1991 & 94 The Floods + some oldies for ya to ponder.

[Davidfl]

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91 was a good wet season.
The "khong" was up


& some of the roads were down.

R1150 was still dirt & being built.







In August, R120 Wang Nua - Phayao had a massive flash flood at the roadside waterfall, killing 6 Nat Park staff in their huts. It was a gruesome & devastating scene...










In the pic below, note the size of the tree on the right hand side & compare it to the size today.


In Sept 94, R1095 Tha Ton - Mae Chan, had a flash flood around Suk Ruthai approx 20kms norh of Tha Ton.

[Dougal]

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Absolutely stunning, and fascinating too.

I was around in LOS then but never came up North. I was messing about down in Kanchanaburi.

Were you mostly on your own in those days Dave? Just teaming up with guys passing through or were there some crazy ones like yourself?

[Ally]

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Thanks for sharing these photo's David.

Something puzzles me though. Why you didn't start out with the name MT-Rider.com (Muddy Triangle Rider) instead?

Ally

[Franz]

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David, thanks for sharing these rare pictures !! Most of us didn't even know by then that these roads existed. As we can see you also went through quite a lot of different bikes that time......

[Davidfl]

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Found another old one for you guys.

The end of the road R1256, on Doi Phukha on the Pua side.
Not a great snap, & probably from 90-91-92?

This spot is before the famous Chomphu Phukha tree, & as you see can the road had not reached that tree yet.

I'm still searching for my pix of the R1129 flash flood on Kiu Khan hill, but turning up a few other oldies in the process. Hope I'm not boring you guys, but thought they might be good for a laugh.

[Captain_Slash]

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Definitely not boring David, its fun seeing how it was a few years before I first rode anywhere in Thailand, 1999 was when I first took to Thai roads

[Dougal]

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Fully agree. Not boring at all.

Really interesting. It might be an idea to store these photos as a historical record. I think you may be surprised how many people would take an interest.

[Davidfl]

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R1148 in the "early days." A good motorbike road & ride even then on account of it's steep, twisting winding nature.

The rider above is Tony, from Tony's big bikes & he was on a new Kawa KSR150.


Above: Scotty007 with his hot MTX125 parked at the top.

R1148 today...
With the Snail (Ducati) & Silverhawk (Yamaha TDM)

The Snail trundling along....

[Davidfl]

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Early days on the Doi Tung - Mae Sai Burma border road. It was still being built & was a real toughie in the wet, especially if you were on the mighty old Honda Wing 125 road bike.
Going down, the old drum brakes wouldn't hold.
Going up if you fluffed a gear change you'd be lucky to pull it even with duck paddling & that was after you'd kick started it on the steep slope & were stuck in first!


Notice my Wing parked on the left side, half in the ditch - the only safe spot were it would not slide or roll over.

[Marco]

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David
those where hard time, I remember when I came here on -97 and we had first really bad floods in Ubon in -98, half of the town was under the water and from Ubon to Warin(some of you know the near by town) army was transporting people by they military trucks, Ubon was under water about 2months that time.

I had low rider (car) that time and could not use it for anywhere so had to pick up uncles pick up to do business or generally go any where,, I'll try to look those pictures, they are some where.

If I recall correctly that was Chinese fault that time as they let go large amount of water suddenly and could not care of countries down below...

[Davidfl]

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David
those where hard time, I remember when I came here on -97 and we had first really bad floods in Ubon in -98, half of the town was under the water and from Ubon to Warin(some of you know the near by town) army was transporting people by they military trucks, Ubon was under water about 2months that time.

I had low rider (car) that time and could not use it for anywhere so had to pick up uncles pick up to do business or generally go any where,, I'll try to look those pictures, they are some where.

If I recall correctly that was Chinese fault that time as they let go large amount of water suddenly and could not care of countries down below...

No trouble to stick em up. Start another thread probably.

[Davidfl]

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Here's a real "oldie" 1986
R1129 Chiang Saen - Chiang Khong, on the "new" dirt road going over Kiu Khan Hill.

The guy on the right still rides & lives here - Art is the longest serving English teacher at CMU.
The watchtower on the hill was manned by the army in those days & they liked to know who was coming & going.

Late 80s. R1290 Mae Sai - Golden Triangle....


before the "super" highway.

The old road was flat, straight through the rice paddies & they were forever repairing it cheaply. It was years before it was finally done properly, so in the wet season it was always a mess after heavy rain. Some politicians & karachagans must have made a lot of money from all the repair contracts they gave out. Too much was always siphoned off & there was never enough left to do the job properly? They once tried brick paving & it only lasted half a wet season. Ha. Ha. What a joke that one was.

[Davidfl]

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More of R1129, the Kiu Khan hill between Chiang Saen & Chiang Khong.
They just finished the asphalt road in the late 80s & there was a flash flood in the first wet season after the asphalt was complete.
This is what it looked like after the wet & they'd cleared a way through.


No asphalt left here, just dirt & rocks.




The Hmong village on the top of the hill was a beauty in those days. Jon Boyes ran a guesthouse there for about 4 years, wrote a couple of books, (then went home to the Uk.) These were magic times. Lots of super friendly people & good looking Hmong women.






Wayne Cuthbert, an Aussie Laverda rider on tour in Kiu Khan.


Many a good time was had there & Hmong New Year was always a extremely colourful & enjoyable experience.

[Rhodie]

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Great Stuff!

There's nothing like revisiting memory's dirty lanes and
seeing long forgotten diamonds amongst the really rough!

I suppose Jason is now on full-time scanning duties!
Long may he continue - it puts some of our whinging about roads
and conditions into context.

Have you brought over [from the old site] your & Silverhawk's report
of the floods a few years back?
What with the rain & all, it might be useful to revisit this report as well as areminder
that even today things are not always benign.

Thanks for posting.

[Davidfl]

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Great Stuff!

Have you brought over [from the old site] your & Silverhawk's report
of the floods a few years back?
What with the rain & all, it might be useful to revisit this report as well as areminder
that even today things are not always benign.

Thanks for posting.

Yep, the flood reports are here
1. http://www.gt-rider.com/thailand-motorc ... t1414.html
2. http://www.gt-rider.com/thailand-motorc ... -t871.html
3. http://www.gt-rider.com/thailand-motorc ... t1617.html

[Rhodie]

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Thanks for these links,
awesome pix and great reportage.

[Davidfl]

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Mid-late 80s...

R1216.
The Khun Satan road. Na Noi- Huay Kaet (R101)


R1216.
In the hot dry season: smoke from slash & burn was not new, even in the late 80s.


KHUN SATAN
With the Mlabri out near Khun Satan, before they "all" moved to Gene Long's place.

Some of you might find it hard to recognize the young GT Rider above. Ha. Ha.

[Davidfl]

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An original oldie

http://members.tripod.com/~boostdam/Aut ... 0523a.html

a motorcycle trip to Kanchanaburi in 1955!

[scotty007]

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1150 with Harri and Bruce in 86



David FL on the famous 1148



Tony "Chicken In A Basket"





Mae Sai just before the Burma border 86



Near Nan City 91



Phrae/Nan 96



David FL "I'll need a push!"



Don't leave me!



Fang Hot Spring 86

[Dougal]

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Fabulous! Really envy you guys.

Please keep em coming.