The Team: me, myself and I
Whats all this "Wet Season" stuff and nonsense, I ask you? Personally, Thailand's a dream to ride around on a rainy day - in fact, its not even that wet most of the time! Not compared to "home" on the West Coast of the Sth Island New Zealand, at least. The northern end gets 150 inches / 4 metres of rain a year, whilst the southern end gets 400+ inches / 10 metres a year. Now that IS wet! And often miserable on a bike - with sleet, hail, snow, ice and fog... At home, if there is one thing you can be sure of; It will either rain, or get dark before morning!
In Thailand it mostly rains hard for a few minutes or a few kilometres, whichever comes first. But its invariably WARM!
And then, the sun either comes out, or goes down... Sometimes, almost at the same time...
But the mountain roads go on forever! Route 1155...
New road from 1155 across to the 1020 - the 18x zoom on the Panasonic FZ28 pulls things in close!
Temples come in a veritable riot of colours...
And some really stand out from the crowd...
Wherever you go, there's always a piece of eye-candy!
The Mekong is always a scenic feast... Sunday morning coming down...
Fishing... relaxed, laid back in the morning sun...
Or something more athletic, like swinging a net in the muddy shallows...
Something a little out of the ordinary is always present...
All in all, the so-called Wet Season is perhaps more of a conspiracy designed to thin out the hordes of camera-toting tourists... I've also heard and much prefer the term "Green Season" as thats really far more accurate.
In 2 consecutive weekends of riding in the Phayao / Chun / Chiang Kham / Pu Chi Fa / Chiang Khong / Chiang Saen region, I've clocked up close to 1100 kms and had to put on a raincoat for less than 50 kms!
Whats all this "Wet Season" stuff and nonsense, I ask you? Personally, Thailand's a dream to ride around on a rainy day - in fact, its not even that wet most of the time! Not compared to "home" on the West Coast of the Sth Island New Zealand, at least. The northern end gets 150 inches / 4 metres of rain a year, whilst the southern end gets 400+ inches / 10 metres a year. Now that IS wet! And often miserable on a bike - with sleet, hail, snow, ice and fog... At home, if there is one thing you can be sure of; It will either rain, or get dark before morning!
In Thailand it mostly rains hard for a few minutes or a few kilometres, whichever comes first. But its invariably WARM!
And then, the sun either comes out, or goes down... Sometimes, almost at the same time...
But the mountain roads go on forever! Route 1155...
New road from 1155 across to the 1020 - the 18x zoom on the Panasonic FZ28 pulls things in close!
Temples come in a veritable riot of colours...
And some really stand out from the crowd...
Wherever you go, there's always a piece of eye-candy!
The Mekong is always a scenic feast... Sunday morning coming down...
Fishing... relaxed, laid back in the morning sun...
Or something more athletic, like swinging a net in the muddy shallows...
Something a little out of the ordinary is always present...
All in all, the so-called Wet Season is perhaps more of a conspiracy designed to thin out the hordes of camera-toting tourists... I've also heard and much prefer the term "Green Season" as thats really far more accurate.
In 2 consecutive weekends of riding in the Phayao / Chun / Chiang Kham / Pu Chi Fa / Chiang Khong / Chiang Saen region, I've clocked up close to 1100 kms and had to put on a raincoat for less than 50 kms!