Phu Chee Fah in the rain

[ianyonok]

The electricity was to be switched off for the day last Tuesday due to roadworks on the 1016 at Chiang Saen. Couldn't work in the workshop so thought I better get out for a run. Pu Chee Fah seemed like a suitable challenge in the rain, so I went for it on the dirt bike.
Found a young French backpacker walking in the rain on the road from Chiang Saen to Chiang Khong. It was only 10:00 in the morning and he'd had 3 rides already. He'd come up from BKK without paying for any transport, just hitchin' a ride. Good on him, great sense of adventure. We rode the lovely river road round to Chiang Khong for fish and prawn noodle soup for lunch. Tristan didn't want to stay in CK and was happy to ride pillion with me up P C Fah, so we headed over to the 1155 and then 1093 up the mountains. I left Tristan in Pu Chee Fah village in the mist...... what he wanted..... honest guv...

350 Baht a night at the back of here;

I asked the lady if they get many farangs up PCF at this time of year. She said......."ONLY MOTORSIKE FALANG" ..... :thumbup:
About 8 klm further is my favourite place up there; Phu Sawan Resort

Then headed back down off the mountains on the middle road back to the 1155. Once below the mist, only a couple of hundred metres down, the views were beautiful when the rain stopped. Vivid greens all around. Almost no-one around, just superb, out in nature on your own.

Feeling in a flippant mood, decided to run the shortcut over Doi Phaya Phitak, from the 1155 to the 1020. Interesting that drivers are advised to use low gear when negotiating steep UP hills in Thailand...........:huh:

Not a road for the faint-hearted, even in the dry. It's steep up and steep down. I was scared last time in dry season I did this road, on the Thunderbird with 50 year old drum brakes......

Good tarmac all the way, so no problem on a modern bike and a must-do for those who want a thrill.

Up at the village at the top. Not sure the GTR map is correct here. The sign says "Phu Long Gung... Sa Mung Gorn". Phu Long Gung is the name of the mountain and Sa Mung Gorn is "The Dragon's Pond.. ".
Then down the other side, some spectacular views down into the flat valley where the Ing river flows out to the Kong, from Thoeng to near the new bridge south of Chiang Khong. I think I have an aversion to heights and steep hills (it's an age thing...) so it was first gear down for me...... but I was overtaken by a couple of locals on sporty bikes.

Then back home via Doi Luang after a great day's ride. Had a spot of trenchfoot when I got back as the plastic bags down the boots didn't work this time.....

 

[ianyonok]

There should be a yearly un-official hill climb race on the 4018. First one up to the car park view point............... Then down again......!!

 

[Chiang_Mai_Martin]

Great photos, especially 3 & 4 with the lush greenery and low clouds...... thanks! I'll be doing the 1155 myself in a few days time..... no off-roading as I'll be on a Harley lump.... but really looking forward to photographing the scenery.

 

[ianyonok]

Hi Martin, LOVE the avatar!

The 1155; A wonderful windy road over the hills between the two mountain ranges running SW - NE. You should get some great photos (better than mine wont be difficult..).

See our Chiang Rai Bikers Day Ride from last month;

https://www.gt-rider.com/thailand-motorcycle-forum/showthread.php/36456-Chiang-Rai-Bikers-Monthly-Day-Ride-Run-the-1155-Sunday-3rd-June-12

 

[Chiang_Mai_Martin]

ianyonok;281128 wrote: Hi Martin, LOVE the avatar!
The 1155; A wonderful windy road over the hills between the two mountain ranges running SW - NE. You should get some great photos (better than mine wont be difficult..).
See our Chiang Rai Bikers Day Ride from last month;
https://www.gt-rider.com/thailand-motorcycle-forum/showthread.php/36456-Chiang-Rai-Bikers-Monthly-Day-Ride-Run-the-1155-Sunday-3rd-June-12

I loved it on the botty of this lil beast! Sadly all gone now, gave the cafe to the ex as a parting gift and she couldn't make a go of it...... long story best told over a beer or three sometime!

Oh, believe me, I'm reading all the relevant reports! I've been meaning to make this move to Chiang Mai for a long time to enjoy my bikes..... I'm a road rider but did own an AX1 which I loved cheating with when laying trails for the Pattaya Hash House Harriers many moons ago, so lets just see how long it takes before I buy something with knobbly tyres now I'm living here! I give it less that 12 months.... and 6 of those I'll be in Cairo!!

The 1155 looks like great fun and looking forward to it..... may even talk myself into hanging a left and doing the 1093 and back the middle road, same as you..... but I've got to keep an eye on the time as it's a recce for the group tour and on the day we'll be riding slow, taking in viewpoints etc, plus from the 1020 we'll be heading in to Chiang Rai and having a look at the White Temple before heading down to Chiang Mai before dusk.

 

[ianyonok]

Beautiful machine Martin !! Love the chequertape trim too.... just sets it off.

Marcel,
You're quite right. In the rain, it's not just roadworks, but where the farm vehicles have been dragging mud out on the road too. A week ago, I saw a bus and a couple of pick-ups going sideways, no grip at all, on just a slight incline where the roadworks are on 1016, Mae Chan to Chiang Saen. Dirt bike and plenty of armour is the safest really at present......

 

[DavidFL]

Some info on Phu Chee Fah to digest & maybe help give some more insight into the area

POSTCARD FROM THAILAND
At Siam's Gate

Few in the outside world know about it, but Pratu Siam in Thailand was a once key frontier in a secret war.

By Bertil Lintner

It must be one of the most ruggedly beautiful places in Southeast Asia--Pratu Siam, the Gate of Siam. Surrounded by steep limestone cliffs, this mountain pass on the border of Thailand and Laos looks like a scene from a Chinese painting. In the canyon far below, mist and clouds drift along the Mekong.

