No Plans Tour.

[marcusb]

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I just quit my job as a teacher and had to hand in my work permit and cancel my working visa. When I cancelled the visa they informed me I had to leave Thailand right away and it's 500B per day overstay. A bit of a surprise but oh well. So I went back home and quickly got ready. I wanted to go to Laos, with the motorcycle. I would try to cross at Thali, but if I was unsuccessful I would have to ride to Nong Khai, park my bike and bus across. So it was an early 05:30 start.
The thali crossing was great. There was a group of army guys outside saying " no motorsai" but the gentleman at the counter started processing my passport. All I had was my green book and a canadian drivers license which expired a couple years back. I went from office to office(trailer to trailer) and with the efforts of about 4 people I was on the road in about 45 minutes, all legal. The Laos side was a bit slow, I had already obtained my Laos visa in KK but they informed me they now process them on arrival. 40 minutes at the Laos side and I was good to go. Thai border charged me 500B for one day overstay, no problem, Laos border charged me 40 B for processing the motorcycle, good deal, I was in laos!! There were a couple vague road signs right away, enjoy them, they are the last you will see.
My plan was to ride to Pak Lai and get a bungalow. The road started out very nice,
I was wondering why it wasn't a very common route. It broke up a bit here and there on the way to Pak lai. I arrived at Pak Lai at about 14:00, seemed to early to stop so I pushed on to Xaignabouli, the town with 5 different spellings. The road varied from decent asphalt to motocross track. My god!! I have never seen such a trail. Looks like the road is total chaos when it rains as the ruts and potholes are huge. I was so glad it was dry for my ride. Miles and miles of just standing on the pegs hammering through the ruts and holes. My poor little CBR took a beating, it's got lots of new rattles now.
The route is quite beautiful especially now with everything a million shades of green. Lots of people out and about but the road traffic was very light. There were enough gas stations that fuel was not a concern. There were lots of guesthouses as well starting right at the border. I arrived in X at 18:00 (12.5 hrs from Nongsonghong Khon Kaen) totally vibrated and shaken up by the past 4 hrs of motocross. Found a decent guesthouse for 300B, maybe could have done better but I was too tired to look around. Market food and a few beer laos and the first long day was over.

[marcusb]

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Day two I figured was going to be quite short so I was pretty casual leaving and driving. The scenery is really nice on this route. There was a fair bit of construction and a big new bridge is just about finished. I was coming down a nice descent and had a great view of the Mekong, hmmm, but no bridge. There was a big ferry tied up but a fellow said to just throw it in his little riverboat. Him and his son handled it quite well, I'm guessing they do it all the time. They put the bike in the middle of the boat and told me to sit on it, contrary to everything I have learned in water safety. I was surprised it was quite stable, on the other side 100B later and off I go. There was a big fork in the road and after I made my choice traffic got very light. I asked a couple people if Luang Prabaung was straight ahead they said yes. On this section there were two, 2 kilometer sections of asphalt, what a tease. Finally the dirt road spit me out on the number 13 maybe 10-15 kilometers south of LP. Decent. LP was okay, nice to eat good bread and cheese again.

[marcusb]

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Day 3 Lp to Vientiane. Wow, what a ride. Yahooo! I travelled this highway in the opposite direction two years ago on my bicycle. It is way easier this time. A great road and a really fun ride. Very little traffic, and well mannered, I had lots of trucks flash their indicators when it was safe to pass. I like that. Plenty of gas stations and food stops, I stopped for canned coffee about 4 times and that was it for me, I knew it would be a long day. The second half of the day was busy daydreaming about what to eat in Vientiane. I always stay at the Lao Sakong because it's a cheap dump with fantastic staff. I was disappointed to see it was locked up and shut down. I ended up at the Orchid on the river street.
It's been two years since I was in Vientiane and there have been big changes. Good and bad. But I think they did an awesome job on the riverfront walking park. It was very nice and good to see lots of locals and tourists enjoying it.

[marcusb]

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Day 4 was down to Savan, It was an enjoyable ride but a tad anti climatic after the last three days. Good roads, even when they're wet, which they were quite often today. My first time to Savanaket and I really enjoyed it. Very quiet town, nice streets, and the French influence is quite visible in the food and the architecture.
The next two days were slotted for taking care of a new visa and sleeping and just hanging out.

Day 5 was down to Pakse, I kept going at Pakse and rode up to Paksong. I think it may be very nice up there, unfortunately for my visit it was fog and rain. So back down to Pakse with a personal promise to return here in the dry season. Pakse was another interesting town, quite impressed. I stayed at the Pakse Hotel, it didn't feel worth the money really.

