Having recently covered a lot of Kilometers to see some lovely but short scenic routes I decided to have a close look at my home area. Last week I did a small circuit in the hills very close to my village and saw some Lahu villages that I never knew existed. The starting point for this area is off the 1089 highway aprox 15kms east of Tha Ton, a right turn signed to Muang Ngam. This is a Karen village but now so modernised you wouldn't know it unless you recognise the shirts people are wearing. The village is in 2 distinct parts, the first a Christian section and the second Buddhist. Just after passing the local school and exiting the village the circuit starts on the left and is mainly on a narrow concrete road.
The first village, almost due east from Muang Ngam was pretty big, had a mix of old style bamboo huts and houses and some real modern buildings, one of which was a shop-factory for Lahu outfits. Quite where and to who they are selling I dont know but the output was considerable.
The road disintegrated into dirt for a while but was easy going, up and over a ridge and then past two more villages until it came out on the bank of the Kok river. That was all I did last week but today I went back to this point, Ban Pha Tai, and continued on down the road to see if it was possible to get to Chiang Rai. It is.
The road started with concrete but soon turned to hard dirt-stones, no problem at all with some sections reverting back for just short stretches. Maybe its places where water collects and a mud bath forms in the wet season. It was easy going, mostly flat, typical north Thai hilltribe country with some cows, chickens, dogs running around villages that were a mix of primitive and modern.
At one point it did get a touch harder with some water running down the road, some deep pick-up wheel ruts and one place with a 6 inch deep puddle of water with a enough mud to cause a little worry. As is often the case there is no photo of the worst bits because you just want to concentrate, keep going.
The most difficult part was on approach to the village of Pha Kwang where google maps shows the path heading north into a couple of big villages to find a bridge over the river that runs into the Kok at Pha Kwang. There is now a dirt path running along the edge of the river, not shown on the map, and it just so happens a man was out tending his cows here so I went over to ask his opinion. He said keeping on along the riverbank was now possible but the road went through the water, not over it, and would maybe be knee deep. Best to go over the hill he said, so I did. I'm not really sure this was the easier route but it did take me through two more quite big Lahu villages, one of which was holding a wedding celebration. This was the bit you wouldn't want to be doing on a roadbike in the wet. It was short but quite steep, typical red coloured mud but only a touch wet and at least hard. The deep ruts from the pick-up traffic had me desperately trying to stay up on the higher edges but at times it was necessary to swap sides. The locals of course are racing around it in on 110 waves and it was only because I had removed my helmet that I heard him coming on a sharp curve and moved aside to let him through. He was going fishing.
This was not the quiet place I expected with some big houses, some concrete pipe and post making, plenty of pick-ups and quite a few 6 wheel trucks. What are they doing in here?
A good look at google satellite shows a pretty big area of farm activity, far more than has ever come along the road I did and I am even now still looking to see if there is another way in here from the 1089 as it passes from Santi Suk towards the Pah Tueng hot springs. There may be a route down from those villages shown in the small red circle but I dont know if I want to try it without a dirt bike. They must be getting machines in here. There is a big school at Pha Kwang and a government building offering camping but I never saw anyone around.
Maybe a kilometer out of the village the road became a good concrete strip and I was expecting that to go all the way to Ruam Mit but it wasn't to be. A washout has occurred at a place where a small stream had obviously expanded with a good storm but work was under way to fix it.
From there on an easy dirt-stones road, pretty rice paddies, pineapples and even a few oranges. Nice countryside but nothing spectacular.
The few tourist attractions marked on the map didn't appear to be functioning, it was all very quiet. Then up came the Karen elephant village and suddenly we had action. Some cars, a few vans and some shops and cafes open for business. Back to the world of traffic, on with the helmet and the same boring old route from Chiang Rai to Thaton that I probably do twice a month. I should mention that I did this on my 150 Exciter, a small lighter bike that I can man handle in mud or deep ruts if the need requires. It wasn't ever called for and for that I am quite happy.
The first village, almost due east from Muang Ngam was pretty big, had a mix of old style bamboo huts and houses and some real modern buildings, one of which was a shop-factory for Lahu outfits. Quite where and to who they are selling I dont know but the output was considerable.
The road disintegrated into dirt for a while but was easy going, up and over a ridge and then past two more villages until it came out on the bank of the Kok river. That was all I did last week but today I went back to this point, Ban Pha Tai, and continued on down the road to see if it was possible to get to Chiang Rai. It is.
The road started with concrete but soon turned to hard dirt-stones, no problem at all with some sections reverting back for just short stretches. Maybe its places where water collects and a mud bath forms in the wet season. It was easy going, mostly flat, typical north Thai hilltribe country with some cows, chickens, dogs running around villages that were a mix of primitive and modern.
At one point it did get a touch harder with some water running down the road, some deep pick-up wheel ruts and one place with a 6 inch deep puddle of water with a enough mud to cause a little worry. As is often the case there is no photo of the worst bits because you just want to concentrate, keep going.
The most difficult part was on approach to the village of Pha Kwang where google maps shows the path heading north into a couple of big villages to find a bridge over the river that runs into the Kok at Pha Kwang. There is now a dirt path running along the edge of the river, not shown on the map, and it just so happens a man was out tending his cows here so I went over to ask his opinion. He said keeping on along the riverbank was now possible but the road went through the water, not over it, and would maybe be knee deep. Best to go over the hill he said, so I did. I'm not really sure this was the easier route but it did take me through two more quite big Lahu villages, one of which was holding a wedding celebration. This was the bit you wouldn't want to be doing on a roadbike in the wet. It was short but quite steep, typical red coloured mud but only a touch wet and at least hard. The deep ruts from the pick-up traffic had me desperately trying to stay up on the higher edges but at times it was necessary to swap sides. The locals of course are racing around it in on 110 waves and it was only because I had removed my helmet that I heard him coming on a sharp curve and moved aside to let him through. He was going fishing.
This was not the quiet place I expected with some big houses, some concrete pipe and post making, plenty of pick-ups and quite a few 6 wheel trucks. What are they doing in here?
A good look at google satellite shows a pretty big area of farm activity, far more than has ever come along the road I did and I am even now still looking to see if there is another way in here from the 1089 as it passes from Santi Suk towards the Pah Tueng hot springs. There may be a route down from those villages shown in the small red circle but I dont know if I want to try it without a dirt bike. They must be getting machines in here. There is a big school at Pha Kwang and a government building offering camping but I never saw anyone around.
Maybe a kilometer out of the village the road became a good concrete strip and I was expecting that to go all the way to Ruam Mit but it wasn't to be. A washout has occurred at a place where a small stream had obviously expanded with a good storm but work was under way to fix it.
The few tourist attractions marked on the map didn't appear to be functioning, it was all very quiet. Then up came the Karen elephant village and suddenly we had action. Some cars, a few vans and some shops and cafes open for business. Back to the world of traffic, on with the helmet and the same boring old route from Chiang Rai to Thaton that I probably do twice a month. I should mention that I did this on my 150 Exciter, a small lighter bike that I can man handle in mud or deep ruts if the need requires. It wasn't ever called for and for that I am quite happy.
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