Picturesque it may be, but Pratu Siam and the nearby village of Phatang are unknown to tourists. Until well into the 1990s the area was off limits to outsiders. Up to just a few years ago, even local maps didn't show Phatang or the Gate of Siam. Getting here is not easy: The 15-kilometre road from the lowlands is steep and potholed, and almost impassable.

All that is a legacy of the past, when Phatang preferred to keep visitors out. That's because this area was once a vital frontier of the Cold War in Asia. In the 1960s and 1970s, United States forces used it as a base for their "secret war" aimed at countering Lao support for communist Vietnamese forces. In later years, fighters based here helped the Thai army defeat communist insurgents.

It is only now, as time eases the tensions of the past, that people who took part in those operations are willing to talk more openly, even if they refuse to be named. "We want to live in peace now," says one veteran of the secret war who lives in northern Thailand. "The past is history." Indeed, today's Phatang is a showcase of tranquillity. Its 3,000 inhabitants grow vegetables, fruits and tea, and make cherry and plum wine to earn cash. Visitors who do make it up may even be invited to share a bottle of wine.

Phatang's role in Southeast Asia's geopolitics dates from the early 1960s. At the time, Laos had been internationally recognized as neutral in the war raging in neighbouring Vietnam, and no foreign troops were supposed to be in the country. The reality was different: In the north, North Vietnamese soldiers were fighting alongside their Lao communist allies. Elsewhere, the U.S., or, more precisely, its Central Intelligence Agency, had built up a 30,000-strong "secret" army, whose number included a battalion of Nationalist Chinese soldiers.

Disguised as a Lao regiment and codenamed "Bataillon Spéciale 111" it was made up mainly of Chinese soldiers captured by the U.S. and its allies in the Korean War, and who had transferred their loyalties from Beijing to Taipei. About 1,600 wound up in Laos fighting for the Americans and conducting forays into China.

According to another veteran of the war, heavy fighting around their main base in northern Laos forced an evacuation across the border into Thailand. Phatang, which was already an established Nationalist-Chinese settlement, was the ideal choice for a rear base. From the vantage point of the Gate of Siam, a watch could be kept as Kuomintang troops infiltrated Laos.

After the end of the Vietnam War, battle-hardened Chinese troops from Phatang played a crucial role in the battle of Khao Ya, a Communist Party of Thailand stronghold in the Khao Khor mountains east of Thailand's central plains. Those who took part in that operation were granted Thai citizenship. Few, seemingly, chose to settle in Phatang.

In recent years, another group of Chinese has descended on Phatang: dissidents from the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. "They had heard about Phatang, and thought it was a Taiwanese base from where they could continue to the West," says a Westerner who helped some of these dissidents escape from China. Many are still stuck here.

The road to Phatang may be steep, but it is an even steeper climb up to the actual Gate of Siam. Few outsiders make it to the top, but that, too, will change now that Thai tourists are beginning to discover the area.

It's doubtful that many will ever make it to the most important Nationalist Chinese memorial in northern Thailand. Hidden behind trees off a small dirt track outside the town of Chiang Khong, a huge arch commemorates soldiers who died in the secret war, mainly in Laos. Two hundred of them now rest in a cluster of tombs, all facing towards China. Their war, after all, was secret, and they weren't supposed to be here.

This article first appeared in the Far Eastern Economic Review, September 16, 2004

 

[Lakota]

Ian, treat yourself and your trenchfoot to a pair of Sealskinz waterproof Socks. have to be Sealkinz brand not the army surplus goretex ones which are rubbish.
you'll not regret it.

 

[ianyonok]

Lakota,
Thank you for that Sir. They look the business alright. I shall try and order some.

 

[ianyonok]

David, Very interesting about Pratu Siam. Thank you. I'll be up there again soon, to look at things in a different light. It is a beautiful spot with those unusual rock formations and amazing views, east and west. A place few people visit, as most head on to Phu Chee Fah instead.

 

[Lakota]

yes, this extra background information David provides certainly makes a place more interesting. I was up by Pratu Siam last year, I had a noodle at one of the stalls but couldn't be bothered to walk up to the actual Gate/viewpoint because I was all viewed out for the day as I had done the viewpoints at Puu chee Faa.

Passed close by this morning on a little loop 1155 and over the Doi Yao, Phaya phitak crazy road and was tempted to checkout Pratu Siam but thought I would leave it for when I had more time to explore. Thanks David , much appreciated :thumbup:

 

[ianyonok]

check the GT-Rider map

 

[ianyonok]

Marcel,

We've all got better things to do than make maps for people (apart from david GTR....).

It's easy anyway.... take the 1155 south from Wiang Kaen. Take the first left turn, 1093 signposted up to Phu Chee Fah. You should see on your Michelin map, a sharp switchback in the road which is at the top of the mountain range that forms the border. At this point you are heading north then the switchback takes you round right so you are then heading south. This switchback is very clear on google maps. Bahn Pha Tang is right there. Just after that you will see a road turn off left up to the top and Pratu Siam. This is also very clear on google maps.

 

[brian_bkk]

brake034;288302 wrote: As we have a guest staying with us, we decided to do the trip by the car today.
With the knowledge David posted it made the trip so much more interesting as you know what to look for.
Lunch was Noodles Yunnan style at Pha Tang Hill resort and restaurant. Bought some Pha Tang coffee too, let's try instead of Doi Chang.......

Finding the real window to Siam is bit bit of a search (General Lee's pavillion gets more attention) but well worth the trip.
Next one will be up the Suzi sporting the offroad wheels, as the road is really bad at some places.

Love those twisties going down the hill.. Must have been interesting in a car..

 

[DavidFL]

Bump for Pratu Siam info for Ron Webb.