Back up around the North. Part1: North West

[Dougal]

This report will be done in "Parts" to allow Marco to post his enormous amount of photos!

The Riders:
Dougal - FZ1
Marco - BMW LT
David - BMW GS

We met in Petchabun as we were coming from all different directions; myself from Chonburi, Marco from Ubon and David from Chiang Khong.
Our trip for the North West was: Umphang, Mae Sot, Mae Hong Son.
For the North was: Mae Salong, Doi Tung, Mae Sai, Chiang Khong, CNX.
For the North East was: Nan and then down to Loei and Isaan.

So lets hit the road!

A temple on the hill in Khao Kho on the way West

Lunch stop on Route 12

The view from the restaurant (worst Khao Pat ever eaten!)

The view point on Route 105 to Mae Sot

The road to Umphang is a real funky little road. Really narrow in places and you have to be alert at all times for the corner cutting tour mini buses! Think that's why Marco and David had me in front all the time!!

Waterfall and views along the Umphang road

Dave and Mai enjoying the road

Met up with the road cavalier himself: Capt Slash. In fact we met up again in Mae Sot where he was expanding his culinary adventures.
Great meeting you Colin.

On the road we met up with a bike group coming the other way. At least two of them were German and one had never seen a BMW LT?????
Are they making them in China now?

A couple of road side views including the classic viewpoint South of Mae Hong Son.

Arrived in Mae Hong Son to find a screw up with the bookings at Piya GH. Some of you guys had the same problem on the memorial ride?
Could'nt make the memorial ride but we went to the temple to pay our respects.
Here is the temple by the lake and the just planted memorial trees to TJ and Simon.

The next day we went out the back of MHS to a KMT village on the border.
Here is a shot of the lake and the Tea House:

Love the sign out front.

On the wall we found some throwover saddlebags that might interest Capt Slash:

On the way back down visited this pretty reservoir:

Then a visit to the Palace up there where I had to convince this little darling I was not a Kiwi before she would let me cuddle her:
Aaaawh is'nt she cute?

There was a nice stop point where you could walk to the waterfall. I decided it was easier to photograph it through the trees from distance:

Marco and myself got up really early (no jokes for Dave Unk please!) and went up to the temple on the hill in MHS and got these sunrise shots.

So we headed down towards CNX and had a lovely coffee in the Soppong River Inn. Here's the sign and the beautiful little river out back:

And finally the classic road view before Pai:

OK Marco, over to you.

Part 2: The North will follow soon. Hope you all enjoy.

.

 

[Marco]

OK,,, what would be " enormous amount of photos"? per post :wink:
as peter and Tony mentioned in other post, i took 1974 pictures and several short vdo clips....

So met Peter in the Petchabhun in burabhaaaa hotel.
But here is all the Stats from the whole trip from my GPS

abd here is total ammount of Km's fro Odometer in the bike

minus -40393 what was in the start front of my house, so toal is 4623Km in 17days

So back in Burabhaaa hotel

Starting Temperature in RD 23

And this bugger was already eating when i arrived 5minutes after him,, talking abot timing, i left home 0555am and he left 0630am and arrived 5min from each other

And there is no trip that his Fazer do not have something wrong, this timetrolle cable was loosn,,maybe it's because he wind up his trottle all the time to the end..555

this work shop they had younges supervisor what i have seen in Thai...

david and Mai arrived several hrs later and off we go to look fod and chicks with NO Nuts.... :wink:

What a jammy looking dish and was left un eaten,,,,, :cry:

david was not happy abt food,,Kind of can read from his face,,can you :shock:

this do not need exlapanition,,water hs nothing to do for this mood...LOL
That ws 1st night and had lot's of fun,,So next day we where ready for challenge,,,so off we go towards Sukhothai

Me & my German Buss just love these windy roads and the weather was just fantastic

OK Guy, this is just not right,, have any of you tryed this? me nd dave did exactly as the sign tells us to do,but bikes did not move in any direction,Notice that our bikes are for opposite direction so we covered both directions...

NOW, ths time i gave NEW name for david, U-Turn David,,Man this man likes u turns and most of them are un even roads,narrow roads or in Bends, and MY Tank do not like U-Turns :cry:

Have no idea what they talking abt, but i was prepard for an other U-Turn
again...

on the way to Sukhothai still and i just love low clowds

Now,, w get to the point,, this is taken in that white temple Peter showed earlier

and these guys start they normal yacking and picking each other's, what was so much fun to listen..
Btw, most of my pictures from the road have been taken while moving.

after tha short stop we continue towards Sukhothai

Any one knows where is this taken?

hint #2

hint #3

Peter never miss the "Puss" he even find them fwaiting him outside Males toilet.

