Doi Larng Mae Ai

[DavidFL]

Doi Larng's a northern spur off Doi Phahompok (2nd highest mtn), running along the Burma border.
Khun Sa hung out here for many years, before moving to Homong north of Mae Hong Son.
One year he lost a big heroin shipment out of Bkk due to a tip off (set up?) & he got a bit angry, so they drove down the mountain in their picks up 7.30am, waited for the bank in Mae Ai to open, robbed it and then promptly drive back up the mountain to their camp a hundred metres across the border in Burma.

The road basically runs along the border in places, not unlike the Doi Tung - Mae Sai Rd.
After Khun Sa's little revenge I think they rapidly built the roads to gain full access to the border area & patrol what was going on.

1989

1989

1989

 

[Dougal]

As usual........great photos and history as well!!

Loved the Loei photos.

Are any of these guys still around?

 

[saxonator]

Thanks David for posting those fotos, that really remindes me how Thailand used to be. Just off-road wherever you go. It's kinda boring to go from city to city on asphalt.

Those days were truly adventerous, never shure having enough gas to make it to the next village, motorcycle in a "who the f... knows" condition. No GPS, no handys to call home and cry for ya mama, when you ended up having a flat tire. And then those master mechanics, who would change the tyre with a hammer and a tool, that's either to big or too small for the job, but at the end it all worked out fine and the grin on your face became even bigger, when you had to pay those 20 Baht to the guy.

I'd love to see more photos from the past of Chiang Mai's Pioneers of Motorcycle riding.

Cheers Rudi

 

[DavidFL]

The Doi Phahompok trail while the Wa Daeng were still up there......

 

[DavidFL]

Red Lahu. December 1990.

 

[DavidFL]

Early 1990s : 91 or 92?

With the Snail (David Lek), Joe (Joe's Biker Team) & Danny (Siam Sun.)

 

[DavidFL]

Another R1314 Doi Larng ride in the late 1980s.

 

[Peter Digger]

I never actually got to ride a Honda Wing, but from these fantastic photographs, they seem to have been pretty much indestructible. My good mate, the late David Francis from Mae Tang, put the engine out of one into his Honda dirt bike when it died. It was still going well long after he passed away. Thanks for the memories David !

 

[DavidFL]

1989

 

[Geezershot]

Great to see those nice old pix. I didn't ride this road till much later, when it was mostly sealed but you could only ride the whole way through on a motorcycle due to the washout that used to be marked on your GT Golden Triangle Map.

The odd thing is, I must have been on a road like it back in 1976, when after an overnight stay in the Fang Hotel, a government official from the education department invited me to accompany him on a school inspection trip on the border the next morning. I was traveling by bus in those days, so I had no idea which road we took in his Land Rover, but I do remember we had a long climb up a dirt road before visiting the school in a village near the border. Then, for a bit of fun, the official suggested we cross and visit a village on the other side—it didn't take long to reach it. That village seemed to be crawling with troops with shoulder flashes with Shan State Army, or something like it written on them. No photos from that trip survived, sadly.

 

[DavidFL]

December 1990