Day Tripping Nw Of Khon Kaen

[Tejas Barc]

Slowly discovering some really great rides in the Khon Kaen area. Northwest around Ubolratana lake and Nong Bhu Lamphu area has much to offer. The wife and I have done quite a few day trips this way so thought I'd share a good one along with some recommend food and drink stops.
Google Maps
(Clicking on Google Maps link should take you to interactive map) will attach static below for reference.
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From Highway 12 head north along 4063 the eastside of Ubolratana lake. 4063 traverses along with the Nam Phong NP mountains on one side lake on the other. Look out for the boulders that are scattered around the size of a large van.
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Further north there is a beach with many old school bamboo Thai restaurants overlooking the lake as well as floating barge casinos according to my wife.
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Great little place on the edge of a village called Boon Home Sweet Home.(PointB) pizza and burgers done correctly along with a full lineup of Erdinger Bier offerings.
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Burgers with housemade buns good place. If your too early for lunch head on over to the Little box cafe for a coffee and cake. They have a beautiful garden to enjoy.
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Make sure you fill up with fuel at the PTT close by here not much else later.
Then heading out northwest along the lake you climb up a mountain to a lookout spot over the lake

To Be Continued.. getting notice from forum maybe maxed out photos. Next post to continue.

 

[Tejas Barc]

Delete this post #2 please

 

[Tejas Barc]

Overlooking Uborlaratana

From here you head back down in the valley along 2146 where you can head northeast on 4022 up a very steep climb to a temple at the top. There is a coffee shop and other food and drinks available here.

Or you could just head back southwest to the the other direction for a much shorter ride and cut off the upper loop of Nong bhu Lamphu. I would at least go to the temple up the hill then back down to the Phu Phan Kham NP if you wanted a shorter ride.
We enjoy the ride through the beautiful valley up to Nong Bhu Lamphu and dropping down into town and head over to the lake in the middle of town for a break. point E on map. I think I've nuked those photos... Back heading south down 2146 toward the NP. There is a checkpoint gated entrance. It's a very curvy tight winding road through the park some sections unpaved but easy crushed stone covered dirt.

It's a mix of forest and farm land throughout the NP. There is a reservoir not marked on maps which GPS told me to ride straight into...I just followed the heavily potholes road around the reservoir to the other side where some restaurants are setup sui mak mak. Wish I had a better photo..

From there we continue out of the NP route home. Couple nice coffee shops along the route if you need a fix.

 

[Eoin Christie]

Good to see you venturing out, Tejas. Keep those trip reports coming.

 

[Heineken]

Its great your out and about exploring your local area Tejas......................I often go exploring on my bike and have made some great finds

 

[DavidFL]

Nice pics & that bike looks right at home out there = that's a winner.

 

[Marmite]

Yes, there are some nice roads down there. I come at it the other way from Udon.

 

[Tejas Barc]

Tooling around some more yesterday in this area in and around Phu Kao- Phu Phan Khan NP. Seems like we get caught in a bad storm whichever direction we go now. (2 black cats did run in front of my path this week). Took some cover for a bit.

Rain slowed enough for us to head thru the NP and we were rewarded with some cool temps and beautiful scenery. I believe it's called Lamphrong Reservoir per a NP sign. The reservoir nor the road around it show on Google maps nor my GPS maps. It it located just east of TatHai ...above the dam.

Time was getting away and we still had about 2 hours to get home with dark clouds still brewing above us. We started home and not long after we were caught in a huge cell pouring on us. Tried to take cover in a hut on side of road...dumped the bike. Glasses slightly fogged, rain drops and tint didn't help me see the soft muddy hole I was about to drop in. Front wheel jerked right we went left about a 1-2 kph drop. We rolled off in the mud laughed and picked the bike up, still in pouring rain. Nothing hurt don't think even a scratch on the bike only my pride a bit. We pulled over a little further down the road under some cover and waited for the rain to lighten and assess.

We proceeded to ford a few of the roads that were under water footpeg deep.
Drenched and a little cold but made it home. Quite an afternoon.

 

[Tejas Barc]

One more at the reservoir had to resize image before posting.

 

[DavidFL]

Well done in the wet. Love this

We headed home and not long after we were caught in a huge cell pooring on us. Tried to take cover in a hut on side of road...dumped the bike. Glasses slightly fogged, rain drops and tint didn't help me see the soft muddy hole I was about to drop in. Front wheel jerked right we went left about a 1-2 kph drop. We rolled off in the mud laughed and picked the bike up, still in pouring rain. Nothing hurt don't think even a scratch on the bike only my pride a bit. We pulled over a little further down the road under some cover and waited for the rain to lighten and assess. We proceeded to ford a few of the roads that were under water footpeg deep. We were drenched a little cold but made it home. Quite an afternoon.
​

My specs fog up in the wet too & make riding tricky at times too.
Glad to know everything was ok when you fell over.
A lot of people wouldn't own up to tumble, but you did. Good man.

You should be getting wet in the coming days too.
Take care & ride safe if you're out there riding.

 

[Tejas Barc]

Drops happen to all sooner or later especially if you go off-road.
It's a new bike and at some point you know it will happen. Glad the drop was into soft water, mud and low speed for the bike and wife sake...

Surprisingly, I was able to pick it up easily maybe adrenaline certainly not my strength. Really believe bike has very low center of gravity which helped. Much easier than picking up my old GSA

Glad you liked it..no one can accuse me of being a good writer or story teller.