Like said earlier, this yacking andd picking continues in every stop and with huge variety of topic's,,i dont even wanna go in to details

David and Mai leading the way

On of the few times i was ahead of some one,,Usually im waaay behind

here is the restaurant of Worst Kao Pat place as Peter pointed out, i even has it in my GPS so we will not stop there any more,i mean it was soo tastless.

have a guess what are these fellows are doing.... :wink:

NOW, this was intresting and make an other topic to talk about, we desided to stop about 10minutes before Sukhothai for a coffee with peter and David found that not amusing,,,but have to say that following conversation was fun to listen..

then we took off from the coffee stop and i some reasson david accelerate Very very fast an his Tank back fly off from the tank and in to the Bush beside the road, one part of the Back was returned by Thai cpl with scooter as they saw it where it lands,but bag it self took us abt 5min to found as it was deep inside the bush by the road.

our place in Sukhothai, very nice and afordable place with exelent parking for bikes.

Coffee cup is the restaurant to dine and drink for, Peter for his favorate cup

After "Heavy lifting" that cup whole night, next morning where eary BFast, but thats in the next part.

 

[TonyBKK]

Awesome guys! Keep 'em coming! :mrgreen:

 

[DavidFL]

Yes sir(s), bring 'em on...you guys had a fantastic time by the looks of it alright.

 

[Franz]

Some stunning pictures Peter & Marco. By the way, Umphang road, Marco why did you have Peter drive ahead of you although you knew about the corner cutting buses ?? Did Ohm have a hand in this I wonder ?? :wink: .
Saddlebags for Colin, noooooo, still too shiny...... :lol: , keep em coming !! Cheers, Franz

 

[Marco]

OK, are youguys ready or some more photos and wacky comments and dicussions?

So Bfast again in the coffee cup, guys(Peter &David&Mai) where in they typical Beauty sleep when i woke up at 6am,, Maan they can sleep..

morning i noticed that david's beemer got a "girl"friend during the night

Menu reading time and about 3mugs of coffee and arival of David

I like action photos,especially when People dont know that tey been photoed,,maybe too early for some sencitive topic's if you looking to David's face...

Some photos on the way from SukhoThai ruins

Darn, this fellow was following me all thetime,, sometime he was in front and beside and back,, but i never managed to shake him off.. :cry:

Well,, now, there was discussion before we left that after about 25min after departure we need to stop as D&M have use to have they Morning Wee stop,, so i hope there is no complaining when we wanna have our coffee brakes,, if taking about bad habbits...LOL :lol: :lol:

Ones we entered o Twisty section, we must be the first on the sceen as this truck driver was still walking around and there was no coppies yet,might have front brake problem...

Tec freek?? his try to contact his frind in the oil field in (I hope im correct),Mae Sot?

NOW, this one i have to give Credit to David,, this U-Turn was restulted by Peter and OFCOURSE in fricking narrow road again, these guys just dont understand that my Buss need place to turn,,Like football field would be nice,,

Arrived to oil field middle of the sugar cane field,, just few weeks old rig.

and waiting game starts, in the SUN and it ws HOT,,did i say HOT already?

Dont you guys tell me again that we need to do U-Turn,,,,im waiting....

YES no Uturns, so we continue towards to Umphang

OH,Nooo, road work,,

Thank god it was ok,, so we continue

So we continue riding

First i saw the bike in the middle of the road parked in the very odd place and then i saw yellowish jacket from distance, i knoew that there is only 1 person who would park like that and yes it ws Colin, matey, it was nice surprice to pop in to you and this was your firt time to meet Dougla also,,,

after few min we continued to ride and i was hungry,,

David in action

then in midway point in the rest station we pop in to these Ozzy girls, they where haveing some Educational school trip to Umphang,,Educational trip to Umphang :shock:
had a little chat with them and they where really hesitant to eat food but as they saw us eating they came and ask about it and they they where stong enough to taste it,, good on you girls.

Fantastic sceenery in this road.

and we where guite high as well

Now we arrived to Umphang and YES OF COURSE there was miss communication so we end up in the middle of the town in the 2met wide road and had to make U-Turn AGAIN,, :evil:

Arrived to Davids friend house and got vey warm welcome and guys got some LEO,,but there was NO Chang available that time,, problem where rectifyed later, how ever i was no mood for drinking that night and retired very early only to listen Peter to SNOORE like BIG Chang even his Hut was about 5meters away from Mine.

we where told that those where "Vigin" bunglows as no one has yet to sleep in there, so Me and Peter where officially 1st Guests in there
bit negative side was price tag of 700Thb per night, but for one time in there i think that can justify it,,

ok, i have no idea what they are asking from up.

Had a fantastic dinner, home cooked and with lot's of talking and lost of laugh's.

Cold???

In here i have no idea what has happend during the night, but it's David Beemer...

What a lovely Foggy and cold morning

look, whos finally wake up

Now Peter, you talking about my Yeti Issues???
So as David cristening you officially you are YODA now, from Star wars....

Umpangs Celebrities and us for Bfast, btw, i noticed that this is same place where Colin takes his bfast and dinner...

