Northern Thailand and Laos on a CRF250L - end of 2014

[Wayne66]

Day 36, the last day, Phayao to Chaing Mai

Had a good breakfast at the Cosy Nest before I left on my last leg of a good 36 day journey.
It was Phayao to Chiang Mai using the 120 and the 118.

Day 36, last day, Phayao to Chiang Mai by Wayne 66, on Flickr

Day 36, the last day, Phayao to Chaing Mai by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1890 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1892 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1894 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1896 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1898 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1908 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

On the route I stopped off at the Tad Tong Waterfall, coords N19.07005 E99.72940, which was just off the main road. Only a little one but it was nice, there was a family living there who did food and coffee etc, so I had a brew and relaxed for a bit. I was in no rush.

IMG_1899 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1902 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1907 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

I also passed through a town and on the hill in the distance I could see a big temple stupa, which was Wat Prachaoluang, coords N19.20725 E99.49144, so I went there for a visit, very nice and the view from the top was awesome, you could see for miles even thought there was a fine layer of fog or what ever it was.

IMG_1912 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1921 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1914 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1918 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1923 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1925 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1932 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1935 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1937 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

In another town there was a really old looking temple made of stone and wood, coords N19.11596 E99.46385, so that was another stop done with more photos.

IMG_1940 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1941 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1943 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1944 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1947 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1949 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1952 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

So all in all a good last ride with things to see, good scenery and great roads.
Arrived back at CM and straight to Riders Corner so sort things out ready to hand the bike in tomorrow.

Wayne

 

[Wayne66]

Conclusion

Well what can I say….Its been an amazing trip and I have been in touch with and met some really wonderful people. Fellow travellers and locals alike. I have been made warmly welcomed in both the countries I have visited.

Firstly I would like to thank Phil at Riders Corner and C&P bike rental, both in Chiang Mai for the bike hire to allow me to do it in the first place, secondly thanks to family and friends for checking up on me and all who have followed, commented and met up with me, its been fantastic.

The Full Route, all 5054Km:3158mile by Wayne 66, on Flickr
The full route

Back to the conclusion…….I travelled a total of 5054 Km as the speedo had 500km on it when I got the bike so in real terms 3158 miles in 36 days and by no means was that rushed.

IMG_1953 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

The roads were sometimes good, sometimes bad and sometimes I wondered why they called it a road when its a single track and your fighting your way through trees and undergrowth. But whatever state the road/track was in the scenery was superb all the time, around every corner there was a different view, including a closeup of the tarmac
The people who I met everyday on my travels, locals and other people from all corners of the globe were outstanding. Warm, welcoming people everywhere. Only really had one run in at the Chinese market in Oudomxai, where there were 3 Chinese taking the p*ss because I was trying to explain that I only wanted a small bag of Nescafe 3in1, I kept picking up 'falang' (foreigner) but it wasn't what they were saying it was the tone, so they they put in the picture rather sharply, my tone said it all, falang from Chinese in Laos, Ummmmmm haha. Otherwise I cant fault the helpfulness, hospitality and friendliness of any others.

The Bike.
A CRF250L, never let me down once even after been slid down the road on top of me and dropped in the mud on the hardest day I had between Muang Sing and Houayxai, although it did break. A great little thing and all I did was oil the chain every other day and do basis checks. The oil level stayed spot on as did the rest of the machine. It pulled me over some very rough enduro type terrain and breezed me down some very good roads. If I had to pick a fault it would be that it could do with a little more torque as it did struggle sometimes when going up steep or long uphill tracks and roads. But maybe thats because I used to own the CRF250X which was a outright enduro beast. Oh and I would fit a bigger tank if I owned my own haha. When I handed the bike in I was billed 400 Bht for a lever and the gear selector, it was to be expected as I had damaged bits but it was great not to get ripped off in the process I would really recommend using C&P either direct or through Phil, I have details if anyone wants them. C&P provided all the paperwork to cross border, which went smoothly.

