Being located near Tha Ton I don't have many options in routes away from home when I just want to get out on the bike for a few hours.
Doi Mae Salong is a pretty ride but having done it many times I am now looking at the smaller lanes to see if there are places I could get to without fear of picking an awful dirt ride unsuitable for a man of my age and a road bike.
Yesterday I found one.
To get to the location I chose the very steep, recently repaired but still tricky, small road up from the 1089. Not the regularly used 1130, this is another 8kms down the 1089 and a route very popular with the Mae Salong villagers who want to get to the nearest town, Mae Chan, without delay, so look out for pickups coming down using all the road on the tight corners.
Just off the road there's a couple of Akha villages, a nice little coffee shop just past the Rat Pattana school and a pretty new but very deserted Wat Prathat Santitham as you near Mae Salong.
On arrival at the 1130 take the left hand turn signed to the Pana Coffee House which takes you back down a concrete road leading into a tea plantation valley.
Sadly it wasn't a sunny day so the pictures are a tad dull.
Quite a few bikes, some pickups and people out in this area working, certainly not deserted.
Over the ridge and coming down the other side a quite large Akha village sit on the hillside overlooking a stream.
Once over the narrow bridge an even bigger village sits on the opposite slope which is where the Pana is located along with another village industry that went by a name something like the Mae Salong Coffee Roastery.
The man in charge spoke a little English and I spotted an army badge on the jacket hung on a chair. Friendly guy happy for me to take photos who told me his machine was imported from Turkey.
On arrival I assumed this place was the Pana but a look around assured me there was no coffee shop and I was directed on up the hill and around a very steep tight left bend to the place advertised off the 1130 highway that apparently few bother to seek out.
Once again the boss man sported an army badge but he resorted to calling up a young lad to serve me a very good cup of Pana 999, 100% arabica for 50b.
The road out of here was lined with coffee shrubs sitting under shade trees which went on for a couple of kms before arriving at a collection of villages on the southern most part of the route.
From here I could see across the valley to the established road (1130) winding up the hill to Mae Salong.
Both tea and coffee businesses going on in the villages and scattered houses and nearing the town a pretty big Chinese resort advertising food and accommodation.
I finally came out right in the middle of town with all the Akha trinket sellers and shops selling dried candied fruit.
Sadly with Chinese new year close the place was almost deserted but maybe the Chinese are about to flood the country with their new found liberation from Covid. The locals will love them.
Doi Mae Salong is a pretty ride but having done it many times I am now looking at the smaller lanes to see if there are places I could get to without fear of picking an awful dirt ride unsuitable for a man of my age and a road bike.
Yesterday I found one.
To get to the location I chose the very steep, recently repaired but still tricky, small road up from the 1089. Not the regularly used 1130, this is another 8kms down the 1089 and a route very popular with the Mae Salong villagers who want to get to the nearest town, Mae Chan, without delay, so look out for pickups coming down using all the road on the tight corners.
Just off the road there's a couple of Akha villages, a nice little coffee shop just past the Rat Pattana school and a pretty new but very deserted Wat Prathat Santitham as you near Mae Salong.
On arrival at the 1130 take the left hand turn signed to the Pana Coffee House which takes you back down a concrete road leading into a tea plantation valley.
Sadly it wasn't a sunny day so the pictures are a tad dull.
Quite a few bikes, some pickups and people out in this area working, certainly not deserted.
Over the ridge and coming down the other side a quite large Akha village sit on the hillside overlooking a stream.
Once over the narrow bridge an even bigger village sits on the opposite slope which is where the Pana is located along with another village industry that went by a name something like the Mae Salong Coffee Roastery.
The man in charge spoke a little English and I spotted an army badge on the jacket hung on a chair. Friendly guy happy for me to take photos who told me his machine was imported from Turkey.
On arrival I assumed this place was the Pana but a look around assured me there was no coffee shop and I was directed on up the hill and around a very steep tight left bend to the place advertised off the 1130 highway that apparently few bother to seek out.
Once again the boss man sported an army badge but he resorted to calling up a young lad to serve me a very good cup of Pana 999, 100% arabica for 50b.
The road out of here was lined with coffee shrubs sitting under shade trees which went on for a couple of kms before arriving at a collection of villages on the southern most part of the route.
From here I could see across the valley to the established road (1130) winding up the hill to Mae Salong.
Both tea and coffee businesses going on in the villages and scattered houses and nearing the town a pretty big Chinese resort advertising food and accommodation.
I finally came out right in the middle of town with all the Akha trinket sellers and shops selling dried candied fruit.
Sadly with Chinese new year close the place was almost deserted but maybe the Chinese are about to flood the country with their new found liberation from Covid. The locals will love them.
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