Lomphukeaow Re-visited

ianyonok

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I revisited Lom Phu Keaow this July, on a Saturday. A magical spot indeed.

There are now some concrete bridges over the streams on the dirt road, making access easy, if it hasn't been raining.
It is located just about 14 klms from highway 1, near Ngao and only the last 3 or 4klms is dirt road.

I saw several saloon cars driving in and out, plus a couple of modern road bikes.
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A parking area has been laid out and there was a National Park guy there, looked like he was there for the day at least.

They even have a Visitor Centre now. This place must get quite busy in the high season, with easy access from highway 1. Luckily, the area is still clean and no signs of plastic garbage anywhere.
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The map is interesting, as there are quite a few things to see within the Tham Pathai N.P.
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On my last visit to LomPhu Keaow, rainy season 2016, I also went to see the Mae Kae and Kao Fu waterfalls, RachaKrue Cave and ancient cave art at Bahn Huay Hok. All worth a visit.
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The bat cave at PaThai looks worth checking out some time, as well.

Past the Kao Fu waterfall, the trail continues on over the mountains to Jae Hom and that is on the bucket list to do sometime after the rains.

When I arrived at the pool, there were two other people there..... it is getting popular...!
After they left, I had some solitude for 20 minutes contemplation, before the next couple arrived.
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I rode a klm further up the track, for a look. What a gorgeous area.
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Tyre tracks continued up the little river, but I didn't fancy it, the trail coming in was slippery after rain.
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Pulled into Phayao for lunch. Salted pla Nin from the lake. Seems to taste much better than farmed fish.
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Being a Saturday, the tourist boats were full on, ferrying people out to the temple on the island in the lake. I would quite like to see that...... but......
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....it would involve travelling like this......
I really couldn't do that.... assigned seat, lifejacket and straw hat....
I guess bikers are not very good at package tour trips.....

Many of us have been watching the lakeside mansion getting restored. It really looks wonderful now with a fresh coat of wood stain.
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So, if you get a chance, a visit to Lom Phu Keaow is well worth it. In the dry season, any vehicle can get there now.
You don't need a map to find it, there are signs on highway 1 at Ngao. Then plenty of signs along the local road.
But it is here; 18 deg 46' 02" N, 99 deg 52' 25" E
 

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Great Trip. Well done! That sure is an Impressive House in Phayao, I would never want to Live in one Myself but glad someone took the Time to Restore it! Fantastic Location and Huge Grounds also! Be interesting to see what becomes of it?
 

Oddvar

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Thanks Ian for another great trip report.
Please add more references. It took me some time to find it.
Add a link like this and it will give the readers a Google map. (Don't like Google maps as they don't use GPS ref's)
Screenshot 2017-07-20_08-13-28.png

Nothing on OSM.
Screenshot 2017-07-20_08-13-52.png

But a GPS coordinate where i left the mouse pointer.

A picture of your GPS no matter what format you use, a picture of a milage marker etc.
Every time i read a trip report here, I load the waypoints, POI or any other reference on to my GPS for future reference.
Like this.
Screenshot 2017-07-20_08-22-36.png

Now I have a POI, waypoint with reference to your trip report.
Keep it up Ian, next beer on me..
 

ianyonok

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Hi Oddvar,
You sound very organised, Sir...... hahahaha...

But, I'm not sure what I should do for the best. I have the OSM map enabled on my Garmin GPS, plus a 2012 version of the Thailand Street map. If I remember, or even realise, that I am heading onto some trail, I clear the former track and start recording again. So, I have quite a few trails on the GPS unit as .gpx files. I guess I could work at exporting all the .gpx files from the Garmin. I do back them up sometimes. I also have lots of waypoints.
But, I didn't record any trail for the points of interest around the east of Tam PaThai, unfortunately. I probably deleted the track I had at the time, because it included hundreds of klms of tarmac as well. But most of the tracks at Tham PaThai, are on the Thailand Street map. I did record the waypoints for various POI there. I have just tried uploading a .gpx file to the forum here, but it wouldn't work. I got the error message "Uploaded file does not have an allowed extension".

However, I did manage to import the waypoints of some of the places I went to last year, into a google earth file.
Tham PaThai Google earth.jpg


But that doesn't help you much, as no co-ords. Here is a smaller scale version. This shows roughly where these POI are compared to highway 1 (AH2)
Tham PaThai Google earth 2.jpg

Here are the actual co-ords;

Gaow Fu waterfall; N18 deg 45' 02.1" E99 deg 48' 33.9"
Mae Gae waterfall; N18 deg 44' 43.2" E99 deg 49' 00.2"
Buddha Cave; N18 deg 44' 53.6" E99 deg 48' 03.3"
10,000 year old rock art; N18 deg 43' 55.2" E99 deg 47' 48.3"

The Buddha cave is called RajaKrue and the rock art is Huay Hok.
 

Oddvar

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Ship o'hoi...
The coordinate format you use is called dd.mm.mmm. Try to change to hddd.ddddd. The format you use it good on any ocean with sea maps. (This will not change anything)
Pos format.jpg

India alone has over 100 different formats..(David, please read this several times.:):):))

Older tracks will be in the Archive folder. Mac or Windows, same same.
Unless you have changed too much on your GPS it will save track in a 24h period. Starting at 00:01 hrs.
Just connect it to your computer like any USB memory device.
Screenshot 2017-07-20_16-25-28.png

This picture show the Garmin folder on your computer.

For location references take a screen shot of your screen when you have a picture that display GPS pos, or a good old fashioned picture of the unit itself.
Location.jpg

David need to come up with a way to upload GPX files. They are easy to edit to slim down and to show just the relevant info.
 

ianyonok

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Well, after 30 years working at sea in the offshore oil survey business, I am familiar with somebody always wanting a different format or datum. I change the Garmin format often, and right now it's in deg, mins and secs, because that is what I last used when getting co-ords off the internet, for places to check out.
But really, I can't be fussed with too much sitting in front of a screen, I've got bikes to build and bikes to ride.
Plenty of simple conversion programs online, I'm sure, for whatever format anyone wants to use.
 
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Oddvar

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Offshore, UTM has been used for decades.
How to convert.
18° 30,32
Take the minutes, 30, divide by 60 and multiply by 100. (30/60)x100=50.
This give you 18.5032.
The other way.
(50/100)x60=30
18° 30.32.
Simple. But would be simpler if everyone used the same system, like driving on the same side of the road, me think. :):):)
 

ianyonok

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Hi Goran,

The use of the word "Freaky" is a little questionable.... haha... and they certainly are not "mine"....
I grew up learning about degrees, minutes and seconds, some time in the early 20th century and that has served me well, so far.

Oddvar is quite right, they are just what you need for Admiralty charts; one minute of latitude being one nautical mile and one nautical mile per hour being one knot.

I guess it depends if we want everyone and everything to be the same. There is certainly a good argument for "simple".
But personally, being a luddite, I like colour and variation. I still measure things in inches and fractions of an inch and that goes well with maintaining a 60 year old touring bike that tells me speed in miles per hour and has the gear lever on the correct side... the right side.... haha..

Gosh, next thing, you youngsters will be telling me I should get one of those new-fangled full face helmets or even one with a funny peak on the front.... hahaha..
 

GTR-Admin

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I've added GPX to the file formats that are able to be uploaded... Personally, I'm old-school and more inclined to carry a hard-copy map that gives me the "big picture" view of where I'm headed. That said, the instantly available information within OSM / Google Maps on my 7in Samsung Note is truly astonishing... if only I could read the screen outside on a bright and sunny day... :confused: