Well this March 2016 sees the SoA crew return for an 18 day ride across Northern Thailand. With two added members, our group of five head for Chiang Mai and that afternoon meet up again with Jeff and Duncan from Tony's Big Bikes to finalise the hire of bikes for the trip. We decided to all ride the same model and so we booked 5x Honda CB300F's to handle the task ahead. With everything in check and looking good we are off to christen our first Chang around the corner at Johns Sports Bar with the rest of the night a slight blur.
Day 1. Chiang Mai to Phayao.
Mid morning breakfast at Black Coffee opposite the gate then stroll back to Tony's to fire up the bikes. Back at Top North and on goes all the packs, phones and various cameras, this trip is being filmed by 5 different sport cams (pity the poor editor...me).
It's 11am, the ride begins, stopping briefly to pickup a still camera in Mun Mueang Rd and continue on with a couple of quick turns heading for Hwy 118 we instantly lose one rider. Off to a great start. I headed back to Tony's hoping our new rider would be there, well he had and was quickly escorted to the super highway and was on his way to Phayao, while the rest of us where still looking for him. Lucky that we had got local Thai SIMs, I was able to message him and say to wait up at the Hwy 120 turnoff, we will meet up there. So with 1 hour lost, the remaining 4 of us hit the road again. What a fuckup.
Hitting the roads at speed we pull up at the Shell in Mae Chedi Mai to find our missing rider and some abuse later the five of us continue on to arrive in Phayao and pull up for a bevvy at the local Chang supplier....to get our bearings of course.
We meet up with another traveller in Frank, a German guy with a good grasp of the local lingo. He invites us to join him in a hotel search in Phayao town and with some twists and turns we pull up for the night at the Win Hotel for 400b a night. Dumping the gear and a quick shower its off to the Meeting Point down at the lake for some late lunch (it was sunset) and several large Changs. Frank joins us and we laugh off the rest of the evening. Back on the bikes again we head down to the outdoor Thai BBQ for dinner....great choice of fresh food you cook yourself at the table....cost 1200b for 6 of us including beer. Eventually we split from here intending to see out the night at Hugs Bar with more beer and great live music. The other guys knowing where they are going (NOT) race off ahead and get separated from Glenn and myself. Well it was a great night anyway, invited to join in with a birthday party at Hugs till late, the two of us head back to the hotel and call it a night.
To be continued
Day 1. Chiang Mai to Phayao.
Mid morning breakfast at Black Coffee opposite the gate then stroll back to Tony's to fire up the bikes. Back at Top North and on goes all the packs, phones and various cameras, this trip is being filmed by 5 different sport cams (pity the poor editor...me).
It's 11am, the ride begins, stopping briefly to pickup a still camera in Mun Mueang Rd and continue on with a couple of quick turns heading for Hwy 118 we instantly lose one rider. Off to a great start. I headed back to Tony's hoping our new rider would be there, well he had and was quickly escorted to the super highway and was on his way to Phayao, while the rest of us where still looking for him. Lucky that we had got local Thai SIMs, I was able to message him and say to wait up at the Hwy 120 turnoff, we will meet up there. So with 1 hour lost, the remaining 4 of us hit the road again. What a fuckup.
Hitting the roads at speed we pull up at the Shell in Mae Chedi Mai to find our missing rider and some abuse later the five of us continue on to arrive in Phayao and pull up for a bevvy at the local Chang supplier....to get our bearings of course.
We meet up with another traveller in Frank, a German guy with a good grasp of the local lingo. He invites us to join him in a hotel search in Phayao town and with some twists and turns we pull up for the night at the Win Hotel for 400b a night. Dumping the gear and a quick shower its off to the Meeting Point down at the lake for some late lunch (it was sunset) and several large Changs. Frank joins us and we laugh off the rest of the evening. Back on the bikes again we head down to the outdoor Thai BBQ for dinner....great choice of fresh food you cook yourself at the table....cost 1200b for 6 of us including beer. Eventually we split from here intending to see out the night at Hugs Bar with more beer and great live music. The other guys knowing where they are going (NOT) race off ahead and get separated from Glenn and myself. Well it was a great night anyway, invited to join in with a birthday party at Hugs till late, the two of us head back to the hotel and call it a night.
To be continued
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