The Gear.
As I said at the beginning of the RR I was going to use my own gear. The reason….I knew it all fit, was serviceable and was comfy, enough said…..Fox offroad helmet and goggles. Had the GoPro mount on the helmet. Light weight offroad shirts, glad I had two as one was shredded when I slid down the road. On that note I had full offroad body armour, arms, chest, shoulder and back. It came in handy twice and has the scars to prove it. One pair of offroad trousers which got binned as they too bore scars of tarmac rash. Knee protectors, they came in handy more than once, O'neil motocross boots and a pair of short leather enduro type gloves. Yes it was a bit nippy on a morning the further north I went, but it was great when the sun came out.

Mapping, Gps, Getting about.
I did go with a loose plan and a route, I also did a fair bit of research on the areas I would have like to have visited and what to see and do once I got there. I say would liked to have visited because as I said early on in the RR, no plan survives first contact. Two days bad weather, coming off on diesel totally blew my plan of going to Phonsaly and on to the Northern most point in Laos. But hey, adapt and overcome.
For the maps I used the German made Reizen maps of both Laos and Thailand. I found them to be good but lacking in some tracks due to the scale, but they were a good source of confirming with the GPS
The GPS is a Garmin Montana 600 which worked really well and has an awesome battery life. I was getting between 14 and 16 hours per charge. The battery is rechargeable but if you really get stuck you could use AA batteries in it. I did not use any Garmin mapping at all, instead I went with OSM from Free worldwide Garmin maps from OpenStreetMap, I found it to be good but again not all of the tracks were on it and I sometimes found myself riding on a blank screen on the Montana. I would use the OSM again for other areas of the world. All my plotting was done on the Garmin basecamp programme on my Mac which was then automatically transferred to the Montanna as I plug it directly into my Mac rather than remove the micro SD card all the time.

Bits and Pieces.
I had the GoPro Hero4 mounted on my helmet, what a great bit of kit, only problem is battery life is only about two hours. Will take a spare battery on the next journey.
All the photos were taken with my iPhone 4S which was donated to me by a mate as he had got a new one
I also carried a windows phone which I used for putting Thai and Laos sim cards in, with internet. I just liked the fact I had most kinds of comms in most places, you never know!?
I also got myself a rechargeable recharging device which worked on both my phones and the GoPro, although it was ultra slow at charging the GoPro on the road, worked well with the phones.
CamelBak, really glad I took it along, needed it no end in some of the places I rode. I kept it in a daysack along with my tools for the bike and puncture repair kit
Mac Air 13inch, I took this with me as it is relatively small, robust, light and has a superb battery life. The reason I went with the 13 inch rather than the 11 was, I prefer a bigger screen and the 13 has a SD card slot.
Wolfman tank saddlebags bought from Advspec.com, glad I brought these with me, good for carrying spare gloves, goggles, small food items etc.
Oxford Hump visor carrying bumbag, Not that I had a visor but it was good for the phones, passport, wallet, earplugs etc and whenever I left the bike it was all with me
Oxford Gold disc lock, good for piece of mind.
A small powerful torch which came in very handy more than once (spare batteries)
Carried a hammock that can also be used as a hooped tent complete with a mozzie net which I acquired from Brake who is on the rideasia site. Better to have than need. Just incase I was stuck in the middle of nowhere for whatever reason

Monies.
On food, accommodation and fuel I reckon I spent about 1300 GPB, thats excluding the first and last week in BKK. The bike was 36000 Bht (1000 a day) so about 728 GPB on todays exchange rate. That equates to just over 20 GPB a day, not bad really. I left 20000 Bht or about 500 GPB as a deposit which is now the spending money in BKK.

Regrets.
None at all, it was all just awesome, even when I was struggling with the terrain sometimes. Just wish I had got to Phonsaly and right up north

Arrived BKK at 0700hrs and went to the hotel I was in when I first got here. Got a great room. As I was here really early I couldn't get in to my room till 1000hrs, so went out to wander the streets, went for a full english then found a nice salon and went in for a pamper, haircut and shave, they even did ear, nose and eyebrow hair, sorted, feel like a new man, metaphorically speaking of course!

IMG_1971 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1970 by Wayne 66, on Flickr

IMG_1974 by Wayne 66, on Flickr


Wayne

 

[Wayne66]

Look Here if you want to read the original version, written as I was traveling, with comments.

Wayne