Peter noticed this sign earlier,but after the Bfast guys where so busy that they forgot to Photo oppoturnity,,,i always have time for nice photo

Hmmmm,,,what shold i say about this,,Hey he can smile sometimes....LOL

then ride back to Mae Sot and no pictures as it was same old road,,,
So DK Hotel in mae Sot, our favorite.
Nw, this next section is going to be funny, guess who we pump in to in there,,COOOLIN again,,,i think he was looking for us...555

Adverticing is important art of the business,, especiall when it's spelled "correctly"

These guys had so much to talk as they walk almost hand by hand all the way back to hotel..

Wanna take my hand, i'll help you gross the street? 555555 :lol:

Back in outside our hotel, and with wasy too many Beers,for some one,,i just drank delicious Chang..

and met Peters Thai friend, Yo, he was funny lad, Rig Manager and only thai holding that position in the world.

next morning for Breky in the same place, but this time guys where up b4 me,, what is some what world record also...5555

off we whent again, to MHS

this was not U-Turn point, just a regular Ciggarette stop

little bit road construction in here, but "Buss" managed that ok.

As peter commented to our met german Friends, when i arrived to there, very first guestion from one of them was :What the Hell is that???(My LT) where his friend commented,, you sould know as you are German,, they where just wondering how one can ride with these roads with this,,
So conclution is that One NEED to be FINNISH to able ride German Buss in Thailand.... 8)

I need to put this for my dear friend Franz as i'm from Mission from God to convert him back to this label,,,

man of you guys know Peter and those who know him would NOT belive what i witness it,, That man Ordered Vegetable Salad and VEGETABLE PIZZA and actually ate them as well,, well, i guess there is Mirracles in here as well and for the record, it was NOT last time in this trip, he re do it later...i started to get worried in here.

well few pictures from the Chinese tea house village

Then I desided to go BURMA
according the tea house owner, Burma border is just 2km away so i wanted to go there

What he forgot to tell me was that track up there was for Tractors but as im Finnish, and if i desided to do something,i will NOT back off,, and i did not, so here i was and dictance is btw only 1.2km

No one there, except the post and thai flag, and open gate

Im in Burma now and bike in Thai side
I was on the phone when Guys left so when i hit the road i have no idea where did they go,so i did my own exploration and stopped to look waterfalls

Back in MHS i went to visit Peter in the hospital, and it was nice to see him in good spirit, and guys, i never knew him, so if ou guys see some damaged bikes in some place and specially with GTR sticker on it, it's good idea to Call David Unk as i did so i knew what has happenand where to visit fellow rider, it was nice to see supriced face and im sure for the guys in hospitals are happy that others visitong them as well.

Back in MHS i did pay my respect to TJ & Simon and donate 100Thb to temple.

Our Stay in MHS, with very nice bike friendly parking.
Next morning as Peter mentioned, we when up to Temple and rushed so we would be there before sun rice, and view is spectacular.

Then this following is amazing, look carefully you can see, 6Inch High Heel shoe floating top of the MHS

back side of the temple,never forget that, view is the same if not better

Is there something wrong in this parking format??
, now it's time for brae again,, will continue later
have to downlad more pictures to my photo bucket first

 

[Marco]

Few more so we cn cmplete this section,,

So from MHS onwards,

Partially Foggy road but not that bad

Some bursted water pipes beside the road...

and we stopped for Coffee in GTR's recomemnded place.

I knew that there is something not so correct in Peter, but now we all know, he likes to wear Dresses

An other nice place for coffee just opposite the Foresty Fir safety station.

Had a nice ride and met there funky guys and most likely they where on the way to CNX bike weekend as well.

thenin mae Salong, it was nice place and i found Thailands trade mark show 7-11,should be open 24/7,,But it was NOT

Then in following morning i had to depart early to CNX as my back tyre was getting Bald, so while guys where still snooring, i sneak out and heading to road and did my Own Detour to Doi Angkhan and back road from there to CNX.
Few pictures from that trip

it was cold again in the valley.

I had fantastic day by my self and using back road from Doi anghang to CNX

the valleys where soo deep that i got scared to be close to Ledge

Minor road construction parts but with hard surface.
So this will end part 1 and will continue in part 2,

 

[TonyBKK]

Great pics and hilarious commentary.

Dougal has picked up some new names recently- Yoda and "Old Fern" ha ha ha!!! :mrgreen:

Good on your for sneaking into Burma- too cool!

Keep it coming!

 

[Franz]

'Yoda' that's a good one for the grumpy bickering old man hahaha I love it !!!! Yes Marco I can fully understand you when David and Yoda start bickering about everything. :lol: Strange though that some real northern expert always needs to do U-turns........... :lol: . Maybe he hasn't yet got round in reading Garmin's user manuals..... :roll: .
One more thing, our Yoda likes scratchy females doesn't he......
Perfect pictures and report !!!! Keep em comin !!!!!!! cheers, Franz

 

[Marco]

TonyBKK wrote: Great pics and hilarious commentary.

Dougal has picked up some new names recently- Yoda and "Old Fern" ha ha ha!!! :mrgreen:

Good on your for sneaking into Burma- too cool!

Keep it coming!

Tony

Dougals "YODA" name was give to him by U-Turn David :lol: