After reading the good reports here on the forum of "Baan Ricky" I thought why not check my off-road-skills,
last time I did real offroad-driving was in military-service somewhat 45 years ago, and in those days the driver
was a bit more flexible, but the motorcycle-material was also a whole lot different, so off to Sai Yok Jai.
Arriving there I found two men sitting in front of the house, one was a customer who had spent some time
there driving motocross and was just leaving, the other guy, as it would turn out, was exactly the guy I was
looking for, his name was Philip and after I had explained what I was doing there, he promised to take me on a
2-3 hours tour in the nearby bambu-forrest to let me test my ability, so around 3 PM off we went.
First short stop for refueling the drivers and a picture.
At my age it gets more and more difficult to find new things that give you a "kick", but here I must say
I had found something. The KLX was a very pleasent surprice, I found myself driving in a way I hadn`t expected,
and time went so fast I forgot about photostops and after 1,5 hour it was time again for refueling, this time
both the drivers and Philips bike.
After a wile here I started to understand why Philip, as he told me, always stops here to buy fuel and drinks,
I think he have some plan going here, and I can fully understand him, or what do You think ?
Anyway, as we stayed here we could see some heavy black clouds coming up over the mountain, and before
we got back to base we got really soaked in a thunderstorm with winds that made trees fall, many sheds
fall down and even a couple of cars went "offroad". But that is part of the game and we got back safe to
base. To sum up this afternoon-adventure I can say that I really look forward to, in a not too distant future,
beeing able to make a full day offroad-tour under Philips guidance.
The view from Rickys bungalow where I spent a few hours waiting for my clothes to get dry.
For Saturday Ricky had arranged for a roadbike-tour up to Pilok village at the Myanmar border, and that is
a place I have seen on the map that look interesting and remote, so of cause I did not turn down the
invitation to come along. So at around 11 off we went along the 323 up to Thong Pha Phum, and there on
to 3272 that leads to Pilok. Where the road goes along the Wachiralongkon damm Ricky picked a nice place
to have lunch, so to say, on the water.
Next stop along the way was at the viewpoint about half way, where we had the group-picture taken.
Zoom in and maybe You can see a GT-Riders t-shirt.
Walking up the stairs to the border-monument you realise that maybe one schould sit a little less on the
bike and do some more stairs-walking.
View into Myanmar with something that looks like a gaspipeline-valvestation.
View from the temple in Pilok.
After that it was ride back to Rickys Place where he had made a, from what I can read in other reports
here on the forum, very successful bar-b-q-party, which I unfortunatly could not particepate in, had to be
back in Baan Phe Sunday evening, guests arriving on Monday. Sorry Ricky, IF I get another invitation I
promise I´ll not turn You down.
Two days spent with Ricky and friends and one day on my own, looking at Erewan waterfall, nearby
dammcrest, driving up to SiSawat and back, I must say was very well spent time, and well worth the
fairly long drive up from Baan Phe and back, and I already look forward to doing it again.
Leif
last time I did real offroad-driving was in military-service somewhat 45 years ago, and in those days the driver
was a bit more flexible, but the motorcycle-material was also a whole lot different, so off to Sai Yok Jai.
Arriving there I found two men sitting in front of the house, one was a customer who had spent some time
there driving motocross and was just leaving, the other guy, as it would turn out, was exactly the guy I was
looking for, his name was Philip and after I had explained what I was doing there, he promised to take me on a
2-3 hours tour in the nearby bambu-forrest to let me test my ability, so around 3 PM off we went.
First short stop for refueling the drivers and a picture.
At my age it gets more and more difficult to find new things that give you a "kick", but here I must say
I had found something. The KLX was a very pleasent surprice, I found myself driving in a way I hadn`t expected,
and time went so fast I forgot about photostops and after 1,5 hour it was time again for refueling, this time
both the drivers and Philips bike.
After a wile here I started to understand why Philip, as he told me, always stops here to buy fuel and drinks,
I think he have some plan going here, and I can fully understand him, or what do You think ?
Anyway, as we stayed here we could see some heavy black clouds coming up over the mountain, and before
we got back to base we got really soaked in a thunderstorm with winds that made trees fall, many sheds
fall down and even a couple of cars went "offroad". But that is part of the game and we got back safe to
base. To sum up this afternoon-adventure I can say that I really look forward to, in a not too distant future,
beeing able to make a full day offroad-tour under Philips guidance.
The view from Rickys bungalow where I spent a few hours waiting for my clothes to get dry.
For Saturday Ricky had arranged for a roadbike-tour up to Pilok village at the Myanmar border, and that is
a place I have seen on the map that look interesting and remote, so of cause I did not turn down the
invitation to come along. So at around 11 off we went along the 323 up to Thong Pha Phum, and there on
to 3272 that leads to Pilok. Where the road goes along the Wachiralongkon damm Ricky picked a nice place
to have lunch, so to say, on the water.
Next stop along the way was at the viewpoint about half way, where we had the group-picture taken.
Zoom in and maybe You can see a GT-Riders t-shirt.
Walking up the stairs to the border-monument you realise that maybe one schould sit a little less on the
bike and do some more stairs-walking.
View into Myanmar with something that looks like a gaspipeline-valvestation.
View from the temple in Pilok.
After that it was ride back to Rickys Place where he had made a, from what I can read in other reports
here on the forum, very successful bar-b-q-party, which I unfortunatly could not particepate in, had to be
back in Baan Phe Sunday evening, guests arriving on Monday. Sorry Ricky, IF I get another invitation I
promise I´ll not turn You down.
Two days spent with Ricky and friends and one day on my own, looking at Erewan waterfall, nearby
dammcrest, driving up to SiSawat and back, I must say was very well spent time, and well worth the
fairly long drive up from Baan Phe and back, and I already look forward to doing it again.
Leif
