10 years ago when I felt like a bike ride I was happy to look at the North Thai map, pick a road I'd never been on and go out and give it a try. It was all new to me. It was by this method that I rode the 1098 that runs roughly from West to East in a quiet agricultural district in Chiang Rai province. On that early ride I first discovered the huge Mahayana temple, Chinese style Wat Muen Puttha Mettakhunaram, that was in its early years of construction but with the fat laughing Buddha up overlooking the site. The rest of the trip was quiet, not much traffic beyond the few locals in old pick-ups or on Honda Dreams, very few places to eat and drink but what stuck in my mind was 'plantation land'. Over low rolling hills there was a lot of rubber, some palm oil, banana, pineapples and the newly arrived oranges. I probably took lunch in Chiang Kong and then returned via Paradise Road and Chiang Saen to Mae Chan.
Today I'd had enough of the garden and orchard work I've been doing lately and just set off from home with the vague idea that I'd go to Chiang Khong and drop in on David Unkovich and have a chat over a coffee. Luckily he was at home. we spent a good 90 mins at Rider Coffee, a nice place to spend some time, and then I set off for the return home via the route I had used that long while ago. The 1174 was a bit different due to the increase in truck arrivals from Laos and the highways to take them, then further south I hit the first indication of this new rail system that I had given little thought to beyond reading its underway. Three very large concrete beams on 3 very long articulated trailers were pulled up at the roadside.
This first bit of bridge building here is well under way and I just assume it's the rail going over the road but I could be wrong. Thankfully it's not a busy road, causing little jam because there's no traffic. Not long after turning off the 1174 onto the 1098 you see the first signs of the new rail line and see that it sits quite high above ground level. Construction equipment out in the fields and trucks probably delivering landfill. As you near the hills the line finally gets onto pillars several metres high and then you arrive at the tunnel site,
The tunnel entrance on this east side was less busy and not quite as chaotic. It was lunchtime and I got a little inside the work area until I was spotted and told to exit.
What I had not considered was, OK you are going to build a railway line, but I'd never thought about access to all the areas for vehicles and machinery and when you get to the site thats the first thing you notice, lanes and dirt tracks heading off into the rice fields and rubber plantations taking or removing stuff. Its chaotic and dirty, mud everywhere, big trucks coming out of small dirt roads and a badly damaged road surface. Pot holes big enough to bring a bike down, deep ruts and ridges.
The tunnel on the west side is a far bigger site with lots of activity which I was not allowed to enter and photograph but I did manage some pics from a ridge.
It looks very much like this is the years big supply of stone chippings created from the tunnelling in rocks and everybody has a need for some. Quite surprisingly I did see a few trucks going in with red soil so I assume somewhere in the plans is a need for a softer bed than stone. I didn't stay too long, my bike was parked precariously on a well used dirt track and and some of these truck trailers got pretty close. After here it wasnt long till the village of Chok Chai where the 1173 takes off on the left heading south and by all the dirt and marks on the highway it was obvious this was where most of the trucks were going. Once past that junction it was back to the old days, quiet rural road which just recently had been paved, oldtimers doing 60kph in no hurry to get anywhere and just the odd empty truck looking for chippings. I took this final picture only because it reminded me of what the place used to look like.
Yes, I went into the lanes and offroads, got where the work was, but if you just happened to find yourself on the 1098 its a small stretch of busy bad road. Just look out for the deep potholes. Any day out on the bike is better than a day cutting mango trees. Keep the power on!
Today I'd had enough of the garden and orchard work I've been doing lately and just set off from home with the vague idea that I'd go to Chiang Khong and drop in on David Unkovich and have a chat over a coffee. Luckily he was at home. we spent a good 90 mins at Rider Coffee, a nice place to spend some time, and then I set off for the return home via the route I had used that long while ago. The 1174 was a bit different due to the increase in truck arrivals from Laos and the highways to take them, then further south I hit the first indication of this new rail system that I had given little thought to beyond reading its underway. Three very large concrete beams on 3 very long articulated trailers were pulled up at the roadside.
This first bit of bridge building here is well under way and I just assume it's the rail going over the road but I could be wrong. Thankfully it's not a busy road, causing little jam because there's no traffic. Not long after turning off the 1174 onto the 1098 you see the first signs of the new rail line and see that it sits quite high above ground level. Construction equipment out in the fields and trucks probably delivering landfill. As you near the hills the line finally gets onto pillars several metres high and then you arrive at the tunnel site,
The tunnel entrance on this east side was less busy and not quite as chaotic. It was lunchtime and I got a little inside the work area until I was spotted and told to exit.
What I had not considered was, OK you are going to build a railway line, but I'd never thought about access to all the areas for vehicles and machinery and when you get to the site thats the first thing you notice, lanes and dirt tracks heading off into the rice fields and rubber plantations taking or removing stuff. Its chaotic and dirty, mud everywhere, big trucks coming out of small dirt roads and a badly damaged road surface. Pot holes big enough to bring a bike down, deep ruts and ridges.
The tunnel on the west side is a far bigger site with lots of activity which I was not allowed to enter and photograph but I did manage some pics from a ridge.
It looks very much like this is the years big supply of stone chippings created from the tunnelling in rocks and everybody has a need for some. Quite surprisingly I did see a few trucks going in with red soil so I assume somewhere in the plans is a need for a softer bed than stone. I didn't stay too long, my bike was parked precariously on a well used dirt track and and some of these truck trailers got pretty close. After here it wasnt long till the village of Chok Chai where the 1173 takes off on the left heading south and by all the dirt and marks on the highway it was obvious this was where most of the trucks were going. Once past that junction it was back to the old days, quiet rural road which just recently had been paved, oldtimers doing 60kph in no hurry to get anywhere and just the odd empty truck looking for chippings. I took this final picture only because it reminded me of what the place used to look like.
Yes, I went into the lanes and offroads, got where the work was, but if you just happened to find yourself on the 1098 its a small stretch of busy bad road. Just look out for the deep potholes. Any day out on the bike is better than a day cutting mango trees. Keep the power on!
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