dirt trail-riding.
We normally start looking for accommodation at about 4pm and it was only 2pm, much too early to stop for the night. After a short stop and chat to a guy from Denmark on his rented Honda 650, we head South, pass Wiang Haeng and cross another amazing mountain range, highest altitude on the road about 1300 m, 80 kms away. It took 3 hours, with Tiger2 reaching 115kms on the tarmac straights.
Knowing the sun sets very quickly from 5pm onwards we started to get a bit anxious about lodgings but there had been no recognisable signs for rooms/hotels on the big roads and then there was a big blue tourist sign advertising Ping Khong Resort, in English. Turn Right Now. It’s a concrete strip between fields of maize plantations. After 5 kms we are feeling a bit uneasy about finding a resort on this route so we return back to the sign. There no indication of distance and no mention on google maps of a resort so we just park up, dismount and stand under the sign. Sure enough as the sun sets, a smartly dressed man in a pick-up stops and asks if he can help. He assures us that the resort is open and about 10kms down the strip road. Take Two. Sure enough, there it is. Absolutely stunning in the setting sun, a charming set of bungalows, with pretty broken-tile mosaic flooring, lace tablecloths, wicker armchairs all alongside a gently flowing river and soothing music wafting on subtle speakers. After such an energetic adventure filled day, this was heaven. The price was way over budget, but worth it. We had a delicious TomYum soup and rice supper brought to us on a flaming bowl on a bamboo deck over the river. In the middle of the night the temperature dropped and we woke up shivering, the light cotton quilt rather inadequate. B gallantly wanders outside in his sarong, wakes up the staff sleeping at reception, and the lovely fluffy friendly dog who starts barking, and possibly a few other guests in his search for a blanket. Mission accomplished, peace reigns again and warm again we slumber on. This little piece of heaven has rice soup with pork meatballs included in the price for breakfast, different, but needs must. During breakfast we were entertained by some local workers who were hand-building another bamboo deck and walkway on the other side of the river. Chopping, hammering and tying with twine. Not a powertool in sight. These people are incredibly resourceful and ingenious using the natural materials that surround them to create beautiful and functional things. We pack up, oil the chain, take photos, wave goodbye and continue down the concrete track in amongst the corn crop, getting to a T-junction on the 107 heading north shortly after 11am.
A wonderful 24 hours to be remembered forever. The GPX Racing Legend 200 has become our Tiger2.

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