[marcusb]

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Day 6 and I was heading home. I crossed the mekong right away but was still in Laos for 44k or so. It didn't look like Laos, looked like Thailand, Thai bus shelters, thai garbage cans. The border was a real snap, maybe I spent 10 minutes on each side and away I went. Although the Laos dude made up some charge for me, about 100 baht, I didn't bother to dispute it. I got to Ubon and was headed to Si Saket and then home but I saw a sign for Yasothan and had never been on that road, so thats the way I went. Good road, once again a bit boring after northern Laos. I was gone only a short time but it's good to be back and see 7-11 and Amazon coffee.

[marcusb]

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Day 7. I stayed home for two nights, put all my stuff in storage, and set off. I took small roads to Chiayapum and then wandered off to Nong Bua daeng. What a nice ride from Chiayapum to NBD. I was wandering around town looking for a hotel and I saw a bar with about 8 falang inside, surprise. Unfortunately I stopped. I remained there for way too many hours drinking way too many beers. There are not many foreigners in my area so it's a real treat to talk complete sentences and share some laughs.

Day 8 With a heavy head I set off very slowly. I wasn't sure where I was going as I have no destination yet. I took the 2359 out of NBD which led to the 225. I then opted for the 2275 all the way up to Lom Sak. I like Lom sak, I've stayed here a few times. On the road out of LomSak heading for Dansai there is a big fancy hi-so hotel, behind it is a sleazy old one and a brand new unit with only Thai signs. The new place is awesome, clean, good internet, for 400B.

Day 9
Not wanting to do any thinking or route work today I got on the number 12 at lom Sak and stayed on it till it ended in Mae Sot. The ride had a good start and a good finnish with mountains and corners, in between it was pretty mind numbing, which is okay some days. I found lodging at the DK hotel. It seems quite old and was quite grand in its day. The Lady who runs the huge complex speaks English well and has some interesting old maps in her book store downstairs.

Day 10
Yahooo!! I took the 1090 (Death Highway) down to Umphang. It was awesome. The big climb starts out 50 k from mae Sot, then its 40 meters of straight and a forty meter corner, repeat that 1200 times. The roads were in very good shape for a small backroad and the angles were crazy sometimes, very steep. The scenery was spectacular. Every time I came close to a summit I got showered on, it got a bit chilly. I got to Umphang quite early so I got a room and continued south on the 1090 without luggage. I got to the roadblock by the National Park an hour later. The two "guards" (teenage girls) were sleeping when I pulled up, they continued to sleep while I took some pictures. Finally one woke up and said I cannot go past the gate. Back to the bungalow, an okay place but the husband kept charging me "falang" price for beers and food so I will not recommend them.

[Captain_Slash]

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Its looking good there in Umphang Marcus, Umphang seems to have been visited quite frequently by gt-riders lately

[TonyBKK]

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Fantastic trip report and great pictures! Thanks for sharing!

[Changnoi1]

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Great report and photos! And I love the "no plans" attitude ... going all that way with the CBR is even better. Actually maybe you can sell your trip to Honda Thailand as commercial.

Chang Noi

BTW I think the immigration should have given you a grace 10-days periode after terminating your WP.

[marcusb]

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Thanks guys, Changnoi, I thought I was supposed to get a "grace" but the only option they mentioned was a one week ext for 1900 baht. That said this is the same office that offered me not to bother with 90 day reports for one year for 1000b, TIT.
Day 11
Had a wonderful sleep as my cottage was right beside a nice little brook which gurgled away all night. There were a lot of mosquitoes and they seemed to enjoy the "falang food", woke up with a lot of little red spots. Sorry, not motorcycle stuff but the dogs here really intrigue me. They aren't a bunch of shabby various mixes like most villages. They all have the same basic build and features, very nice dogs. I'd like to come back and go a little deeper in the mountains and get a pup. Okay, back to bikes.
I set off up the 1090 until I came to the 1162, it has a main road and a spur so I checked them both out. At the end of the spur is a Burma border crossing. There was no one around, I shut down the bike to take a few shoots and I could hear the border guys up the hill partying with some women. It was 10:00 a.m.. We exchanged greetings from a distance and off I went.
Back on the 1090 and up to the intersection of the 1206, I checked the 1206 and it was as nice as the other roads. Rain is now turning into a fact of life, when I was shaving this morning I noticed I was forming gills. This should help.

Back into Mae Sot and back into the DK hotel.

