I met up with Gary at Thathon for a 09:30 breakfast bowl of noodles. We were going to ride the mountain ridge road round the back of Doi Pahampok, the second highest mountain in Thailand, at 2285m. This is the road David U. has marked “Dangerous Road Collapse”, “Restricted Area, Dangerous Road”, Dangerous Road Collapse” and “Caution, Very Steep” over about a 30 klm stretch of this road, on the GTR Golden Triangle map.
With so many warnings about the road, well….. you gotta go check it out……
Gary had swapped his big 1300cc Yamaha cruiser for a shopping basket Honda and I had taken out my new plastic Kawasaki dirt bike.
We set off northwest on the small road a klm or so west of the bridge over the river and were soon climbing up into the Mae Fang National Park. As it was the start of the cool season, we were soon up into the mist and I was wondering if I should have been wearing a jumper, but I managed fine. Gary had no problem with his extra "insulation"....
We sailed through the first border checkpoint then stopped at the next one. As the guys don’t see many farangs up here, they wanted to chat and gave us a welcome cup of coffee. So, we gave them a couple of choco bars.
It was raining on and off for the rest of the trip along the ridge road.
They gave us a good warning about the broken road ahead. As we headed along this section, the road was very overgrown both sides, with large weeds growing up through the tarmac.
When we got to the “Dangerous Road Collapse” section, we came across several “trip wires”. Very thin green nylon string stretched across the road at about 12 inches height, that went “twang” as we rode through them. We presumed to prevent cattle trying to cross over…
It first appeared that there was no way across. Due to the time of year, the area was covered in greenery. We walked over the section first to have a looksee…… Just wide enough to get a bike across, about one metre in places, with just about vertical drops either side. It then started raining and was very misty. Discretion being the better part of valour, we decide to walk the bikes over…….
Made it………… phew……..
Think I've been in Thailand too long......
I can’t see this section of road being repaired for a long time, it would be a major engineering project, possibly a bridge would be the only way, without blowing off the mountain tops either side. The drops are just too sheer either side. However, the google earth map is dated 2004, so it hasn’t changed for a long time.
When we got to the next checkpoint, the border patrol police did a good check on us, including a radio call back to the checkpoint before, but another choco bar smoothed the passage and we separated as good friends, with them and us taking lots of photos.
They're allowed to look that serious with a gun that big.......
The road continued much the same for a while, feeling quite remote, then it turned south and we cruised down off the mountain and back into the sunshine.
What a great road and a great day in a great country. :lol:
Thoroughly enjoyable, right up there in the clouds. We saw about 3 local people on that road. A wonderful feeling of being “out there”. I’ll be back sometime in the dry season to see the views better. Not a road for a bike with slick tyres though…….
Cheers Gary.
Best wishes
Ian
With so many warnings about the road, well….. you gotta go check it out……
Gary had swapped his big 1300cc Yamaha cruiser for a shopping basket Honda and I had taken out my new plastic Kawasaki dirt bike.
We set off northwest on the small road a klm or so west of the bridge over the river and were soon climbing up into the Mae Fang National Park. As it was the start of the cool season, we were soon up into the mist and I was wondering if I should have been wearing a jumper, but I managed fine. Gary had no problem with his extra "insulation"....
We sailed through the first border checkpoint then stopped at the next one. As the guys don’t see many farangs up here, they wanted to chat and gave us a welcome cup of coffee. So, we gave them a couple of choco bars.
It was raining on and off for the rest of the trip along the ridge road.
They gave us a good warning about the broken road ahead. As we headed along this section, the road was very overgrown both sides, with large weeds growing up through the tarmac.
When we got to the “Dangerous Road Collapse” section, we came across several “trip wires”. Very thin green nylon string stretched across the road at about 12 inches height, that went “twang” as we rode through them. We presumed to prevent cattle trying to cross over…
It first appeared that there was no way across. Due to the time of year, the area was covered in greenery. We walked over the section first to have a looksee…… Just wide enough to get a bike across, about one metre in places, with just about vertical drops either side. It then started raining and was very misty. Discretion being the better part of valour, we decide to walk the bikes over…….
Made it………… phew……..
Think I've been in Thailand too long......
I can’t see this section of road being repaired for a long time, it would be a major engineering project, possibly a bridge would be the only way, without blowing off the mountain tops either side. The drops are just too sheer either side. However, the google earth map is dated 2004, so it hasn’t changed for a long time.
When we got to the next checkpoint, the border patrol police did a good check on us, including a radio call back to the checkpoint before, but another choco bar smoothed the passage and we separated as good friends, with them and us taking lots of photos.
They're allowed to look that serious with a gun that big.......
The road continued much the same for a while, feeling quite remote, then it turned south and we cruised down off the mountain and back into the sunshine.
What a great road and a great day in a great country. :lol:
Thoroughly enjoyable, right up there in the clouds. We saw about 3 local people on that road. A wonderful feeling of being “out there”. I’ll be back sometime in the dry season to see the views better. Not a road for a bike with slick tyres though…….
Cheers Gary.
Best wishes
Ian