The Golden Triangle Rider

[frankc]

Quick ride report from Pai ,
On my first visit to this area in 1999 it looked like a nice chilled out spot ,
so when a freind of mine moved up there I decided to go back for a look and a bit of exploring.
armed with "the map" of the Mae Hong Son loop (GT-RIDERS) which is very detailed and WATERPROOF,

hired XR250 from one of the local bike hire companies in PAI for 500tb a day,no insurance avaiable!!, the bike was ridable and had a good set of knobblys, but otherwise was in poor condition and headed up the north road,
At TAN CHET TON ,took a right and headed up the hill ,
road good and dry!(this was to change later in the day!)
the 22klms to the next village of HUAI CHANG TAO was easy fast riding on rutted dirt road and few concrete tracks in wash away areas ,
the views in this area are spectular, with 1500+mtr mountains on both sides,
just before the village we stoped for a quick swim in the river, as it was hot in the valleys ,
road was good out of the crossing but the bridge had suffered a bit of damage and had a big hole on the left side ,too bad if you had a 4WD,
from here it was approximatly 12klms to MUANG NOI(the name of the village on the sign was different but I guess we where in the right place),
just before the village is a 3 way so headed the direction of the MAE PAI which is becoming a river at this point and quite wide ,there was one stream crossing before this at a Wild life Scantuary Station that was easy on the way in but almost unpassable on the way back ,
relaxing by the river when the rains came ! ,wow its been a long time since I have seen rain like this ,!in about 2 minutes I was totally soaked and there was a river where the track was !
headed back up to the 3way as there was a small shelter ,probably for the local bus!! and dried out while waiting for the rain to stop ,
well this turned into a 2 hour stopover with no sign of the intensity easing ,
was getting on a bit in the day and I had no good rain gear so decided to return the same way I came in ,
FUN FUN FUN!!! wet tracks, flooded crossings ,slippery concrete and rain rain!
good short ride great country ,will take proper wet gear next time and get over to the 1322, which everybody tells me is a better ride ,

cu