[marcusb]

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Day 12 was pouring when i first woke up so I sat it out for awhile, finally broke up around 8:00. Heading up the 105 to mae Sariang. It would be a short day which was cool, I wanted the freedom to explore a few side roads along the way. Some of the side roads were for parks or waterfalls, some were just roads that looked interesting. I had a great time. In the morning i came to a long construction zone where they were rebuilding the road, it was a bit slick at times but okay. It was weird because once I hit the work area there were no cars for a long long time. I started to wonder if I missed a detour sign.
Saw an elephant on one of my side roads and he was a good working elephant not a tourist taxi, so cool, we don't usually see that kinda stuff in Canada. The refugee camps along the way are cerntainly a sobering view. To think that those people would rather be in that camp than back home really stresses to me how bad it must have been for them. On one really really steep side road I crested a hill and ended up in a school yard. The kids just stared at me dumbfounded, not like back in Isaan where they would all get excited and shout out "falang, falang". Got to MS around 16:00 and stayed at the Hotel, been there before, not bad, not great. First thing I do now when i arrive at my room is check their wifi, so many places say all the rooms have it.... and they don't. I switched 3 rooms here before I got a signal.

[marcusb]

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Day 13, back on the 105 heading north, just before Khun Yuam I turned left onto the 1337, it does a loop close to Burma and then back onto the 105. They had a patrol stop at the junction and the guy wouldn't let me go through. he asked where i was going and I said Mae Hong Son and he said take the highway, he was quite miserable and had a big gun so I never took the discussion any further. So at Khun Yuam I took a right on the 1263, what a great choice. The highway was in great shape, traffic was minimal and the scenery was stupendous. There are a lot of good steep climbs and twisties and also lots of straight stretches to open her up. Yes I know cbr 150, but since the Laos segment of my trip my speedo goofs up and I can hit 200KPH no problem. It's awesome.
I had Lunch at mae Chaem and then headed for Idiathon or whatever. It was cool to be at the highest point in Thailand, the view was clouds clouds and more clouds. Kind of odd, my idle is always steady at 1400rpm, but on the mountain top it was down to 900 and stalling. I turned it up and then later had to turn it back down again. Altitude ? Down the hill and a few turns and off to Chang Mai. I have been in the province but never into the city as I dislike big cities. It was raining and I was tired so i found a nice spot outside by the airport, good enough. My gawd, I thought there were lots of falang in LP, chang mai is crawling with them! It was a fantastic weekend. It was sooo good to eat good falang food for a few days.

[marcusb]

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Day 14.
I left my hotel and set off towards lamphun. I figured I was headed south, Nakhon Sawan or somewhere. But as I was going down the 106 I saw a sign for chom thong, which is where I was the other day. Chom Thong is on the 108 which is a common tour route, seeing as I only saw part of the 108 I decided to go back to mae Sariang on this route and see the bits I haven't seen. No Plans, right. So off I go, I missed my turn in Lamphun which was good because I got to see a lot of the damage the recent rains have done, houses were flooded up to the windows, field were full, and it was still raining. It rained all day. All day. the road was good and interesting and great views etc. Just past Lamphun I stopped by the river for a smoke break, the river was about a foot below cresting the road. I have a feeling tomorrow it will be over the road.
Now I sit in my hotel, it's been raining for 5 hours straight. The river in front of the guesthouse is huge and overflowing the banks with all kinds of big debris floating along. I am thinking about tomorrows 20 kilometer section of road construction that seperates me from Mae Sot. it should be an interesting day tomorrow.

[2wheels]

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Great pics and a wonderful 'mai phen rai' touring approach there Marcus.
Thoroughly enjoyable reading.

[marcusb]

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Well today was certainly interesting. It has been raining here for over 24 hrs straight. Sometimes it's just sprinkling sometimes it's coming down in buckets. I left the very very comfortable bed at Riverbank Guesthouse and was on the road about 08:30. There was a detour leaving town as the first bridge south of town was flooded. I gassed up and noticed I was soaking wet and haven't even left town. I asked the cops at the detour if the road to Mae Sot was okay, they said yes.
The rivers were all swollen up to or over their banks. Some of the villages had ferocious streams going down streets and through peoples yards. There were lots of little landslides and a couple that were big enough to block off one lane. There were also a lot of fallen trees and debris littering the road. Came across a few 50 - 100 meter long puddles that were knee deep. They were fun, once your soaked already you can't really get any wetter so the puddles were okay, and the water was warm. Forty k out I came across a roadblock, the guard pointed at the river. I was wondering why there was no oncoming traffic the last 20k. The river had made it over the bridge and there was a 300 Meter stretch of waist deep water. I revved it up and attacked it,.... no I didn't. I stood around with the other people watching the water. There were some houses and a guard office on one side and the village was on the other side. A boat came across to our side with supplies for the guards and helpers…..mostly flats of cans of Leo. I contemplated getting the bike on a boat or carried over, four guys can lift and carry a cbr 150 pretty easy. But what would lay ahead? There was no oncoming traffic sitting on the other side of the river so I assumed the road is blocked in a few places. Turn around and go back, only choice. What I don't understand is I went past at least 5 police boxes, couldn't they inform people there was no longer a road. Possibly they had thai signs stating that and I missed them. When i got back to MS I asked a cop about Chang mai and he said that road is out and so is the Mae Hong Son road. Damn. And it's still raining!! LOTS! The forecast is for more rain. I have a rotten feeling I may be in Mae Sariang for a few days. Could be worse, could be back home at work.

