Thoughts or suggestions about this route?

[DaRider]

Hi people,

Not sure if this would be the appropriate forum, but here it goes anyway.

I'm planning a 30 day round trip around parts of Thailand and was hoping that I might get some advice from you knowledgeable people here. The trip is starting From Chiang Mai around the 20th of this month.

Here's the planned rout;

Going from CM on the 108 to Mae Sariang continuing south on the 105 towards Mae Sot, and from there onwards to Tak and Sukhothai, and further south to Kamphaeng Phet. From here I'm not sure which road to chose, but aiming to find the nicest possible riding to Kanchanaburi, avoiding the most busy roads and highways as much as I can. Depending on how much time I have left when I reach Kanchanaburi I might keep going south for a bit, maybe as far as Ranong.

If you have any advice about this rout, like places to see, detours or loops along the way, road conditions, places to avoid (if any?), guest houses etc. I would really, really appreciate it.

Cheers,

 

[DaRider]

Thanks a lot Captain, brilliant information!

On the map i have (a A4 size road atlas from 2007, third edition by pn map), the 1117 shows a red dotted line for a few km. just after Um Phang, suggesting it's unsealed, do you know if that's the case still?

 

[2Up Chiang Khong]

Hi,

No matter which way you go, read Slash''s trip reports; they kinda cover it all.

And from Umphang you can Not get South. You need to go back to Mae Sot... Having said that, Robert made it through last year; albeit with a guide... And while we do very much like Kanchanaburi; when making the run from up here to down to Phuket... that part of Thailand is Flat and a long way from the Northern hills where the great rides are. And for Ranong, had a factory (seafood) there and maybe spent too much time working in that area so my thoughts today are jaded, but can't understand why anyone would want to go there, until they had visited all the much nicer parts of Thailand and then it would only be for a quick look around to get some Thai small town/fishing village feel.

Here's our suggestion for what it's worth.

From Chiang Mai go North to Mae Sai and the Burma/Thai border. Flip a coin to go left/West down along the Burma border to Mae Sot or go right/East and down along the Laos border. Our preference of course is along the Laos border - we live over this way and think it's got much greater riding and better and more varied scenery then down along the Burma border side.

You can then cross over from one side to the other stoping in Sukhothai in the middle.

And if the weather gets to hot, then grab some elevation; connecting one high area to another where the temp is a bit kinder.

Accomodations, food, good coffee, cold beer is so available everywhere that all you need, more or less, is by mid afternoon to make a choice and head for it and be there in time for sundowners with never a problem.

If you are set on doing the West side out of Chiang Mai...then we would still highly recommend that you go up to Mae Sai and from there start down along the Burma border.

There are so many great rides up this way - that you can't go wrong.

Cheers,
David and Mai
Chiang Khong

 

[DaRider]

Captain_Slash wrote: DaRider
I havent rode the 1117 through the National Park heading towards Umphang but I have been told by others that its unsealed, at least this was the case a year ago

Thanks, I'll go there and have a look, if it looks to rough i'll just turn back

@ 2Up Chiang Khong, Thanks for your suggestions.

The thing is, I did 20 days earlier this year in northern Thailand, 10 in Chiang Rai following the rout ( + some mini loops and detours) described as "the Chiang Rai loop" on the (excellent!) Travelfish site, and 10 days around Chiang Mai with the Mae Hong Son loop. And its not that i wouldn't want to do it again, I could around up there for years without getting bored, but this time around i just want to ride a different part of Thailand. Also, by going south as far west as possible I'm hoping to avoid some of the worst weather coming from the N/E. at the moment. I could be totally wrong about this though, but i guess i'll find out . But 30 days is a long time, and now you got me thinking that first going north to Mae Sai and then head west could be a very good idea, especially with that bike gear shop in Tachilek...
I think i'll decide when i get to Chiang Mai.
Thanks again.

If any of you more tips or advice, please post!

Cheers.

 

[DaRider]

Hi again people,

Slight change of plan...

I arrived in Chiang Mai yesterday and been spending the day shopping around some of the rental places and the one i found to have the most reasonable terms didn't really want me to leave northern Thailand with his bikes, fair enough. So instead of going south to Kanchanaburi and beyond , I'll be cursing around up here for a month instead, which fine with me, i can always go towards Kanchanaburi sometime later. Anyway, the bike, a Kawa ER6n, is booked and i'm picking it up Tuesday :thumbup: and I'm really looking forward to it!
So if any of you have tips about any especially nice places to go, or ride, or stay etc. up in these parts I'd really appreciate it!

And then there is this small problem with the bike.
It doesn't have a rack to pack for packing stuff so i have to figure out a way to do that properly. I think I'll check out that small shop tomorrow to see if i can find a cheap set of soft saddlebags. Or, maybe someone here on the forum would have a second hand set that you don't use? In such case i might be interested in buying, or maybe rent. Please let me know.

Cheers.