Mae Sariang To The Salawin/Moei Confluence And Back

[Captain_Slash]

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The route 1194

Total distance 169 km

Some shots from along the 1194



The good new middle section of the 1194 and its a shame its not like this all the way

Now back to reality and the really rough section begins



I let him get past first before I got going just in case he disappeared into one of those holes and needed pulling out



The Salawin, I was looking at the live map on my own website last night of wednesdays ride and noticed that there were tracks showing that went to the Salawin/Moei confluence so I drew a rough sketch on a piece of paper and hope to find it today



Now the start of todays long dirt ride



There were quite a few of these coming the other way, all empty but chucking up clouds of dust







After 5 km of dirt I take a right onto the track that I rode down for 2 km on wednesday





Two choices and I take the one to the right, but unknown to me both were wrong

Straightaway I am in a large village



















I need to head south but its only that narrow track, I am pointed to a track to the west of it and off I go.
It leads up steep on single track then turns to loose that I need 1st gear for and cant stop for photos or I wont get going again.
I have every intention of turning around at the first opportunity as this is no fun

I come out onto this new track and decide to explore a bit further



It appears to be a new track thats been cut and its steep and not compact, I get up some of it in 2nd gear but the looseness of the dirt is really sapping the power and 1st is also needed a lot of the time, this happened in quite a few places today and the fan never came on once surprisingly











I have absolutely no idea if this is the right track or not but its heading south and although the GPS is just a blank I have pinpointed where the confluence is and hopefully it will be located







This gentleman stops to ask me where I am going and he tells me this is the way, I have to bear round to the left then at a village take a right and my target is 20 km away

Just before reaching this village I go down some seriously steep hills with loose bulldust and I am hoping I can get back up them









The Salawin through the trees

What I dont appreciate at the time is that is actually the confluence







I reach a crossroads in a village and take the right as that appears to be going in the right direction, plus I guess this is the village I was told to turn right in.
Also as I have rode 7 km since speaking with him this would be the correct distance, a quick asking of a couple of locals confirms my suspicions



The sign to look for



The surface is a mixture of compact where I can make decent progress and loose bulldust where I had the KLX sliding sideways round a downhill corner and some rocky bits thrown in for good measure

My third and final water crossing and they were all easy ones



I reach the village sitting on the Moei, now to head north a bit for the confluence



I asked at two places here about benzine only to be told no, I find this rather surprising considering its a reasonable sized place, maybe they didnt understand me and they do have some.
I have only covered 82 km since leaving Mae Sariang and will get back on a tankful even with the dirt riding

The Salawin

The Moei



I am not under any illusion that I am the first westerner to come here but I have never heard this confluence mentioned before or ever seen any photographs of it.
Has anyone reading this ever been here before?



Well here is the confluence, it took me a lot longer to get here than I expected and as my legs are aching from standing up on the pegs I decide not to walk right down there.
I will visit here again and would love to see it when both rivers are at full flow



Mission completed and time to ride back







On the way back and I discover a vantage point where I can get a good view of the confluence, I cant help thinking what a lovely photo this would be in ideal weather conditions.
The GPS co-ordinates of this spot are my secret and are on offer to the highest bidder

A zoom of the confluence



In one of the villages on the way back fuel is available, N17.53.677 E097.43.137 is right outside the house that sells it



Just out of the fuel village is the steep uphill bit I was concerned about, I just gun it in 1st and apart from one of the corners which was a bit difficult to negotiate the KLX sails up it

Now a steep downhill bit that the photo doesnt show the true angle of, I stop here for the photo and even with the bike in 1st with the engine off the bike still slides downhill and the front brake is also needed to hold it

I dont make the mistake of turning right onto that steep single track going into the village on the way back and stay on the freshly made wide track.
It brings me back to the first water crossing where I should have taken a right that doubled back on itself

After 67.4 km of dirt riding I am back to Mae Sam Laep and heres another shot of the Salawin.
I had asked before over the years about a boat trip to the confluence from Mae Sam Laep but was told they dont go that far, fortunately for me the KLX did go that far





What I hadnt noticed in my rides past here lately was the fact that the bridge leading from the 1194 to Mae Sam Laep was destroyed, this must have been fun going across here in the wet season.
I ride into town to find out if the road to Tha Ta Fang is open, I am told yes.
I thought this must be possible as I noticed Tha Ta Fang was mentioned on signposts along the way, hopefully tomorrow I will try it out.
I get back to town and even with todays long dirt section the bike has done 169 km and the fuel light still hasnt come on

A large vegetarian pizza for 320 Baht at the Sawaddee

You can get the gdb file from my website here … http://www.captainslash.com

[Rod Page]

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Slash - another great report; sales in KLX will go through the roof!

In reply to an earlier recent post of yours I mentioned that Kent Gregory has been in that region since the mid 1970s - actually living in the area & providing medical assistance & nutritional advice (using elephants before the recently constructed dirt roads let guys like you & I in) to the Karen villagers you photograph. You'll find an outline on my post
http://www.gt-rider.com/thailand-mot...light=Sop+moei

You'll see I was at the confluence of the Moei & Salween, but I came by boat as I wanted to experience at close quarters the Salween, the last undamed major river in SE Asia as there were rumours of a Chinese funded dam project being considered. The river trip is sensational but unfortunately has been 'closed' (by the Burmese) since the last Myanmar elections as the junta launched further hostilities against the various Karen ethnic armies in the area.

