riders ian( tiger 125) jeff( xr400), fai and luke( xr250's)
the aim- as much off-road to pai as possible and then the aeko loop, which didnt materialise unfortunatley.
we set off from the x-center to the prem center through an arid mix of farming and dirt roads it was here that we had the first tragedy of the trip a violent low-sider from our singaporean contingent meant we had to dig him out the sand, we turned off at nong kai( not that one silly) and headed for mokfa waterfall through a mixture of sandy constructing roads, it was imperative to ride first as otherwise dirt and sand in the air made navigating the ruts very diificult, with this in mind my primary target for the day was to be quicker putting on my gear than the other riders after drinks/ bathroom/ photgraphy stops. this worked well.
extended lunch and gossiping sessions made us well late into the bulk of our dirt sectuions and after some tough yet enjoyabel riding from ba pae to mae muang noi via the villages of bang kum and yang moen, we found ourselves going on the word of a manop a thai instructor that there was infact a road from mae muang noi to diong sam mun that isbnt on davids map. this route will have cut off a swection that saves you 30kms upwards of mainly asphaklt so is a real useful little track to know, but bring your best thai and prefeerably some reading skills or some villages wriiten in thai as there are forks all over the place withno signd in english and even the locals spek hill-language, in fact more difficult than any of the riding was actaully finding our way!! sure enough there is and it is steep in places with shrubbery and sandiness making it quite a difficult ride and the only rider not to fall offewas ian bungy on his prowling tiger. pikey was suffering from fatigue and a injured ankle, and at after 5 o clock with still no sign of asphalt thoughts of a night in the jungle were creeping into my mind, the road just seems to go on and on as everytimer you think you are finally ovwer the hill it picks up and climbs agaim.
around 5.45 we hit wat jan and from there we took 1265 into pai, a very nice section.
the following day we lost jeff due to swelling of the forementioned ankle, and so after a sluggish start we set off for ae ko a 100km dirt section linking maung noi and soppong, howver about 40kms into the trip a 4 inch nail struck us down as it impaled its parasitic form into ians real wheel, a rather slow pit stop insued and this comibenid with a late start meant we wouldnt make ae ko in daylight, we headed back to pai to fix up the tiger. all fixed up we decided to try the dirt road that leads to mae laep., the turnoff is about 10km south of pai
this was a fantastic decision as the road meanders through rice fields and then ascends the mountains, the road is very rocky in places but brilliant very scenic, we were enjoying the ride and pushed on till the the dangers of the night forced us to turn around having been informed by a farmer that it takes abnother 45mins to mae paep, at this time it was already 5.45 so we headed back, we are wondering whether upon reaching mae laep you can loop round and join the pai-soppong road rather than come back the same way??
all in all we did around 200kms off-road, returning the next day down the pai-chiang mai road and a thrash through the back roads led expertly by the tiger of ian who proved that thiose scooters can do just about anything and asre exteremly durable as ian was really pushing it bounding over rocks and tree roots like they were small things and pencils.
unfortunatley i dont have any pictures so hopefully jeff or fai or ian can add some and some more details that i have forgotten.
luke
the aim- as much off-road to pai as possible and then the aeko loop, which didnt materialise unfortunatley.
we set off from the x-center to the prem center through an arid mix of farming and dirt roads it was here that we had the first tragedy of the trip a violent low-sider from our singaporean contingent meant we had to dig him out the sand, we turned off at nong kai( not that one silly) and headed for mokfa waterfall through a mixture of sandy constructing roads, it was imperative to ride first as otherwise dirt and sand in the air made navigating the ruts very diificult, with this in mind my primary target for the day was to be quicker putting on my gear than the other riders after drinks/ bathroom/ photgraphy stops. this worked well.
extended lunch and gossiping sessions made us well late into the bulk of our dirt sectuions and after some tough yet enjoyabel riding from ba pae to mae muang noi via the villages of bang kum and yang moen, we found ourselves going on the word of a manop a thai instructor that there was infact a road from mae muang noi to diong sam mun that isbnt on davids map. this route will have cut off a swection that saves you 30kms upwards of mainly asphaklt so is a real useful little track to know, but bring your best thai and prefeerably some reading skills or some villages wriiten in thai as there are forks all over the place withno signd in english and even the locals spek hill-language, in fact more difficult than any of the riding was actaully finding our way!! sure enough there is and it is steep in places with shrubbery and sandiness making it quite a difficult ride and the only rider not to fall offewas ian bungy on his prowling tiger. pikey was suffering from fatigue and a injured ankle, and at after 5 o clock with still no sign of asphalt thoughts of a night in the jungle were creeping into my mind, the road just seems to go on and on as everytimer you think you are finally ovwer the hill it picks up and climbs agaim.
around 5.45 we hit wat jan and from there we took 1265 into pai, a very nice section.
the following day we lost jeff due to swelling of the forementioned ankle, and so after a sluggish start we set off for ae ko a 100km dirt section linking maung noi and soppong, howver about 40kms into the trip a 4 inch nail struck us down as it impaled its parasitic form into ians real wheel, a rather slow pit stop insued and this comibenid with a late start meant we wouldnt make ae ko in daylight, we headed back to pai to fix up the tiger. all fixed up we decided to try the dirt road that leads to mae laep., the turnoff is about 10km south of pai
this was a fantastic decision as the road meanders through rice fields and then ascends the mountains, the road is very rocky in places but brilliant very scenic, we were enjoying the ride and pushed on till the the dangers of the night forced us to turn around having been informed by a farmer that it takes abnother 45mins to mae paep, at this time it was already 5.45 so we headed back, we are wondering whether upon reaching mae laep you can loop round and join the pai-soppong road rather than come back the same way??
all in all we did around 200kms off-road, returning the next day down the pai-chiang mai road and a thrash through the back roads led expertly by the tiger of ian who proved that thiose scooters can do just about anything and asre exteremly durable as ian was really pushing it bounding over rocks and tree roots like they were small things and pencils.
unfortunatley i dont have any pictures so hopefully jeff or fai or ian can add some and some more details that i have forgotten.
luke
