Northern Thailand Motorcycle Ride Taking In Choui Fong Tea Plantation And Doi Tung.

Moto-Rex

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Northern Thailand motorcycle ride taking in Choui Fong Tea Plantation and Doi Tung.

This was another great day ride out of Chiang Rai taking in Choui Fong Tea Plantations, Doi Tung, and the twittiest, steepest roads I’ve ridden on.

The way. Head north out of Chaing Rai, then turn left at hwy 1130 a few kilometres north of Mae Chan.
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About 4 Kilometres up hwy 1130 you get to the Choui Fong turn off.
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It’s a pretty impressive sight I’ve got to say.
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This is what it looks like from googles big drone in space.

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This is what it’s like up close.

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This must be the only place in Thailand that doesn’t sell coffee, and the food choice is limited as well.


I went for the honey and lemon drink, and the cheese cake.
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The restaurant with the coffee free zone.

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Better option maybe the flash place further up the road.

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After the snack and a quick look around it was back to hwy 1130 before turning north up hwy 1338 which is one of the nicest jungle roads I’ve ridden.

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Hwy/road 1338 …just amazing in the wet season.

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The 1338 has a surreal twisty section that is in the video below.

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Next was the famous Ban Par Bur road, which is marked “Caution Very Steep” on the GT-Rider Golden Triangle map for good reason. I videoed the steepest section which is also on the video below.

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After riding the Ban Par Bur roller coaster which is unbelievably steep I continued on to Doi Tung.

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I arrived at Wat Pha That Do Tung after a little cloud riding.

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This is a serious front gate.

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These stairs lead to the view point.

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And what a view, especially if you’re into clouds.
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After leaving the Wat its was down hwy 1149 which is an amazing stretch of road to the main hwy back to Chiang Rai.

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This is a short video of the two steep and twisty sections. The video never really shows how steep the roads are but it will give you an idea of what its like out there.





Moto-Rex
 
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DavidFL

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Yeah you little beauty Rex..The twist, on the steepest road in North Thailand.
What a road that one is = the # 1 steepie in the North? Or is+ it the Nong Khiew road in MHS still?

Why We Must Ride The 4009!

Ive been meaning to get back there for a long time to try & photograph those switch backs at Pha Bur
Here is the location on the GTR Golden Triangle guide map.
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Here's an elevation profile of the road from R3051 the Thoed Thai road to the link up with R1149 the Doi Tung road.
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ianyonok

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Nice one Rex...!

That is a favourite route with some of the Chiang Rai riders.. Just beautiful out there on those gorgeous little roads.
You can add more too, after a coffee or lunch at Doi Tung, by heading back north on the royal road to the Arboretum, then over Doi Chang Moob and down the Burma border road past the Akha coffee village of Bahn Pa Hee, then turn right through Pa Me back down to highway 1.

But got to be careful this time of year. As it is all heavily forested, you get a lot of damp green moss growing over the roads and it can be very slippery.
As it the all royal area, since the King's mother lived there, no-one cuts the trees or burns there, so it just gets more beautiful every year.

Personally, I don't think Pa Bur is that steep, it's just that it's slow and 1st gear all the way up the mountain. Your video shows it really well. 11 hairpin bends one after another.
The border road 1149 down the other side of Doi Chang Moob is steeper, which I would rank with the 4009 Nong Khiew road and the Big Dipper Phaya Phipak road. They all scare the **** out of me, on an old bike. Pa Bur is also just about impossible to photo, as it's all forested with no views through any bends.

This is a longer variation of your route. Black route in the morning and yellow after lunch.
Back roads Doi Tung route.jpg
 
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Rod Page

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Nice one Neil.....your reports may be just the thing to get me back there!
Cheers & safe riding, mate.
 

DavidFL

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A bump for The Twist on Pha Bur, which I reckon is the steepest road in the North - steeper than R4009 in Mae Hong Son?

Thanks again Rex for that vdo mate.

Here again is the elevation profile from the Thoed Thai road to R1149.
Note the nasty hill at the end on the right.
There are some very serious switchbacks there!

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R1334 is the name. The Pha Bur road. What a killer.


Right up there with R4009 & the Big Dipper R4018!!

Test yourself out sometime, but don't fall off & expect too much help.
 
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DavidFL

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The village of Pha Bur, at the top of those steepest series of switchbacks was in the news today, because of the naughty assistant village headman.

4m meth pills seized in Chiang Rai

Chiang Rai Police seized almost 4 million methamphetamine pills and arrested an assistant village chief for suspected drug trafficking in Mae Chan district.

The drug haul was announced yesterday by Pol Maj Gen Chinawich Wichaithanapat, commander of the Chiang Rai provincial police. A 45-year-old man identified only as Thawee, assistant village chief of Ban Pha Bue in Mae Fa Luang district, was caught with 3.8 million speed pills and 1kg of ketamine.

Police were looking into a tip-off that a large amount of methamphetamine pills would be transported from the Thai-Myanmar border in Mae Fa Luang district to Phahon Yothin Road. Checkpoints were set up along the route. Police spotted three vehicles — a motorcycle and two pickup trucks — travelling down from Doi Tung to Phahon Yothin Road in Mae Chan district.

As the caravan reached a village road in tambon Mae Rai, police stopped the vehicles to search them. However, the drivers of one motorcycle and one pickup managed to flee.

Searching the other pickup truck, police found the drugs, a 9mm pistol, mobile phone banking records and ATM cards. The drugs were linked to a trafficking ring based in Ban Pha Khao in Myanmar opposite Mae Fah Luang district, police said.

Mr Thawee was charged with illegally possessing narcotics with the intent to sell and carrying a gun in public without permission.


Source; Bangkok Post 30th September 2021.

Pha Bur on google maps.

Pha Bur on the GTR Golden Triangle Guide Map
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Check it out sometime.
 
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