(As an aside the above report also shows you a Burmese refugee camp which another rider in the area recently mistook for a Karen village).

That aside, Slash, congratulations on another intriguing report - you must have collected several hectares of Thailand in dust by now!

[ronwebb]

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This is a truly interesting area Colin that I have on my 'things to do' list. Looks like you had quite an adventure on this ride. The Salween is one hell of a river too, running from the Himalayas in Tibet down through China, Thailand and into the Andaman Sea in Burma. Would be great to see this area in the wet season if it was accessible.

[Captain_Slash]

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Rod I remember reading that great post of yours and thinking it was probably the same road I knew of out of Sop Moei, I was in Mae Sam Laep today and was told I could take a boat trip from there to the confluence.

Ron if you go there you will definitely not be disappointed and I too would love to see the confluence when both rivers are at their peak, I was told today that the Salween is now 30 metres below its high wet season peak

[Kiwi Cruiser]

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Hi Colin

My first vist to Sob Moei was approx 3 years ago on a fishing / camping trip up the Moei.
- http://www.thailand-fly-fishing-guid...iver-trip.html

We were also there on 14th of Feb (a few days after you) but we went by boat. I took 2 of my daughters down for the day to have lunch at my girlfrieds parent's house. Great experience for them, and perhaps the highlight was the trip to the school, especialy the junior classroom which is desperately in need of some help. No balls, games or toys, no boks pens or pencils...

The river trip is excellent - I'll add some photos of that soon...

[Kiwi Cruiser]

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For those interested in a visit to the remote Ban Sob Moei village at the confluence of the Salween & Moei Rivers, boat services are readily available at Ban Mae Sam Laeb. Getting there is a full day mission, and there's currently no accommodation in Sob Moei. The Myanmar army are back in control, all the DKBN checkpoints that were so obvious 3 years ago have gone, and there's no restrictions of travel. Here's how we did it;

Take a songthiew taxi from Mae Sariang - departs approx 6:30am from the market on the western end of town.



The 50km trip is approximately 2 hours because the road is still in in a shocking state after the Wet Season rains. No problem on a KLX, but definitely tough for a road bike.



At Ban Mae Sam Laeb, there is a "ticket office" directly above the harbour steps, and one or two guys speak English - or at least enough to sort out where you want to go, and how much it will cost. If you can read Thai, there's a detailed sign with destinations and prices. You will be required to check in with the Thai Army Border Rangers, and sign their guestbook. No passport checks, just name, nationality and phone number etc. Porters will cary your icebox, bags and boxes - 20 baht at a time seems to be the going rate.



We opted for a big boat, the return trip cost us 1,400 THB. Its a 2 hour river trip, the scenery is great...



On arrival at Sob Moei, there is a boat mooring and a bamboo shelter, but if you look higher you'll see a small wooden sala, with the Thai flag flying proudly in the breeze. Beside that there is a toilet block, but there are few other facilties.



Wandering around the village, there's a small "mini-mart" and a Baptist church, plus a surprisingly large school and a medical centre.



The village mini-mart is neither obvious nor sign-posted...


We talked with the teacher at the junior classroom and she explained that they are desperately short of everything. Its particularly difficult to entertain and educate little kids without any basic materials. The teacher said she'd be delighted if anyone came in and delivered any toys; balls, skipping ropes, books etc. They used to receive annual visits from a group in Bangkok who brought with them supplies for the school. Apparently, there was a boating accident, and all further visits to their school were cancelled...

This is a Karen Christian village, and the average annual farmer's income is around $300 per YEAR... Consequently, many houses are of bamboo construction, some of locally sawn teak timber.



The last yellow songthiew leaves Ban Mae Sam Laeb at approximately 3:30pm, so you'll need to leave Sob Moei by 1pm... spending a night in Ban Mae Sam Laeb might prove to be suboptimal...



All in all, its a great outdoors adventure to a very remote part of Thailand...

[Captain_Slash]

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Well done on doing that worthwhile trip Ben, I notice you had much clearer shots than I got as I went there on a murky day

[Kiwi Cruiser]

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Hi Colin

According to Ms Fern, her brother and the "locals" in Ban Sob Moei ride out to the 105 highway across a shorter/easier route that comes out near Sob Moei town. Its a more direct route for them, especially if you need to visit the Amphur office etc. It has become their preferrered route to get to Mae Sariang as well, because the road to Mae Sam Laeb is so rough - if anything, its worse now than it was in Wet Season. Fern and I drove the little Nissan NV out to Mae Sam Laeb in late September, to deliver some malarial medicine to send downriver to her nephew. The road is actually rougher now than it was back then...

There are a surprising amount of large villages scattered through those mountains, no shortage of places to investigate on that KLX!

[Captain_Slash]

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Hi Ben

If you look at the live track at the bottom of this report from feb 1st I was probably most of the way there riding from the 105, theres a lot of exploring to do out that way.
http://www.captainslash.com/mae-sari...-mae-sam-laep/

I noticed you mentioned that the Salawin has lots of water even in the dry season, no one has ever mentioned this before and I was wondering how low it got in the middle of the dry season, so I guess not a lot lower in Mae Sam Laep then it is now

[Captain_Slash]

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I got this screen shot of the area sent to me from Auke who has given his permission to post it on gt-rider.
I did some of these tracks out there as did Phil and Auke has filled in the missing link from the ESRI map