[TonyBKK]

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Wow, you're still going! LOVE IT!!! Subscribed!

[Davidfl]

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Fantastic report; & all on a CBR150. Well done. You certainly know how to have fun. It looks like you might have got caught in the flooding from "Nok Ten" eh?

[marcusb]

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Mae Sariang to Mae Sot, the long way.
Last night it continued to rain until about 20:00, then it sort of petered out to a drizzle. The satellite TV went out, then the wifi, followed by the electricity. A kind lady saw me laying out the ripped sections of my map so that it would dry, she felt pity and gave me her big map of Thailand, very nice. She also told me of the road from Hot to Tak, which should be open.
The morning was a very very light drizzle, so i packed up and set off at 8ish. I was taking the 108 back towards Chiang Mai. This road was in much better shape than yesterdays road to Mae Sot. But there were still parts with mud and rock slides, quite a few downed power posts, and lots of trees and debris on the road. I saw a few convoys of military trucks trailering big earth moving equipment, I am guessing they were headed for the mae hong son - mae sot road. The last two days really impressed upon me the power of rain. Such destruction and mayhem just from water, powerful stuff.
At Hot I took the 1103 which turned into a nice highway, some wide sections with big gentle curves and some tight twists. Traffic was good but there seemed to be a lot of transport trucks. The road eventually ends at the Number 1 highway which I followed to Tak. Well just about, the highway was dreadfully boring and I saw a side road, 1175, which went to Mae Ramat and then Mae Sot. I was curious about this road so checked it out. It starts and ends with a wide road with shoulders and gentle curves. In the middle were skinny roads with tight corners, minefield pothole sections and a few kilometers of very slippery clay and mud. It was great! It had a definite back woods feel to it, most of the villages looked pretty primitive. Back on the familiar 105 just before Mae Ramat and 40k later I was back at the fabulous DK hotel in Mae Sot. Good day, and I managed to stay dry for more than half of it.

[Rod Page]

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Great stuff! Goin' where the bike takes you....isn't that what its all about.
Tremendous.

[marcusb]

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Woke up early, raining. I putzed around till half past eight and the rain subsided. Nice ride leaving Mae Sot, nice and cool and the highway is fabulous. Just before Tak is the 1108 going south to 1110 and then onto the number 1. The side road was excellent, good surface and very little traffic. The number 1 was mind numbing after 30k or so, after Kamphaeng Phet I took a right o the 1117 headed for Khlong Lan. Everything was fine and wonderful until I was on the 1072 and I saw a small sign that said "shortcut to Mae Wong". I have never seen a sign like that. Next time I'll keep going. I took the shortcut and wandered here and there through small villages on very small cement roads. Then the road stopped and it was just a dirt track. A thai decked on in motocross gear on a honda motocross pulled up and I asked if it was the right road, he smiled and said yeah, and informed me to just follow the power lines. He then gave me a huge smile and a thumbs up. Hmmm. I followed the dirt track for 30k, just abusing the poor cbr. Then I started asking people about Mae Wong, seriously I asked 5 people and I got 5 different responses. Finally I said to hell with it and just used common sense. Keep going till theres pavement, follow the pavement till theres a junction. I did this and it all worked out. My shortcut added 40 k at least and probably 1.5 hrs. Live and learn. Once I got that sorted out I carried on doing small roads until Ban Rai. There the map and reality are two different things. I was looking for the 333 highway which on my map should have been right there, but it wasn't it was 8 kilometers east. Got that figured and rode on to Dan Chang. I was wiped out, I found some very strange bungalows and called it a day. The bungalows are like inside a big warehouse, it's strange, but tonight it's home. Not many pictures today, wasn't really all that scenic, similar to riding at home in Isaan.